Two Wheel Blogs

Countdown to the Tracks 'n Treads Biathalon: 7 days

One week from tonight, this will be the evening before the race. It will also be a rest day, one on which I will do nothing more strenuous than walking around. I'm looking forward to it.

It's been about a month since I found out about the Tracks 'n Treads biathalon. As soon as I did, I had to sign up for it. And, having committed to it, I had to increase the pace of my training program. Prior to Tracks 'n Treads, my goal was the biathalon in Highland, Ill., on Memorial Day. Staring down the barrel of Tracks 'n Treads forced me to work out whenever I could. Now, almost a month later, I feel I can see the light at the end of tunnel.

Due to a flurry of evening commitments, this week called for some creative training -- especially as the weather was very favorable.

• On Tuesday, I used the 40 minutes available to be work the hills around my house, doing five climbs each on the M Street and Locust Street hills.
• On Wednesday, I ran around Forest Park, dodging the drunken revellers returning from the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dogtown.
• On Thursday, I headed to the Y to ride the stationary bike. I'd planned to ride for an hour, but despite the NCAA tournament on TV, I could only manage 40 minutes.

I believe the single-track trails will be too muddy for the race next week. I expect that we will ride the alternate route instead, which will have us riding on the cross country course and around the SIUE campus. If so, I may be able to ride my cyclocross bike instead of my son's mountain bike. So after work tonight, I headed to Queeny Park for some hill work. I spent about an hour and twenty minutes ascending and descending every hill I could find. And Queeny has several to choose from.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the week:

• 3.20 Sat: Run the cross country course.
• 3.21 Sun: Workout to be determined based on weather.
• 3.22 Mon: Do the Mueller Road ride for the first time this season.
• 3.23 Tue: Run. Distance to be determined.
• 3.24 Wed: Ride. Route to be determined.
• 3.25 Thu: Run or ride, depending on what my evening commitment permits.
• 3.26 Fri: Rest.
• 3.27 Sat: Race.

It's been a long road to get to this point. And it will be an even longer one to the Memorial Day biathalon. But this one's different. This is my first. And this one is taking place right in my backyard -- on the cross country course where I watched my son compete for four years, and around the campus where I do my cyclocross training. It's been a long road to get to a Starting line only two miles from my home. I can't wait to get there.