Doldrums

I'll admit it, the last couple weeks have gone by pretty slow. I knew going into the season early on that extending it another month would be tough, but it just seems to be dragging a this point. If there had been some racing going on to keep me occupied it would have been better or being able to train somewhere where there is warmth or sunshine, but having not raced in a few weeks and being forced to train another month in WI in December just hasn't been that fun. I already train enough in the spring in miserable weather so to add another one at the end of the season too is just cruel. Maybe next year they'll move it back to a more sensable time considering there are probably only 2 riders at nationals that cared.

Luckily we have had a mild fall so far which really only means my fingers only freeze mildly everyday. I have mixed it up some with the trainer when the roads were wet but mostly I have been outside. I think my preparation has been as good as I can hope for, there isnt much time left to change it at this point. It's hard to tell this late in the season if you are better off resting or training but you can't really coast for a month leading up to Nats and think you're going to gain anything so I've tried to keep the intensity and riding at the same level despite my fading motivation. I'm starting to loose focus though and having to train for a solid month at the end of the year for one race is probably going to blow me up enough to keep me off the bike until it's warm next spring so maybe I'll just count this as my spring riding for next year and be done with it.

I will be doing at least one day of the New Years Eve Resolution CX race in Chicago this weekend. I have raced twice the weekend before nats and done well the following week, and I have raced twice the weekend before nats and not done well the following week at nats so I might try just racing once this time and see how it goes. It probably doesn't matter too much but hopefully it's just enough to get the edge back.

Christmas was a fun distraction for the weekend. We didn't have to do much traveling and that made it a lot nicer to get some workouts in around schedules. Ellie got more puzzles than I can keep up with and I get woken up every morning now to her asking me to do "puwwels"?? Not really the first thing you want to do before your morning coffee but Ellie needs no coffee to get going in the morning. "Nuhwere one nuhwere one".