Swimming Big

To make the most out of not biking or running for several days, I bumped my swim mileage through the roof. And it worked. I've slowly but steadily been getting stronger and faster in the pool, as well as more comfortable spending so much time in it.

After a few days, the knee had healed up enough to start biking again. Just in time, too, as I left Gainesville to come down to Clermont for a week homestay with some other professional athletes. When everyone else around you runs, bikes, and swims every single day, it's really hard to do nothing, much less just swim! So, at the very least, I have been able to swim, bike, swim the last several days in an attempt to keep myself almost as busy as them!

Along with rehabbing the knee with some weight training to hopefully correct any muscular imbalances that might have caused the problem in the first place, I've come to really enjoy this simple lifestyle of doing almost nothing but training and eating all day long. It's a whole different and much more enjoyable experience when you are not the only one doing it. And around here, you are definitely not the only one...

So far, while swimming at the National Training Center (NTC), the majority of people I've spoken to or swam next to have seemingly turned out to be professional triathletes of some sort or another. Some, have caused me to a be a bit starstruck, like the other day when I met Nina Kraft and she invited me on a group ride later in the week. Others, have even offered much needed stroke advice while swimming next to me.

I've gone on bike rides with pros Zach Rubles and fellow roommate Andrey Lyatskiy from Russia. Both could seemingly drop me at will (and did, several times...). But in my efforts to keep up, I've gotten some quality bike sessions in, particularly during the middle of the week where I would normally be forced to ride alone due to winter hours.

It's been like living a dream. To simply wake up and train. All day. Every day. To be surrounded by so many other driven, talented, hard working athletes. This, is a good place to be!