The roller coaster ride (at bootleg and in life).....

--Me and my buddy Jake loving the Bootleg trails!

So, I managed some high quality training weeks before heading off to Vegas for Interbike. I felt amazing and the knee was holding up really well. Prior to Interbike I had traveled up to SLO for some work and fun. So, I had a couple weeks of travel and work back-to-back, which meant that my rehab exercises and ART kind of tapered off. This always seems to happen b/c you are traveling and just don't have the time and resources to get everything done that REALLY needs to be done.

Once I got back from Interbike (knee felt awesome out in Vegas), I went for a mellow run along the bay and the knee was bothering me. When I finished my run it hurt and it really started to hurt for a couple days after my run. I was naturally really worried. I went back to Rehab United yesterday and got some ART work done and today it is feeling much better.

A few things came into play...with no PT and ART my muscles tightened up and put stress on my knee, all the driving made my hips super tight, and my seat was a bit high on my mountain bike, which caused a little pain in my achilles and also tweaked my knee. So, just goes to show how fragile I am right now. A little time away from the exercises that have brought me back and I fall victim to the same knee pain that kept me out for 4 months. At least now I know how to fix it and I think we are back on track. I can actually train quite a bit as long as I am being very aggressive with my stretching and ART. I am of course taking it easy this week to let the knee rest and get back to normal.

Once again, I owe Mike and crew at Rehab United big time...they are an amazing group of people that are truly there to help. The facility is awesome and I look forward to continuing my work with them...we are setting up a strength class for endurance athletes that will no doubt become a popular class for local athletes. I will keep everyone posted on the details of the class.



My time at Interbike in Vegas was incredible. So much fun riding out at Bootleg, cruising the floor at the expo, watching the cross race, and, of course, staying up too late partying =) Can't wait to go back next year!


--Dave and Rich from fluid tearing it up on some REALLY fat tire bikes!


--Downhill ride for the day!


--Seriously, look at the size of those tires...I really want one of these bikes!

I am going to really stay on top of my rehab and I will hopefully be back training at the level I was before Vegas in the near future. I am super busy right now but a lot of cool things are in the works and I am excited to see how everything pans out. Stay tuned!

Skinfit dominates the podium at Xterra Nationals

Nico Lebrun won the men's race by running down 3-time world champ Conrad Stoltz, Lesley Paterson put together a solid performance to take 3rd, and Christine Jeffrey finished 9th and secured a top 5 in the overall points series. Congrats to all of our Skinfit athletes...keep rocking it!
Next up is the World Championships in Maui and we know these three are going to tear it up!

Life has been good....

--In the background is the piece of land I want to own someday in SLO county


I just finished up a four day trip to San Luis Obispo. I got some work done but mostly cleared the head with some great training on my favorite roads and trails. It isn't a mystery that I love the central coast and I know we will be back there permanently at some point in our lives. It is just such a relaxing place for me and offers up an opportunity for me to get my head on straight and realize what is important in life.
I rode all four days (12 hrs of riding with 2 mtn and 2 road), got in a couple runs and a swim. I feel like I am getting some punch back in my legs and I like it. I am obviously really slow but I am feeling much better physically. I respond quickly to training so I would imagine things will progress pretty quickly but more then anything I am just stoked to be out exercising everyday.
I am home for a few days and then off to Vegas for four days...going to Interbike! It should be a great time and a good chance to do some networking. I will certainly post some stories and pics from Vegas so stay tuned.



Oh, Jim Vance and I are putting together a 7-10 day SLO training camp in March 2010....it will be the perfect camp for Wildflower, 70.3 California, IM St. George. Stay tuned for info if you want to check out the town, roads, trails that I rave about all the time. It is going to be an incredible camp!

Welcome back Trevor...

The knee has turned the corner and I have resumed some training. Here's how the past 9 days went down...
M: 3 hr hilly ride
T: 40 min run + core and stretching
W: 2:30 road ride + PT (1 hr strengthening)
TH: 40 min run
F: 2 hr ride + PT (1 hr strengthening)
S: 35 min run building pace as run progressed
S: 3 hr hilly road ride + 20 min transition run (b/c my knee felt great)
M: Ride 4:20 including Palomar and harder riding
T: 50 min trail run
*Yeah, no swimming but since that's all I could really do while I was hurt I am giving a little love to my bike and running shoes =) I did try to go today after my run but the pool was closed...I tried I promise =)

About 21 hrs of training so not bad. I have a long way to go but it feels good to be out there suffering again. Yesterday was all about suffering for me. I rode Palomar with a group and it was plain hard for me to drag my overweight self over those climbs. I haven't pushed myself in 4 months so it was a tough day in the saddle for me but I loved every minute of it. I just put my head down and pushed the pedals just trying to think about how nice it was to be outside even though I was at my limit trying to get over the rollers with the group. In Feb. I rode up the south grade in 1:03, I was not in great shape, and I was doing some interval work so there was some mega slow riding mixed in as recovery. This time it took me 1:14 and I really don't think I could have ridden much faster. Ha, ha it is going to be a long road back but I am loving it! My run today after yesterday's ride was a bit rough but it felt good to be out there running the trails again...first time since the injury!!

So, that is my update. Words can't describe how pumped I am with my progress. I am still being cautious (and doing PT, icing, ART, etc) but I think the worst is behind me and I am ready to move forward full-steam ahead!

Have a good week and thanks for reading!

Giddy up!

What can I say other then I am totally pumped that my knee is healing up. I put in my longest ride in 4 months yesterday (3 hours with 5,000 feet of climbing!)and today I ran 40 minutes. I actually ran 3 times last week, which is a HUGE improvement. Plus, I rode several times.
Everything I have been doing is paying off and I really couldn't be happier.
Just wanted to give an update. Gotta get back to work and eat some dinner so I will post more later.
Have fun out there!