New York / New Jersey highpoint

This past Friday, June 24, was the first day of a 4-week paid sabbatical from work, which is approximately the best thing ever. For my first stint of vacation, I flew up to New York for the weekend. Saturday was a big birthday party for family friends, celebrating their 75th and 80th birthdays. On my way back to my parents' house from their place in upstate New York, I hit the highest point in New Jersey, only a minor detour, really.

Danskin Tri/Time Trial/Congenital Heart Walk/Pflugerville Tri/Splash & Dash

I haven't been up to anything particularly epic since CapTex, so I thought I'd recap a few smaller things I have done into one post. Other than volunteering for two triathlons and participating in two friendly timed events (which I will expand upon), I changed up my training regimen. I've still been swimming twice a week, but have been doing a lot less running and cycling. What I've been focusing on is hiking, with some rock climbing in the gym a couple times a week. All this training is in anticipation of a mountain climbing trip I'll be embarking on very soon that will hopefully take me to the highest points in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. Much like I did to train for Rainier, I've been hiking up and down the "Hill of Life," a trail in a city park near my office with approximately 250 feet of elevation gain from bottom to top. I've added about 5 pounds to my pack every time I've done it, starting with about 35 pounds and working up to 50. The rock climbing has been pretty fun, other than managing to bruise my knees almost every session. I hadn't been on the wall much in the past few months, since I've been busy doing other workouts. I've made progress in my climbing- I recently topped out on the most difficult autobelay for the first time ever, and have repeated it a couple of times since. Also, when I was in recently one of the employees belayed and guided me up a route rated 5.8. So, I think I'm pretty ready for my trip, as long as the conditions are good enough.