Domers and HART Training Camp

 

So its been yet another while since I’ve posted a blog, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to catch up. Also, I’m trying to use Windows Live Writer to see if it makes blogging a bit more easier and fun.

The week after TdH was pretty pedestrian. HART training on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, swimming on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, trail run on Saturday, and mountain biking on Sunday. I had packed in a full week because Amy, fellow Domer, was coming into town next week and I would not get any exercise in. I was mostly right—I got to sneak a work out in here and there. That week I went to HART training on Tuesday, swam on Wednesday and Thursday, and rode my bike on Friday and Sunday.

Amy came in that Thursday and it was  great seeing her. We quickly caught up and Mo couldn't wait to bounce wedding ideas off of her. She got into town late that evening, so we let he get to bed relatively early to rest up. Next day was a whirlwind of a time as I barely remember any of it. I remember Taco Milagro, margaritas, dancing the merengue and salsa, Whitney’s flurry of punches and me having to go home before another round of clubs. Needless to say, nothing got done on Saturday.

The next few days were similar, going out for drinks and entertaining, until she left on Tuesday. Thankfully we both survived the visit—it was certainly tame compared to our days at ND! So it  was back to business with HART training on Tuesday and Thursday, swimming on Monday and Wednesday, track intervals on Wednesday, biking on Friday and Sunday.

That Saturday was the HART Sprint AR training camp up at Lake Livingston SP. I had agreed to help Rick, so I headed up that morning and quickly he told me and Tommy to set up a Tyrolean traverse somewhere in the park. Uh, ok. I had no idea how to set one of those up, but I figured Tommy did and I would be able to help him out. After the camp had started and Rick led them off for a warm up run, we rolled out on our bikes to find a spot. It wasn't that hard as we already had a place in mind. When we arrived, there were kids trying to ride up the hill in they bmx bikes, but we didn't pay them much attention and went ahead with the setup.

Tommy had set up a great pulley system to get the  lines really taut. After about a half hour of set up, it was time to test the rig. I of course deferred to Tommy to have first crack at it since he set up the rope. There were no issues and I followed him down the rope—it was perfect. Eventually, after they paddled the sevys, Rick and the campers made it over to the set up and one by one they traverse the draw and it was a lot of fun.

They ran back to TA a for some navigation training which I was supposed to help out with, so I quickly helped out Tommy and then rode back. It was a pretty laid back nav session and we followed it up with a practical field exercise to find 3 or 4 checkpoints. I rode along on bike to make sure no one got too far off course.

After that, they did a mock sprint race while the rest of us started cooking the hot dogs. It was certainly a great day to have a training camp—heck the usually choppy Lake Livingston was eerily calm for the whole session! After all teams finished up, we sat for lunch and then passed out certificates of completion—no one quit, which is great! It was a good experience to interact with the newbies and feel their fresh enthusiasm for AR.

Since I didnt get to train with the group that day, I went on a long bike ride the next day in town. With that, I’m gonna stop this blog and continue later with the next 3 or 4 weeks. I still have to recap Lake Georgetown, my first open water swim, and the first sprint race of the TerraFirma series coming up this weekend…and its Jonathan’s stag party weekend over in Austin too! Busy, busy! Until then, mash hard!