Long Over Due Update

It's been awhile since I've blogged so an update is long over due.  Three weeks ago, I took a week off from riding and went on vacation to the Philippines for a week with the wife.  We flew from Denver to Portland and stayed a short night there.   The next day was a long 11 hour flight to Narita, Japan and then 5 hour to Manila, Philippines. We stayed a day in Manila and then flew into Cebu City for a short over night.  From the city, we took a three hour shuttle to Moalboal which is on the west coast of the isle of Cebu.  We stayed a couple nights there enjoying some amazing snorkeling, great seafood, and fun nightlife.  We took the three hour shuttle back to the airport and flew into Hong Kong for short over night.  The following day, we flew a 14 hour flight into Chicago O'Hare, then to Des Moines, and finally back to Denver into a snow storm for a long scary drive home.  There's nothing like shoveling over a foot of snow after all day of flying.  Still though, I had a lot of fun.

The next two weeks after the vacation called for a hard two week block of training.  The first week I just felt 'off', most likely due to jet lag. It didn't help that I was constrained to the road since the snow storm left the trails unrideable.  I had a better week the following week after spending the weekend catching up on my sleep, but another snow storm over the weekend confined me to the basement for a long 4 hour ride, and once again left the trails a snowy/muddy mess.  Late that Sunday I suddenly felt achy over my whole body, and got a headache which is extremely rare for me.  This lasted three days straight. The only time I felt good was on the bike. Also, my legs were unusually sore after spending so long on the trainer. That was this past week and was a recovery week. I can't complain too much though because the temps this week have been quite warm, and Thursday I had a solid training day wearing only bibs and a short sleeve jersey.  I'm going for a light ride today and flying off to somewhere fun for a well deserved weekend vacation with the wife.  The following two weeks is the training block from hell!  The two hardest, most critical weeks of my year pack full of VO2 maxes, thresholds, tempos, and hard endurance workouts.  Hopefully I come back Monday well rested, and to some dry trails!  This is my March Madness!