Offseason Fun

Indiana Mountain Biking

I've been in hiding the past couple of weeks, trying to avoid all things internet, twitter, Facebook, and most of all training!  But it's finally time to get back to the real world and rev up the training and the excitement for the 2013 season!

First of all, I think taking an offseason is hugely important.  Physically, it helps you reset and let your body fully recover from a long summer of traveling and racing.  But more importantly, it lets your brain relax, focus on something else for a while, and then get that hunger back to keep you training through the winter.  I was a little hesitant to end my season after Leadman.  I had such a great race and was feeling super fit and excited to keep racing.  There was even discussion about jumping into an Ironman later this fall, ya know, just to see how it goes... Then I came back to reality and realized that an Ironman isn't something to just 'jump into' 'just see how it goes'.  This would need real planning and specific training so I opted out of that decision fairly quickly.  But I also knew I had a lot of work to do this winter to get my run to where it needs to be next year and rather than dragging out this season, I decided to call it on a high note and take that energy and passion into some serious run training this winter.

Brown County - Southern Indiana

So that's what's been going on.  I've been taking some time off.  And by off I mean I've been running when I want (when there are awesome trails in the mountains), riding when I want (only mountain biking because that's my favorite and never get to enough throughout the season), and swimming when I want (which is never because I never want to swim)...

Brown County Breakdown

This time of the year is also spent visiting family and spending time with everyone I don't get to see very much.  Nick, Cori, and I packed up our things and drove out to Indiana to visit his family and to do some awesome riding out in southern Indiana.  We mountain biked at the Brown Country Breakdown which was the best mountain biking I've ever done!  Seriously, this was epic!  No I  mean seriously, Brown County just got rated "Epic" by IMBA and it did not disappoint!  Riding miles and miles of single track through the changing leaves is definitely the best way to just get away from everything have some great conversations with yourself.  It's also a time when the idea of racing some Xterra's next season really seems like a great idea!  Ha!  We'll see though... many decisions to be made this winter.

Bonfires in the backyard! 

Anyways, besides the mountain biking, Indiana was great.  We had lots of fun visiting Nick's family, exploring Bloomington, and riding the annual Hilly Hundred.  But as usual, time flew and we were back in Boulder before realizing it.  And now it's time to get back to work and plan out the coming months of training and suffering.  I'm looking forward to a snowy winter spent here in Boulder.  For the first time, I'm not dying to head south for some warmer weather.  I'm stoked to stay here, stay consistent, and stay focused on the goals.  I have an amazing group of coaches, athletes, and support here and I know this will be an awesome winter!

Nick and Kevin Harvey of  www.harveycycleworks.com

Cori was overwhelmed by the creatures living in this bush. She spent hours watching them...