Home again, home again!

Oh, by the way, I'm chillin' at the farm in DeLand right now...surprise! I've been home for a few days, hanging out with the family, and training in the humidity!
Long story (yep, you're gonna get the whole thing, not just the short version:) When we got back to the OTC in Colorado Springs after the race in Tempe...I emptied my bags, did some laundry, and started packing again. I did some light training during the first few days of the week. Nothing too strenuous or long...it was a recovery week and I my body need serious recovery after the meltdown in Tempe.
On Thursday morning I did a 2 hour bike ride on my own while the rest of my team was at swim practice. It was the last time I would get to ride my bike for a few days (and the LAST thing I need is extra swimming:). I had a beautiful ride up Gold Camp road. It is a long climb, but not very steep, and the view that you get at the top is amazing!
Around 11am, I hopped in the shuttle and headed to the airport. Fortunately, my flight was from COS to Chicago so I did not have to fear another experience on the HOT plane (read 'Tempe Pre Race blog if you don't know what I'm talking about:). The flight was uneventful, as was my connection from Chicago to Ft. Myers, Florida which got me there around 10pm.
What am I doing in Ft. Myers, you might be wondering. It's on the opposite side of the state from where my family is...and a good 5 hour drive! Well, I was flown in by USA Swimming to be the National Team Athlete at the Southern Regional Distance Swimming Camp. The camp went from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. But first, I was picked up by the Kennedy family...parents of my totally awesome Gator teammate Katie Kennedy...who live in Ft. Myers. I stayed in Katie's room for the night before the camp started the next day at the local college. Thanks Kennedys for you hospitality!!
On Friday morning I slept in really late...woke up around 10:30am and attempted a jog around the neighborhood. Bad Idea! Florida is HOT and HUMID...running at 10:30 was not wise! I was thirsty before I got around the corner of their subdivision:) After guzzling some water and showering, I got a ride to the Florida Gold Coast University campus and checked into my dorm room for the weekend. No surprise at the 'distance camp' that we were in the water at 5pm cranking out some yardage (meterage actually because we were in a really nice LCM pool). I think we put in 6500m in under 2 hours! These kids were all high school or younger...but they reminded me of, well, me at their age...little wind up toys in the pool!
Saturday morning was another solid swim practice (after I did a little jogging in the EARLY morning) of about 7500m. After lunch I gave a little talk to the campers about my life story, school, swimming, triathlons, open water, teammates, etc. Then, for afternoon practice, we headed to the beach (Gulf of Mexico) to do an Open Water training session. It was a lot of fun and I was able to swim in the exact place that I will be racing in soon (more on that in the future). The water was not too warm, but definitely the Gulf in the summer. I got used to the small, choppy waves that will be happening in the afternoon races.
I'm 3 swim practices into this camp and I will easily admit that I was DYING! That was already more swimming in 1 1/2 days than I normally do in 1 week now. Things were hurting and throbbing all over! But that's not the end of the story...Sunday morning practice was a big warm up, 3000m for time, and big warm down (7100m+)!! 3000 for time...yikes! I almost got my butt kicked by this 14 year old phenom girl...but I swam a 35:10 and had 30 seconds on her at the finish! I was pretty pleased with that time...it's holding an average of 1:10s...Unfortunately, I know that I was doing 33 minute 3000s when I was at UF...but that was then and this is now:)
I really don't think I could have survived another practice with the camp...good news is that I didn't have to find out because my Dad borrowed a friend's plane and flew to a small airport in Ft. Myers where I was waiting! It was sooo much fun to be flying with Dad...and so much fun to be going home for a few days! So that is where I am now...hanging out with the family...training on my old bike...swimming with Daytona Beach Speed...taking care of my pet bird Angel...eating homemade ice cream!!
But the fun times are short lived...I am all packed up again and counting down the last few minutes before we pile into the car and start driving back to Ft. Myers. The schedule of racing this weekend looks like this: Friday @ 1pm: 5K open water nationals; Saturday @ 5:30pm: 1 mile open water Dash for Cash; Sunday @ 8am: 10K open water nationals. I will be competing in all 3 events (the only thing I am not doing is the 25K nationals...I think they swam that today) and I hope to make the World Championship team to compete in Montreal! More info on the weekend of events here: http://www.usa-openwaterswim.com/.