Armed Forces National Championships Prelude 2011

Some fast young men getting ready to whip it up.

It is 13 minutes before the transition area opens for the 2011 Armed Forces National Championships. It is cold here (by my standards) in that it is less than 60 degrees and the water is sub 55 degrees. Ocean swims are always daunting, but cold ocean swims are even more so. Yesterday the navy team went for a dip in the ocean, and I skipped it. No need to practice bleeding to remind ones’ self that bleeding is bad.

We have a stacked team here this year. I am not a short course ITU rules kind of athlete, but have had success in this venue before as well as in Sweden as a member of Team USA. This year, I did not submit an application, but truth be told, I was about number 15 with the numbers selected being at 12 men, 6 women. Fortunately, as one who has been here a lot, they invite me out of professional courtesy and allow me a role on the team as well as invite me to race in the open division. I love it because I get to be around all of this great energy and get in my first race of the year to start knocking off the rust of an all-too work intensive off season with not enough training. With a camp in Lodi last month and showing up here tired from 4 days of good training in Phoenix, I feel like I am starting to make strides toward some sort of real fitness. This race of two hours at my limit will be a nice piece of specific stress to continue to help me build that race fitness I am looking for with a couple of races in June being a target for me.
In one of my blogs last month, I mentioned that I doubted that I would race this year. I skipped a season of racing in 2007 during my year as commanding officer of my squadron, and while I loved my navy job, I was miserable because I had taken something out of my life that I truly love- racing triathlons. I know that my training will be compromised over the next two years in my current navy job, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t race. I love racing regardless of how fast or slow I go. Given the choice, I would rather go fast, but I will take what I can get. At a very basic level, I am just blessed to be healthy enough to train and race. I never forget that. This year will be what it will be, but I will continue to live like a champion and put that champion spirit in everything I do. This year I will also focus on fully supporting Teresa toward another Kona victory, as well as continuing to build the IMJ Coaching tribe.

I can tell this race is a different race for me as it is an hour before the race and I am sitting in my room on my bed blogging instead of warming up and going over my bike with a fine tooth comb. There is just something about being inside warm vs. outside being cold that is very appealing to me right now! I guess I should grow a pair and get moving toward the race. I will follow this up with a full race report and some insights on the race, the week with the navy athletes, and a little about what I pondered on in our hard 5 day block of work in Phoenix earlier this week. It is not necessarily a good thing to come into a prestigious race like this tired from training, but it is much better on the nerves, as usually in years past at this race, I was crawling out of my skin 90 minutes before a race. Today I just want to go race at my limit, not embarrass myself in front of these kids, represent my service and my country, live up to my rank, and be the best ambassador for our sport that I can be. If I zing out a respectable race along with that, awesome. If not, I will take notes on things I need to improve upon, pack up my bike, go have a beer with the other navy coach, and start back training hard tomorrow. Ok, now I gotta go as they are getting close to closing transition! Pain is temporary, but it is a lovely way to test a dudes' character. I will report back soon.

Jonser