Total Bust

Chad:

After months of working hard and preparing to break my 5k PR at Greekfest, the injury bug struck.  I spent three weeks not running.  When the pain finally subsided and I was able to run again, there was only one week left before Greekfest.  Suffice it to say that the down time didn’t do anything for my fitness.  Instead of running a PR, I ran another 16:50.  While I am always happy to break 17, I was disappointed in my performance and my inability to find that next gear. 

The hardest part was that Richard Harris had a break through race, smashed his PR, and won the race in 16:20.  While I was happy that all of Richard’s hard work paid off, it was tough to see my small GPx points lead turn into a deficit.  I am now 1 point behind Richard heading into the last two GPx races.  I’m going to really amp up the training to do my best to take second place back from Richard.  Regardless of what happens, I’m going to give it my best shot and leave it all out there.  

Bad Race x 2, an Injury, and still in good spirits!

Dee-

Well the 9th race in the Grand Prix Series was the Blue Points 5k on August 6th.  It was pretty much a bust.  I had a great first two miles then died a horrible and painful death.  Did I forget that a 5k is 3.1 miles?  Apparently so.  Chad's race was meh, with the bigger problem being that after the race a nagging injury became one that has sidelined him since then. 

The diagnosis is retrocalcaneal bursitis (inflammation of the bursa just under the achilles tendon) and he has not run one step since he finished the Blue Points 5k.  Not even a cool down.  Yikes.  Not one to let a pesky injury keep him down, Chad had a monster week last week, swimming 20,000 meters and biking 206 miles. 

Part of the biking was a 100k group ride with the Cannonballs Cycling Club.  They had a supported ride for the Trips for Kids Charity, so we decided to join them.  I am so glad we did!  We had a great time, got to bike in a totally new area, and really pushed ourselves for most of the ride.  We had a great group of 3 going for the whole ride and picked up a 4th the last 15 miles.  It certainly helps to have people to share the work with!  I felt really strong throughout the ride, but my legs were SPENT when we were done. 



Max and Junior



Despite the working out setbacks of late, our social life has been wonderful.  Chad was a groomsman in our friend Kevin's wedding and we were able to spend time with a bunch of law school friends, including two we hadn't seen in 3 years!  Chad's sister came to visit with her boyfriend and their new Boston Terrier puppy, Junior!  Junior is only 3 months old, but he held his own against Max.  The boys had a fabulous time playing together and were just too cute.  We celebrated Michelle finishing the bar exam and her upcoming three week trip to Europe with way too many mimosas.  This coming weekend, I am off to New Jersey to see my parents and sister briefly before heading down the Shore for my friend Alison's Bachelorette party.  It should be a great weekend!

A Cure for a Case of the Mondays?

Chad:

On Monday morning I woke up to this email:

Congratulations CHAD, you have qualified for the 2011 USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals after your finish in the Tri the Midlands Triathlon ranked among the top 10 percent.

I had heard of the USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals, but had no idea how qualifying worked, so I was understandably surprised to receive this message. Danielle also received an email letting her know that she too had qualifed at Tri the Midlands. Sure, it was a small race in South Carolina, but we went down just to get some practice in, ended up having good races and earned spots at the USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. Not too shabby for our first year in the sport.

While we are not going to attend this year and we wouldn't place highly if we did, earning spots has validated our ever increasing dedication to training for triathlons and interest in the sport. If nothing else, this information made my Monday a little better. I am excited to see how far we can go.