A Sunday Surprise!

Today Troy and I decided to go for a training swim after church. That went about status quo and we both felt pretty good. Troy's noticeably a much better swimmer because his rest intervals have become much shorter. However, that was not the most impressive part of the day. After the day was almost done, we decided to go for a short but intense training ride at around 7:00. Here's where it gets really interesting. About half way through the ride, I looked down at my speed meter and realized that we were averaging 18.7 mph with Troy doing the pacing. On our rides, I always allow Troy to set the pace in order for him to stay comfortable during the ride. Once I realized that he was setting a personal best, I wanted to see just what he had in him for the rest of the nearly 10 mile ride. Suffice to say, we ended the ride averaging 19.3 miles per hour. That, until this point, is unheard of for the "Big Man"! I found him pushing my limits today and struggling to stay on his wheel. I'm still in shock at how much he's found within himself on the bike. Troy has truly found himself on his machine and once he's drop more weight, there's no telling how good he could be due to his natural strength. I'm in the middle of witnessing him as a test lab rat as he transforms his body and health. What a cool thing to see!

Now from Troy's perspective:

Ok, for the 3 or 4 of you out there that are following along, I wanted to interject a direct work from me to you (at the urging of my brother). Today was a GREAT day. I can really feel my body adjusting to the demands of what will be called upon in two weekends for the “big day.” Let’s not kid ourselves about Todd. He’s BEEN ready! This is more about transforming my XL carcass into some semblance of condition for a triathlon. Today we swam for 30 minutes at the Rec Center. It was a little bit tough at first, but half way through it, I felt my adrenaline kick in and I felt I could have gone on and on for a while. Suffice to say that after a bit of a swimming layoff, Aqua Man is BACK! From there, we spent time with friends out by the pool at the Brickell’s house. All of our kids just LOVE that place, and rightfully so. Truly, our friends are a gift from God in every way. When we left the Brickell’s, we went to our respective homes and prepared for a sprint ride into town. We did our normal route, but something was different today. Today, I felt “froggy” as Todd would say (meaning feeling a little bit extra in the tank for any random reason), so we decided early in the ride to push it! It was AWESOME! T drafted off of my for the first half of the ride and then as I became weaker due to the pace, I drafted off him on the back half. When we crossed over the finish line, we had done about 9 miles at 19.3 mph – more than 2 mph over my personal best. If you don’t know biking, it’s like shaving 30 or 45 seconds off your personal best on a mile run all at once. It kind of came out of the blue. I’m super pumped about it. It only motivates me that much more. I feel myself getting happier and more confident by the day, but most importantly, I feel my relationship with God increasing in closeness, and I feel like Todd is sharing in that feeling as well.

PS. I tried on my “goal clothes” tonight for the first time. I was VERY fearful of it, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I’m only one inch away in the pants for both suits to be able to wear them. In truth, probably 1.5 to 2 inches away from a nice and proper fit (in the waist). I’m still carrying a good bit of my gut, but even at that, I WAS able to button all three buttons on both suit jackets. Mind you, there’s no way on God’s green earth that I’d wear them that tight outside of my bedroom, BUT, they did button without having to push it too hard. I think in a month or so, I’ll officially be formal attire eligible. :)