June 8 - 14

Back to the training grind I love so much ...

Total: 17 hrs 7 min
Swim: 10,000 meters
Bike: 8 hrs 33 min
Run: 3hr 28 min
Strength, etc: 2 hrs 15 min

Training last week was good after taking it pretty easy Monday and Tuesday to absorb the work from the race last Sunday. By Tuesday the legs were feeling good and ready to put in some harder efforts. As for swimming, I was totally spent by Wednesday after swimming 4 days straight with no lack of intensity. So Thursday was no swimming and then back in the pool on Friday for a great session with my friend Chip Edgar. For the main set, which was 2000m continuous negative splitting the second half, we worked on drafting with each of us pulling 500 meter segments. This was a great learning experience for me as I haven't been able to draft well in races (and had just about given up on trying). Now I can see the true amount of rest you get when being pulled and know what to feel for with my hands to know I'm in the right spot. Hopefully I'll get to try out my new found awareness this weekend.

Which brings us to the upcoming race on Saturday. I can't wait ... this is a really fun race just across town. It's a great little sprint race that was established last year, but this year there have been some changes made to the bike course to make it a little longer and avoid a busy intersection. So times won't really be comparable to last year. The downside of racing is that training volume for the week goes down (unless you're just "training through it" - which I am not). It's a local race so I want to do my best to represent my sponsors and supporters well.

I think the reason I'm looking forward to the race so much is that it is a kind of celebration of the culmination of the short-course season for me. After this race my focus will shift to preparing for the 70.3 race in Augusta and B2B iron distance race. I'm tossing around the idea of going to Tuscaloosa for the USAT Age Group National Championship race but haven't decided yet. Actually I'm a long way from deciding as I haven't yet mentioned it to Jennifer.

On the family side it was a big weekend of dance recitals. We had family come in town from Savannah to watch the kids and Jennifer do their thing on stage. They all did great! Hannah (3 yrs old) was hilarious ... at one point she covered her eyes (so no one could see her) and then laid face-down on the stage during the performance with the other "babies". It didn't help that the whole place was laughing at them, but it was just too cute and funny not to laugh! The next night she did much better with the stage fright, but did end up getting mad at one of the other 3 yr olds and chased her around the stage trying to whack her with her wand. That's my girl!!

Abby (almost 5) on the other hand was the consummate professional. She had here routine absolutely mastered and really was in another league from the other 4 and 5 year olds. Everyone was so impressed and we were EXTREMELY proud of her! I would say that she has a gift for ballet.

Have a great week and train well!