lingo/legend
TPR = training personal record
PB = Portage Bay (run)
PR = Personal record
GL = Greenlake (run)
SA = San Antionio, USMPA home
Random Andy = stray shot Red = new personal record
Monday, June 11. Wow...a post-elevation swim and the beginning of Lowe's.
I did a small swim workout this morning, starting slow since I haven't swam in a week or so. Wow, upon returning from Colorado Springs (at 6,000 feet) the swim felt REALLY good. Even had some OK times during my sprints. I'll have to try running tomorrow morning and see how that feels.
Started job #2 tonight. As I've mentioned, buying a house and training for pentathlon doesn't come cheap so I've had to resort to a second job to stay on financial track. I'm working in the paint section, far from my first choice but its where they needed the help. I'm going to keep the pressure on to get into the garden area. I figure I sit inside a building all day, it would me nice to be outside for the rest of it. It turned out to be a really late close so I doubt I'll be swimming tomorrow.
Monday, June 10. The Nationals Report.
Just arrived home from the the big trip to Nationals. Yeah, I'm a little bummed that I chose not to compete, but after doing some quick runs here and there and helping out taking down the riding course after the women's event I was pretty happy that I didn't in fact compete. My muscles were screaming just from these activities so I think my times in the run and swim would have been pretty bad. Next year, I'll head down early and get acclimated.
Sunday, June 9. The Women's Event.
Mary Beth Iagorashvili won the Women's event once again. No surprises here, but there were a lot of great other performances as well, especially from the juniors. I actually got drafted to be a referree during the shoot, which really only involves collecting the targets from the athlete I was assigned to, Lara Hammerick. During the fencing a took a lot of great photos (stay tuned) and helped out Sloane and Amy whenever needed. Mary Beth still screams after her touches. I think I need to take this up, it really helps get you appropriately psyched up for "pentathlon style" fencing. The young Brit, Victoria, won the swim with a 2:17 which was quite a surprise. The ride went pretty well with the exception of the visiting athlete from Mexico and her experience on Java. Java likes to rear a lot and she got the full brunt of this nasty little habit. She actually did quite well on the ride though. Anita Allen has to ride Java next and so was a bit anxious. Anita did a great job on him though. No big surprises on the run, more good pictures coming soon here too.
After the pentathlon , we all went out to Penrose House for a reception. The venue was stunning and the dinner very tasty so the whole event was really great. It just so happens that the G-7 committee meets at the Penrose House and the Tonya Harding case was also held here. Pretty cool.
Friday, June 7. OTC arrival and meetings.
Sloane and I arrived at the Olympic Training Center after driving up from Albuquerque about and hour before the big technical meeting. Turned out that one of Sloane's college friends is working at the OTC, so that was pretty cool. Amy Raines soon showed up and before long the "Technical Meeting" was underway. This was the first point in which I was glad I was not competing. Lots of little rules, lots of anxious athletes, lots of drug testing minutia, etc. I just sat back and enjoyed the whole things for once...no stress. My high school and college good friend, Skye, who is now living in Boulder doing archaeology work showed up around 6:30ish. After the big meetings we wend over to the Broadmoor Hotel for some evening dinner and drinks.
Monday, June 3. 2nd job, surprise run and late night fencing lesson.
I started my second job today at Lowe's. House ownership and pentathlon training don't come cheap and college and credit card bills from travelling don't help much either. I'll be working a couple weeknights each week and then Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah, it means that I won't be doing as much training, but when I look at my new training schedule...its not all that different, just less down time. I'll still be running and swimming four or five times per week, shooting three times per week, fencing twice a week and riding once a week. Not a whole lot different. Yeah, I'll be busy...but I'll be rich and fit! The plan is to do this for a couple years, get bills paid off and then be able to get into more polo after this round of the pentathlon adventure is over following Athens 2004.
My fencing lesson was scheduled for 8:30pm tonight but Marshall had a student start back up so I was bumped to 9:00 which ment the 9:00 lesson, Monica, was bumpted to 9:30. I opted to let her go first so that I could get a quick run in. Wasn't expecting to do a run, but hey, sometimes you have to be an opportunist. I just did a steady state run out and back along Lake Union, beautiful night for it too. Although my fencing lesson was late, it was a good one. Doing lunges at 10:00 after a run isn't the best way to get top performance, but the lesson actually did a lot in breaking down my "reaction" fencing and replacing it with "correct response" fencing in that I really had to pay attention to what Marshall was doing rather than expecting what was coming. Good stuff.
I'll be off to watch pentathlon Nationals this Thursday, going to Albq. first to hook up with Sloane and hang with my brother. Then Sloane and I drive up on Friday to Colorado Springs. Men's competition is on Sat, Women's on Sun.
