FREAKing Awesome!

Last weekend was the first Dynamo Open Water Swim of 2012! It was also the official debut of my TYR FREAK OF NATURE WETSUIT!

The wesuit was awesome. Just as fast and flexible as advertised. It fit like a glove and slipped off like butter! I see even faster swim and transition times in my future!

But it wasn’t just the wesuit that made the swim a ridiculous amount of fun. Even with water temps hoovering around a chilly 70 degrees a ton of people showed up. Coach Maria set up a 500 meter loop complete with buoys and jet ski support. It almost felt like a real race!

I got a special treat when I got to pull K-Peasey for a loop in his kayak. I’ve always wondered how Brent manages to run faster when he’s racing with his brother, but my fastest swim loop was defintely the one when I was pulling Kyle. It’s pretty cool how having my workout affect someone else made me want to go harder. Or maybe I just really wanted to show Kyle I’m a faster swimmer than his brother!

If the swim wasn’t enough, Maria set up a post-swim ride from the lake – complete with her parents as SAG support! Seriously, when is the Thrash family being canonized? Because those people are definitely saints!

Sunday I joined my buddy Ryan for a tour of the new Mountain Madness race course. I’m not doing the half Ironman distance race next month, but I’d heard good things, so I decided to tag along for the course recon.

I’m happy to report, the rumors are true! The Mountain Madness bike course is both beautiful and brutal! The six mile climb to the course turn-around on the top of Fort Mountain has just the right amount of kick and the views from the top are gorgeous!

The six mile descent was pretty fun too!

After seeing how cool the course is, I’m a little sad I can’t race Mountain Madness this year. But the good news is I’m headed to New Orleans for my own Half Ironman race this weekend! And if a trip to the Big Easy wasn’t special enough, my little sister Hannah is coming to cheer me on! It’s going to be a great weekend and I’m so excited to kick off my 2012 season!! I’m predicting Limits Will Fall!