rest and changes

Just wrapped up another big IM block.  Now it's time for some rest to let all that work settle in.  And then.....the LAST big block before taper for Canada.  Wow, that...um....kinda snuck up on me in some ways.

I will admit....I'll be glad when race day is here. IM is stealing my weekends and I'd like them back.


Last weekend I followed up a 6+ hour brick on Saturday with a little 2 mile OW swim event on Sunday.  Molly, my unofficial official photographer, was swimming the 1 mile.  So she grabbed some pics:

ELF athletes, pre-swim.

That's my yellow cap in the center...just after the start.

Truthfully, I had *no* idea where my swim fitness is at, so my guess of 1:10-:15 for 2 miles seemed reasonable for a wetsuit swim.  I came in the first lap (2 laps of a 1 mile course) in something like 28 minutes, so I was quite happy with that.  I wasn't sure I could hold the pace, although it felt nice and steady.  Not working too hard, not too easy.  I got a little off course on the second lap, nothing horrible, and as I was approaching the last of the buoys, I knew I could squeak in just under an hour.  For a 2 mile swim, I'll take it.  Let's hope I can shave a little more off of that time before Canada.  We'll be testing it out next month in  a 2.4 mile OW swim event.

In other news, I'm making a change.  I'm leaving my full time job in favor of a part time contract programming position.  Well, a couple of part time gigs actually.  The things I'm looking forward to most:

• not having 6-ish hours of commute time/week
• working from home almost exclusively!
• setting my own work hours
• giving my brain a workout, instead of stagnating some more with my current work
• working with some former co-workers that are great friends

And that's just the top handful!   I have a 1 year contract, so worst case it doesn't work out long term and in a year I look for something else.  But it's time to give it a shot.

And now....I'm off to enjoy rest week.  Ahhhhhhhh.