Training and Tri-Rock

A lot has happened over the past few months since my last post about the CSL Mud Run. I spent a busy yet exciting summer at Camp Seneca Lake, followed by less than 24 hour at home in Virginia before heading back to Austin, Texas! I was able to watch the 2015 Team complete their ride over social media, officially making 2016 the current ride year! Over the summer I began training for my ride by going on runs a few times a week and working out in various ways, which I normally do every year at camp anyways. A small deterrent in my steady training was a concussion that I encountered in the middle of August. Putting a pretty large damper on the rest of my summer, the concussion brought down my spirits and undid much of the running that I had trained for over the summer.

Come August 31st, I ran a 5K test with my fellow Texas 4000 teammates as our first fitness checkpoint. I was very fearful because it was only my second time running since my concussion, and the first time did not feel good at all. In the end, I was able to keep up with the pace of some of my teammates and finish the 5K in about 27:40 minutes. That is the fastest that I have ever ran a 5K in my life! Now that the 5K is out of the way, our team has weekly workouts every Saturday morning until we get on our bikes in late October. This weekend was our first workout and I realized how much training I will really have to do. Combatting the humidity and the Texas heat will be an ongoing challenge that I am ready to face. Hopefully it will get better as the semester continues.

Another fun thing that has happened since my last blog post was my kick start to volunteering. I spent the moajority of today, outside in the blazing heat, as I volunteered at the Tri-Rock Triathlon. The Triathlon does not start until tomorrow (Labor Day), but today we helped load the bikes so that they are all ready for the race. It was very interesting to see all of the logistics of a Triathlon and it inspired me to run one in the future, probably after biking to Alaska. Although I won't be there to watch all of the competitors tomorrow, I know that they will all rock it!

This weekend, I will be taking my official Texas 4000 Rider Headshot, which I will be sure to post as soon as can!