Rejuvenation...

I have had a rejuvenation this past week. And it begins with Rio. The spanish word for river. Maybe the river of life and wisdom. Maybe the river of creativity and perseverance. Maybe the river of January. Literally the "river of January" is the meaning for Rio de Janeiro. I have fully re-devoted my training to the 2016 Olympics. They will be held in Rio. It has rejuvenated my push for professional status. It has also rejuvenated my push for God's will through my training, because without his grace I would not be able to do this athletic endeavor. So, as I reach for higher athletic fame, I must also redouble my efforts for God to grant me what he has the power to take away from me. It is becoming clearer to me that training and racing triathlons is a priviledge granted to me by God. Many people can and will race the same triathlons I do, but they will feel no more than personal, earthly satisfaction out of them without God riding tandem with them. I fully commit to riding tandem with God through all my training and racing in the next 7 years.

With that said, here is the training that has been happening since I last posted.
I have had some niggles in my foot that has sidelined any increase in intensity of my training for the last week or two. I am still running 20-30 miles per week. But, not as many morning runs or workouts with the team I coach in the PM. I have gotten in some good rides, but got run over with school work this last week and hardly got on the bike at all. I am refocusing some energy into weight training and injury prevention, so that the small things stay small and no new pains pop up. My swimming has also taken a hit because of my busy schedule and I have only been in the pool two, maybe three, times in the last couple weeks. I don't think I am losing any fitness in the pool, but I am not improving thats for sure.
I ran a 5K race on friday and did ok. It wasn't as great as I wanted, but it was pretty close to where it should be considering where I am at in my training. I think I am in about 1:25 half marathon shape right now, which will translate, hopefully, to about a 1:30 half at the end of the triathlon. I am shooting for 1:30.
I did 130min bike ride last weekend and averaged (at 7,000ft elev.) 22mph (approx.) which is exactly where I want to be for the bike in the tri.
I also swam a 1000m time trial last week and finished in 16:50, which puts me right around 32min for 1900m, which would solidly place me in the swim as well.
Overall, my times are doing ok, with the lack of training I am experiencing. I have about a week and a half of solid training time left before a taper and the race. Pretty stoked to see how I do and where I am able to finish!