PreSeason Update

Is once a quarter too infrequent to blog? Are there still any readers out there?? Lol. I wish I could commit to a weekly post but I fear I couldn't hold to the promise as busy as I seem to be all the time. It's crazy ... a true balancing act.

The priorities are:

1. Faith: This is the glue that holds it all together. Everything falls apart if I don't maintain certain level of closeness with the Lord.
2. Family: My #1 love and responsibility is being Hubby and Dad. The "Dad" part is challenging at times! My only hope is that my kids look back on on their childhood with fondness and know that I've always loved them more than anything.
3. Triathlon: my passion. It drives me to strive to excellence.
4. Work: provides for #2 and #3. I enjoy the creative side of architecting software but abhor the political side of corporate life.
5. Friends / Coaching: I love my friends and really wish I had more free time to devote to spending time with them (especially training together). For the ones who are also dedicated to triathlon I provide triathlon coaching / training at no charge. I enjoy the process of getting fit for racing and like sharing this experience with my friends.

On the training/racing front things have been good. My last post was over a month ago and I'd just ran the state 5k champs race in Greenville with a fast (for me) sub 18 min 5k and beautiful, hard and epic Caesar's Head ride. Unfortunately I turned up injured shortly thereafter with a sprained ankle.

I did the typical "wait a week and give it a try" thing with no luck. Reluctantly I went to see an orthopedist where I learned what the injury actually was and that I would need to take 2-3 weeks off running. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise as I really needed to put some focus on my bike fitness! In addition to my typical trainer riding, and as yukky as the weather was, I made a point to get out for a really solid 70 mile ride with some friends over challenging terrain during this time.

Luckily, with the week I'd already taken off, it only took another 1.5 weeks before I was back to running again. That gave me a whopping 2.5 weeks to get ready for the Lexington Race Against Hunger 10k. LRAH is a challenging race with a ton of short and steep hills. So much so that most people I've talked to consider it 1+ min slower than your typical 10k. It is also the team showdown against the dreaded Blue Cross Blue Shield and Westinghouse.

We (Colonial Life) had won the past 4 years and intended to make it 5! But I also had an ulterior motive I was calling "operation coup d'etat". A little background ... About 3.5 years ago I decided to put down the smokes a try to get in shape. Just today I was thinking back to 3 years ago on my 32nd birthday when I ran 4 consecutive miles for the first time. Anyway, since then I've always been considered Colonial's #3 runner behind a couple of friends that are talented runners ... true runners, dedicated runners, collegiate team runners, not triathletes. These guys typically win or podium at every run race around here. But my aim was to take them both down ... to become Colonial's #1 runner (and a triathlete at that - a hard pill for most pure runners to swallow).

When all was said and done we failed to win the team race (placed 2nd) which was a shame, but I was still smiling inside because operation coup d'etat was a success!

Not that I had a stellar race (38:16) but it was enough to get the job done (by 4 seconds - Steven and I pictured) and good enough for 7th overall and 2nd in M35-39. It was a hard race. My friends and I ran together for the first 3 miles before I surged to get a gap on the guys. I should say that one of them, Randy Finn, has run well under 38 minutes twice on this course but just didn't have the goods this year. But it's all about what you have on the day, and for now I'm the reigning king of Colonial! Lol, how ridiculous that sounds!! But you have to celebrate the little victories in life! Yep, I'm competitive.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that I'm ABSOLUTELY LOVING my new Scott Plasma. Thank you so much Harrell's!!! That is one awesome ride! I could never afford a bike of that caliber for myself. I just had my Zipps re-badged to match better so I'll post pics of the whole setup when I get them back from the shop.

Can't wait for the tri season to kick off later this month. I'm getting really swim fit and running should be better than ever, still some work left to do on the bike . Only 3 weeks until my first race!