It is unbelievable when you come out of a sickness haze how you get the feeling of what it is like to live like a normal person. It feels like....no...it HAS been months since I felt like a normal healthy guy. I listened to my body and while I i hated doing it, I said no to tons of races and general deep training to give the body and mind a break. This week was my first week back to training and got 5 solid days in between my work and family schedule. The new training program is ramping and is way realistic and something I can execute on and feel good about.

Monday Tempo and cadence Busstop Course
Tuesday Flagstaff Mountain bench mark
Wednesday Tempo and cadence Busstop Course
Thursday Left Hand Lee Hill tempo and Hill interval
Friday Flagstaff early season trial

The body is responding, painfully, but still with a smile. I have been waking up each morning this week thinking "Oh my God, what do I feel like? Do I feel sick again? Did I deplete my immune system like battery acid with yesterday's work out??" And each day I feel better. Miraculous. It's so f'd up when you are sick for so long, your mind is convinced it will never get better. I feel like I am well on my way to something good.

On a totally unrelated note, here's where good kids make good! An old Rocky Mounts devo from a few seasons ago is kicking ass in Italy! Jon Garcia is leading the BMC team over there in Italy at the Giro del Friuli Venezia Giulia . He is responsible for getting us Levon (seen center here) who is racing strong for us these days. Jon's team mate Scott was staying down the streat from me at Dan's for a bit and I can tell you these are good, core kids. It is unbelievable that Jon and this group of kids are breaking legs over there. Kudos.