While I like training hard and getting in good workouts, sometimes you just need a recovey week. This week I have spent a lot of time taking care of my lower back problem. With the help of some active release by Dr. Chris Sellers at Performance Wellness, I was finally able to loosen up the psoas muscle by Thursday afternoon. Enough so, that I finally felt like working out again, so I hit up the Thursday crit out at the driveway. I got in some breakaways and did a lot of bridging, the last effort of which left me in poor position for the sprint, but I still finished somewhere around 15 out about 53, compared to not finishing at all last time I did this race, so I was very pleased with the progress. Colleen and I followed up with some dinner and then headed over to Barton Springs where I had a pretty damn good swim workout. It’s nice having a girlfriend who can teach swimming and push you a bit :). It was one of my first times doing hardcore swim intervals 8x 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. I took on quite a bit of water, but it is a good feeling getting up to a speed where you actually feel the water rushing past your body. Two hard workouts in one day setup some pretty peaceful sleep last night.

There have been more important gains than physical though. Last week at the 5k race, I met a woman who bested me in the overall standings named Sarah Stewart. We got to talking about running and mountain biking. After concluding that my running was lacking, and her mountain biking wasn’t spectacular, we agreed to trade some lessons. Little did I know that Sarah is a certified Crossfit coach and owner of Kinetic Movement Systems, a pretty hardcore training group here in Austin.

When I’m not out training, I have some time to step back and do some reseach and evaluate my training methods. I remember seeing on my Caveman friend Matt Emery’s Caveman Power website that overall competent fitness involves way more than how long and how fast you can go at certain athletic events. He was kind enough to send me the article from Crossfit journal that he based those findings upon. It is a very excellent read and will challenge the way normal athletes train for their competition. I will be writing a new post for my health section about this soon, but to give you a sneak peak, true fitness involves such abilities as agility, balance, flexibility, accuracy, and coordination. Rarely does a cyclist take these other abilities into consideration. Suffice to say, they’re not as “fit” as they think are.

Other than this major find, I also picked up some really good psoas muscle stretches that I would like to share with all the athletes that read my blog.  Stay tuned for a health tip post on that as well. Remember, training and gains don’t always have to be made at the helms of a workout. If you’ve got some recovery time ahead of you, spend it wisely by doing some research or having discussions with a coach or fast racer friend. Use your downtime to learn new things.

Have a great Easter weekend, and remember the reason for celebrating Easter:

The Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.