Well it’s been awhile since I last updated this thing, partly because I got out of the habit of updating and partly because I didn’t really have anything new to say. Maybe I still don’t...
So what’s been going on for the last couple of weeks? Not that much I guess, I’ve started running again every day and am now 3 weeks into the build up to New York. I’d like to say that the training has been going great, but the sad truth of it is, it hasn’t been. Maybe it’s due to trying to come back after my marathon in good shape, or maybe it’s a number of things that have just gotten the better of me in the last week or two.
I ran the Canada Day 15K on July 1st and I wasn’t very happy with the outcome of the race. In fact it was one of my worst results at that race for 3 or 4 years. I guess to some people the time looked pretty good, but to myself I don’t think it was a good indicator of how fast I’m running. Do I have any excuse for my bad performance? No, I just wasn’t as good as I thought I’d be on the day. I sure I could come up with 4 or 5 excuses but what it is the point? The fact is I ran badly. The worst thing about running badly was that after the race I probably wasn’t in the nicest of moods and so I must apologise to anyone and everyone that I seemed to be a little snappy with (Sorry Cheryl), However Fast Trax did have a pretty good day Mark Armstrong showed that his time down in Boulder has really benefitted him by running a great time.
After Canada Day we (the family) and I took off to Canmore for the weekend, the weather there wasn’t all that great but it was nice to get away from Edmonton if only for a couple of days. I ran Saturday and Sunday there and both runs where not that great, I don’t know why...maybe it was due to the lack of sleep or maybe whatever was bothering me after Thursday’s race was still bothering me. But my running on Monday was so much better, in fact my running all of last week was going great until Saturday when I tried to get out of bed and found that I couldn’t bend over, not sure what I did but I seem to have tweaked my back. Luckily I was going to the Chiropractor anyway to get adjusted but it didn’t really do anything for me as I was just as sore and stiff on Sunday. So I ended up spending most of my time trying to stretch it out and take as much pressure of my back as I could. Yesterday I finally broke down and bought one of those back pads that you see being advertised on the box, as well as some drugs... after that the back pain started to ease off and I ended up sleeping alright. But I’m not running just yet.
Not being able to run has been a pain in the proverbial. But it has enabled me to watch the end of the World Cup, I thought the game on Saturday between Uraguay and Germany was much better free flowing football than the game on Sunday between Spain and the Netherlands. It was good to see Spain win and become only the second team to hold both the UEFA Cup and the World Cup at the same time. I also got to see a lot of the Tour De France, which is getting pretty exciting now that Lance is way down on GC, him losing time on Sunday was probably the best thing to happen at the tour in a long time as it has made the race a wide open affair and I don’t think we’ll see a definitive winner until after the second last day which is a long time trial over 50Km in length. If its Andy Schleck that’s in Yellow starting the TT I don’t expect him to retain it unless he has a substantial lead over the other contenders, as he is not a renowned time trialist, when compared to Evans or Contador. Between now and then there are a couple of very hard stages that the riders have to get through down to the Pyrenees and then there is no real let up until the day before the TT.
My prediction for the race overall is Contador to win with Evans or Schleck being the runner up. Is going to be any surprise performances? Leipheimer fighting for third. As he can both Time trial and climb with the best of them. Unfortunately for RadioShack Levi’s chances are dependent on how much work Armstrong is willing to do for the team, as in the past he has not exactly been good at switching roles from leader to helper. If Armstrong was to drop out of the race for whatever reason I can see RadioShack giving up on the overall. (Pure speculation on my part)
Are we going to see any big doping stories at this year’s race.....Unless something comes from the investigation that started last year around Astana and Caisse d’Epargne getting preferential treatment from the testers then No. We may see something after the race with the Landis allegations.
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