Last Weekend and Healthy Fear (of me)

Wow, it’s been to long since I’ve posted! I guess I have just been busy! Last weekend was fun. On Saturday I rode the Cove House Classic. I had planned on doing the 63 mile route, but my legs felt like they didn’t show up to play, and it was the most hilly course I have ridden thus far. I ended up going nearly 53 and at a 19.1 mph pace, so I can’t complain—that was a great pace for me especially with the hills, but I just was done. It was cooler than it has been, but also more humid. So, instead of some of the sweat evaporating, it just stayed there and I was totally drenched, but not sunburned. I’ll take the trade off. On Sunday I headed to Austin and participated in the Austin Triathlete’s 2.4 mile Open Water Swim. The temps were decent outside, the water was fairly warm though (definitely not a wet suit day), and it was windy and the water choppy. I felt excellent for the first 1.2 mile loop and was able to draft for a bit off of a guy…unfortunately I probably didn’t pick the best person to draft off of in that I probably slowed myself down to much to stay in his draft. Oh well, I did learn much more about drafting, and this whole swim was for learning and confidence. It probably wasn’t until the last 600m that I started getting the thoughts of “I want to be done, are we there yet, are there yet?” So, considering that I’m training for a Half-Ironman with a 1.2 mile swim, my plan to make that seem short has already worked! My stroke’s form really degraded during the last 600ms though, so that’s not good. I finished in 1h 24 min, or about a 2:11 pace, I did the first 1.2 miles in less than 2:00 pace or faster, and then slowed that second loop. I looked at all the times for everyone out there that swam the 800m, the 1.2 miles, and the 2.4 miles and it was a much slower average than the last times they have done it. So, I can tell that the chop really made a difference with. I now have a benchmark from which to improve (which I will) at that distance for next year, and feel strong I felt great when I was done though, and am more confident everyday about the Longhorn 70.3 in October. After the swim several of us went out to eat there in Austin and it was truly enjoyable! What a fun weekend.

This week I began change of command inventories so I can take over one-month from today. That will keep me busy, and thus far has been a fairly painless process. It’s a lot of equipment to go through, but if I’m going to sign for it, I am going to see it and make it sure we have it! A funny workout/PT (PT=physical training, not physical therapy) happened at yesterday’s layouts. I made the comment that I was glad the rain held out for us (the equipment layout was outside). One of my soon-to-be troops mentioned he wanted it to rain during PT the next day so it’d be canceled. I looked at him and said, “Uh oh, apparently you haven’t heard the news that your incoming commander is fairly fond of PT.” I then got several looks of “what do you mean.” I then proceeded to tell them that my favorite off-duty activities are triathlon and marathon training and that this next year I plan to compete in Boston Marathon and an Ironman and that this year I had a few races left, to include the Half-Ironman and another Marathon. They asked me if I was doing the a triathlon that the post is putting on in September, and I said yes, it’d be good cause it’s short and fast because it’s a 300m swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. The reply to that was “Ma’am, you think that’s short?” I then told them how long the Half-Ironman is (I didn’t even mention, at this point, the length or intent to do the Ironman next year…that’d be too much at once!) and got the “uh oh, the incoming CDR is crazy!” A little bit of healthy fear is good. I think they’ll be surprised when they see what the this 5’3” frame can do when it comes to running and other Army PT!