Good times with good folks

Today was a pretty fun day probably worth writing about. Our new team suits came today from splish... and man are they tight! Turns out polyester fits at least a full size smaller... wow! haha, they are awesome though, and I think it's almost an axiom to say, "real men (and ladies) where really tight suits!"

Here are the men and women team suit designs:

Here is the cowboy suit that I got as well (awesome):

After practice we had a little fun with Kirsten's new (and my old) underwater cameras. We have a few days of recovery after the past couple weeks of higher volume so the rest of the day was chill. Headed to school for philosophy where we discussed "environmental racism" and then to english later in the day where we discussed a decent (enough) book called "Truth and bright water." After that Alex and I went for an easy 68 minute run at elk lake. Now I'm doing laundry and when I find the motivation and stop procrastinating... some homework.

Peace and Love.

On the horizon.

Nothing too exciting going on right now in the world of Austin Horn, I have been battling a little bit of a sore throat/head cold for a few days but managed to beat the worst of it without even missing a full day of training. Actually come to think of it I have only been sick one other time so far this season which took me out for only a day. *High-five* for consistency! *knock-on wood*

Anyway there is definitely some blog-worthy news on the horizon. It's almost time for attempting the dreaded "NTC standards". For those of you who are unaware what this means, the NTC has implemented a set of time qualifications that have to be met (among other requirements) by December 18th in order to be admitted into the NTC for the 2010 season. For U23 athletes such as myself, the standards are equivalent to those of the International Triathlon Union's (ITU) World Cup standards: 18:30 1500m swim and sub 32:40 10 000m run. Despite having run sub 32:40 numerous times throughout my life I will "prove fitness" this coming Friday by accomplishing the run standard via 10 000m time-trial on the track. The winds have been up to 100km/hr here lately and it is raining non-stop; not sure if the track is the greatest idea. I think a flat 10km on the road would be a lot easier but... oh well. How do I feel about this you might ask? Slightly stressed, because it is the off-season and my hardest run so far this fall has been 60 minutes base with a little steady-state. But I am also slightly excited/eager to get it over with so it is no longer hanging over my head. I am going to try and run sub 32 minutes if I can, just to stick it to all those haters out there ;) 

The same sort of ambiguity can be said for the 1500m swim time trial that is moving ominously closer. I have been feeling really great in the water lately so it will be interesting to see what I can do. Yet in the same breath it is off-season, meaning base mileage and technique have been the priority. But not to worry friends, I'll satisfy those standards!

Anyway, I'll see if I can get some sort of photo/video documentation of the events for your viewing pleasure. Hope you are all reading this healthy and happy.

Peace and Love.