Recovery Tricks

On the advice of a really fast roadie friend of mine, Chellie, I got myself a pair of these:

Skins, aka compression tights. Apparently they are all the rage in the roadie world and with all the traveling and driving I do she couldn't believe I didn't own a pair. I'm always up for an experiment, so I ordered a pair for "travel and recovery." I'm going to test them out today on my drive to the Galena Grinder just north of Sun Valley. It's a short drive for me (4.5 hours) in comparison to all the other drives I do for races, but I'll give them a shot today. Looks like I'll be using the AC. I will also wear a pair of shorts over them because they leave nothing to the imagination.

I've been trying to focus on recovery all week after the Breckenridge 100, doing easy trail and road rides and spending a lot of time here with Maddy:


Trail Creek is just down the street from my house. The small dam creates just enough of a current so that you can stand there up to your hips in FREEZING cold water and get a little massage from mother nature. 15 min. a day has been working wonders for my tired legs and avoids putting me into the dreaded ice bath, Eric's favorite recovery trick. It also gives Maddy plenty of time for swimming and chasing sticks down stream. She's scared to death of the dam and trying to get her to run across it was hilarious. She stood at the entrance and barked and howled for 5 min. before she mustered the guts to run across. Then she smartened up and realized that it would just be easier to swim back to the other side.

Tomorrow I'll be racing in the Idaho State marathon championships, the Galena Grinder. The course is 45 miles, 2 laps on an epic 22.5 mile loop. The Knobby Tire Series is a great one. It's well-attended, very organized and it always has challenging courses. KTS racing is typically real mountain biking - rocks, stream crossings, hike-a-bikes - the kind of stuff that makes mountain bikers smile, including great prizes and free beer afterwards! I've wanted to do this race for years, but my schedule has never allowed for it. I've packed the camping gear, the radar detector, the Racer X and hopefully some recovered legs for the trip.