Catching up.. Training week of 2/8 & Mtb'ing, XC ski

I think I managed to go from 9-10hrs to about 14hrs this past week, weather was better which explains the extra time; it's all accounted for in the extra days riding outdoors, plus better consistency across the board, I was able to do a solid 4/4/4

At any rate, I now own yet another mountain bike. That's a total of four in the last five years, the first was a rigid c'dale that was stolen, then I had an older S-Works (M2) also stolen, and prolly too small for me; another c'dale F900, nice bike but way too big for me, XL frame (22in !), really for a someone around 6'3-6'5-ish... The frame was the right size for the road though, because it'd been someone's commuter pre-me.

At any rate, I have a Gary Fisher Paragon, alu frame, genesis geometry, hard tail XC rig..It's also my size (16in frame), who knows if it'll make a difference or not, I was never bad before, just slow on technical single track and descending, go figure on that 22in C'dale, it was just far too big for me to toss around.

So, even though I'm slow where racing is concerned I'm committed to shaking things up this season.. Winter Triathlon, XC Mtb races (beginner class, sport was way too long for me previously!)..

Why?

Well, all of these activities do not play into my athletic strengths, they are sports that require technique that I don't have (xc ski), strengths on the bike that I've never bothered to develop (because I lack them).

Sure I'm a proficient xc skier now, but only after a few seasons of pain and a lesson, plus a ton of reading. I'm not a bad climber on the mtb, can keep up on the flats given the pure amount of volume of bike miles I log.. But the reason for changing things up is that there is really no pressure to do well and to be candid it enhances the fitness that I have built..

Both XC skate & Mtb tend to be very anaerobic at times, and I just rarely go there Swim, Bike, Running day in, day out.. Throwing in the occasional race/training session in these other sports/disciplines will (and does) force me mentally and physically way out of my comfort zone, which I think will be good when I actually race road Tri in the summer..