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Hunt was an instinctual safety and just played smart. I loved watching him play the position. I also think his contributions to the 2003 championship defense are often overlooked. He was not the most talented, but he understood Saban’s defense and seemed to be the proverbial quarterback in the defensive backfield. My memory is he didn’t play the one game we lost in 2003 (against Florida) and it showed. We gave up two long TD passes that game to a freshman QB named Chris Leak. I still think Hunt would have broken up at least one of them.

Besides the things mentioned already, I tend to remind myself (in a pep talk sort of way) that training in the heat/humidity leads to beneficial adaptations in the body that are similar to those gained by training at altitude. Those heat/humidity benefits will stay with you and will make you faster in the fall when things cool off. An 88 degree race in September that melts others will feel good to you. The only way to get those advantages is to get out in the soup.

Also, I keep a vigilant eye on my heart rate and am always looking for early signs of a problem. I keep myself within relatively easy striking distance of hydration/cool places on my routes. I hate holding anything in my hands when I run, but I will carry a bottle. I wear sunglasses. It’s totally mental, but I think it tricks my brain into thinking it’s cloudier/cooler than it is.

Great job meeting your goals Mingo! That’s awesome. I hope you had a ball out there today.

I feel you on having to make a choice. Do what you love bud. If soccer is your deal, great! If, however, you want to give swimming a go for a bit, it will certainly give your knees a break. I will confess, I usually enjoy going to the pool, but an early morning swim schedule has always been hard for me to adopt consistently. Some people love knocking their sessions out straight away though so to each their own.

I don’t remember being any more hungry than usual compared to other workouts when I picked up swimming. I do remember how hard fatigue would hit me later in the day when I first started though. I wasn’t much of a nap person back then, but it seemingly became necessary for me to catch a 10 minute cat nap somewhere during the afternoon. That got better after a few weeks. That was just my experience though. Others might respond differently.

I set my goal of doing my first 70.3 and then put a sprint race on my calendar in front of it as part of my training. It was a particularly helpful exercise for me because it gave me opportunity to learn about things like race packing, race morning routine, transition set up and the actual rules of triathlon. That was also my first experience swimming in open water with others all around me. There were other things I picked up as well from that experience and I think it helped make my first 70.3 much more enjoyable. A person doesn’t have to do a shorter distance race before doing their first 70.3, but for whatever it is worth I think it is a good idea if you can. I also didn’t realize how many sprint triathlons were out there until I started looking. I bet there will be some options within a few hours from wherever you live.

I am not an expert at all. There are some folks around here who have a ton of experience and wisdom that I would listen to before anything from me. Maybe one of them will respond to you. In the meantime, it looks to me like you have a very solid fitness base to build from. I don’t think there is any doubt you could do a 70.3. A good plan (and better yet a coach) and the opportunity to execute the training would put you in a very good spot to have a great first race day.

The swim seems to be a concern for you (very common, it was for me too). You also note that you don’t really have a convenient place to swim near your home. That’s something to figure out. It is impossible to improve the swim without swimming. The good news is, if you give yourself a long enough runway, you can build sufficient swim fitness and technique with as little as two swim sessions a week to cover the 1.2 mile swim and not be toast for the rest of the race. I have seen people go this route and be fine. Obviously, won’t be the swimmer and triathlete you might be, but it’s doable.

Since you don’t have a race picked out yet, maybe you can find a place on your calendar sometime in the future where you can get creative and build in getting to a pool for a couple of months twice a week? The sessions don’t have to be long. I would think 30-40 minutes with rest included is probably a good start. You might have to step back from soccer or something else for a bit to fit this in. Constant tinkering with your calendar to fit in triathlon training sometimes feels to me like one of the more difficult pieces of this whole sport.

Anyway, my guess is that after a couple of months of regular swimming, you would make progress, have a better sense of what your eventual race training might look like, and, most importantly, would likely have a little less worry about the swim. Good luck!

Mingo, I believe you said you are doing the 70.3 in Des Moines next week. If so, I hope the taper is going well and you have great race.

Wow! That’s amazing. I look forward to what you have to share. I have a friend who did the same race. It looked like a strong field based on what I saw skimming the results. I haven’t talked to her yet, but she had times that would have put her in contention for a podium at other races in her age group. At Chatt she was 15th in her age group. She’s a tick faster than me in all three disciplines so I am pretty sure I would have been even further down the list. You must have had an awesome race Nug. Great stuff!

The data presented is interesting, but it alone does not support the conclusion of the x/tweet. In fact, it looks like the single largest population group among the faculty are white men. If this person wants to criticize Ivy League schools (and there are reasons to do so) they are presenting a weak argument.

As far as reasons to go to such schools, there are many. I will give one.

Elite schools produce an outsized percentage of the people who will serve in the upper echelons of the US government. All but one of the current Supreme Court justices hold degrees from an Ivy League school. A significant percentage of the members of congress in both houses are Ivy League or educated at other elite schools (UVA, Notre Dame, Georgetown, UChicago, etc…). Trump’s administration, like all presidential administrations anymore, is populated with Ivy Leaguers (Hesgeth, Stefanik, Bessent, RFKjr, Vance). Trump is another example in a long list post World War 2 of presidents with an Ivy League degree (Wharton-Penn). Bottom-lime, if you want to run the country, or network with those who will, then going to one of these schools gives you an inside track. It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know.

Two months into your first 70.3 plan! Nice!

It sounds like you and I are similar builds (5’9 161). Some measure of weight loss always happens to me. The key is I do not want to lose strength. I have found I have to eat often, get plenty of protein and fuel workouts properly (and get rest) or I can become the incredible shrinking man in a bad way.

I also find benefit to doing some light weight/mobility training as I go through a race training plan (a couple of times a week), but for me those workouts are as much about injury prevention when the miles/hours start ramping up as they are maintaining strength.

I will also add that I am not going to do a lift session at the expense of doing a swim, bike, or run workout when in race prep mode. If I am beat and need a cat nap (especially if I am two months or more into a training plan), I will skip a lift in a heartbeat in favor of making sure I am ready for the swim, bike or run for the day. This might be my 52 year old body talking now though.

When it gets to the offseason, and I step back from training volume, I have found that it doesn’t take me long to recover any lost weight/muscle/definition. Without knowing you, I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar happened for you.