So you have to run downhill fast also?

This weekend was a classic fall weekend in Rochester - great foliage and poor weather reports. However, this time the weather folks got it wrong in our favor. The weather Saturday was supposed to be cold, raining and windy, instead it was about 60 with no rain and occasional wind. So, Jason, Chad and I took advantage of the good weather and did a 3.5 hour skate roller ski. I felt pretty rocked afterwards but also pumped that not only was I able to get through it, I was feeling great almost the entire ski.

Today, I did a XC running race at Ithaca College. Going to IC brought back some great memories from my baseball-playing days as the RIT/Ithaca weekend was always one that was circled on my calendar, and some of my best memories in a baseball uniform happened on their field. As anyone that's been to Ithaca, NY can attest, there's no shortage of hills in that neck of the woods, and the course today included some of them. Overall, it was an ok race, I pushed hard on the uphills, but really didn't run the downhills well at all, it seemed like a lot of guys were running the downhills very aggressively, where I was running the downhills trying to not break any ankles. These races are really just a piece of my training regiment for the winter (obviously, since I did a marathon roller ski yesterday), so I'm not really that worried that I didn't set any PR's, but it was a little frustrating to pass several people on every uphill only to see them fly past me on the downhills. No big deal though, I was happy with the race effort (avg hr 181 bpm) and am in general happy with where my fitness level is, especially since my focus recently has been on getting ready for ski season and not on running fast.

I'm looking forward to getting back into a normal routine this week. This will be the first week in the last month and a half where I will be in the office and won't have any customers in town. Now, I'm going to hopefully watch the Bills get their season back on track (not holding my breath though). Final note - Nancy and I picked a date and location for the wedding - 11 June 2010 at Bristol Harbor!