End of the Season

Ryder getting ready to run with Mommy

It's always a little sad when the weather starts to shift and the mornings get darker and cooler but 2014 turned out to be a fantastic season for me. Even though I didn't get to race as much as I would have liked I won every race I entered (aside from a mechanical in Prince George) and had lots of extra time with Amber and Ryder. Focusing on short course racing this year was the right thing to do and even though I wasn't training very long, the hard intense training really broke me down to the point where my body knows that there is no more racing left in it. I did want to cap off my season with the GP Fall Classic 10k but I've been struggling with a back injury for the past couple weeks so I know it's time to stop, rest and recover.

I'll take a good month off all training of any kind and then later in October or early November I'd like to start hitting the weights again, at my age doing some really good strength work in the off season is critical to staying injury free during the race season. It's absolutely amazing how unforgiving my body has been after turning 40, if I don't eat, drink, sleep, or recover right I really struggle to stay healthy and keep training and racing. I only did 4 races this year and I'm not sure I could have done any more, I would have liked to do maybe one more Olympic but the thought of travelling to Banff or Vancouver with Ryder was just not appealing.

The little man is becoming more independent though, he's incredibly fun to hang out with and to watch him grow and change so quickly just blows my mind. We are throughly loving being parents and had him at the perfect stage in our lives, sometimes we wonder why we didn't do it earlier when we had more energy but I think things worked out the way they were supposed to. Ryder and I will cheer on Amber as she races the Fall Classic this Sunday and she has been so devoted to her running that I know she is going to have a great 1/2 marathon in Calgary on October 19th. For me it's time to rest and do some off-season work when the time is right.