Two Wheel Blogs

Countdown to the Tracks 'n Treads Biathalon: 14 days

As I write this, it's 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Two weeks from now, I should be out at the SIU-E cross country course getting ready to "complete" -- if that's the appropriate term for it -- in the Tracks 'n Treads off-road biathalon.

Right now, I'm confident that I can do all right in the 5K run. No, I probably won't be able to run the course at a sub-8:00/mile pace as I was able to last fall, but the circumstances are different:

• I had been running longer. I first started trying to run again in August. But once I started, I kept at it regularly. So when I ran the SIU-E course last October, I had been getting myself into condition for almost three months. Right now, I've only been at it for about six weeks. But more important...
• I could stop. When I finished the race last October, I was done. Two weeks from now, when I cross the Finish line of the 5K, the fun is just beginning. Then I get to hop on the bike and ride 11 miles on the single-track trails.

And that's what concerns me.

While I've been able to get my training runs in, I have not been able to get my rides in. The wet weather has limited my opportunties to ride. Worse, I assume the trails are a mucky mess right now. I've ridden out to SIU-E twice intending to ride them. Both times, I found them unride-able. I wonder if, in the next two weeks, they'll have adequate time -- and warm, dry weather -- to dry out so they are ride-able. Race day could be a long, slow ordeal for me. The two things I expect to hear most often that day are "Move over. I want to pass." quickly followed by "Get off the course!"

I've got 13 days to do whatever I can to get myself ready for this. I will do my part, getting out to run or, if the weather will cooperate, ride. But I can't do this by myself. I need a little help from Mother Nature.