Well, I made it through the triathlon season. I think this is the first time in my five years of doing tris that I’ve done all the races I was signed up for, and didn’t get a major (or minor) injury. No broken wrist, no broken ankle, no sprains, no plantar fasciitis, none of the usual maladies. Not bad.
The last race, the Nation’s Triathlon, which I haven’t written up, was my fastest to date – 3:17:21, or about 15 minutes faster than my previous fastest Olympic distance race. I attribute most of that to the bike. This was a relatively flat course compared to the other races I’ve done, and it showed. However, that said, while the swim went really well at North East (in that I swam the whole thing), I managed to swim, bike, AND run the entire distance with no pauses for rest, which I have to say I’m particularly tickled about. I’ve always had to take walking breaks on the run, and it was soooo nice not having that happen this time. Getting there, albeit slowly.
It does bode well for a good season next year, with a bit more thought going into preparation now. As I mentioned last month, I’m signed up for three races, an Olympic, a Half and a full IM, and I’m starting to do some off-season stuff to help get going for next year, planning out the general tone of workouts, getting in some yoga, etc. I want this next year to work, racing-wise, and to do well at the IM.
In other news™, I find myself smitten. A friend I’ve known very casually online popped down to DC from Boston over Labor Day weekend, and let me know he was coming in. We planned and then met up for bear happy hour at Motley on Friday night, and well, I finally slept in my own bed again Monday night after putting him on a train back to BWI to fly home. To say that we hit it off well would be an understatement. I’ve very much been enjoying chatting with him, flirting via SMS, etc. Mike’s a good guy, and I look forward to getting to know him better. Longer readers will know that I rarely travel on my own (when not for races), so the fact that I have plane tickets to Boston next month should be a sign of how this is going. We know it’ll be a challenge living in two very different cities, but since when have I done anything normally? And I think he’s worth it.