Summertime and the living is easy....

It's been an interesting couple of months.  At my last check in, I was lulling you to sleep with a race report about another mediocre performace from the Triangle Triathlon.  I won't say that I've had a "busy" couple of months, because who hasn't?  I'm always amused when someone feels it's necessary to share with me at great length just how busy/hectic/important their lives are- squandering their hard to come by time in the process.  I usually squash the urge to say "Dude- everyone is busy, most much more so than you or I."

That being said, I've been lucky and unlucky enough to have experienced a few personally significant 'life events' since my last post.  I figured I would take some time out of my not so busy Saturday to share them.

P-Ride bike crash

This sucked.  I don't have a more eloquent or colorfully descriptive way of summing up the situation.  Most major cycling communities have something like Carrboro's P-ride, where the local Cat 1-2-3 riders flog themselves trying to drop one another every weekend that they aren't racing.  The Saturday after the Triangle Tri I got out the road bike and set out to mix it up with the roadies.  Occasionally Coach Dave will prescribe the P-ride as a bike workout for me, the context usually being: "stay near the front, take pulls, and hang on." 

To make a lame story shorter, roughly half way through the ride I was working hard to bridge a gap to the lead group of 4 riders, and I hit a small pothole that sent my front wheel sideways.  I went down hard, but THANKFULLY, I didn't take anyone down with me.  A few of the dudes where nice enough to stop and help get me back on my feet.   After some tinkering to get to where I could at least ride it back home, I soft pedaled on in, grass stained, a little bloodied, and feeling really sheepish.  Admittedly I'm not a tough dude at all when it comes to physical discomfort.  A mild cold will have me convinced that I'm dying, and I get woozy at the sight of needles.  However, the fallout from this wipe out was pretty legit.  Chest X-rays were negative, but my doctor diagnosed me with a torn intercostal muscle on my right side. 

I was forced to take four full days off, before graduating to a week of meager rides on the indoor trainer.  It was three weeks before I could swim pain free (but to be perfectly honest I enjoyed the short rest from the pool).  All that is done and over with now, I'm back at it- and hopefully I've fulfilled my bike crash quota for loooong time.   

The Big Move

Leigh and I relocated to Carrboro, NC last year from Birmingham and are loving every minute of it.  Great progressive community that's also a college town, with miles and miles of bike lanes.  Our big move a couple of weeks ago was actually just 0.72 miles down the road to an old renovated mill house, but it was a move none the less- complete with moving trucks, cardboard boxes, scrubbed cabinets and strained backs.  I'm choosing to mention it here because it seems like a major event, and my Mom makes up probably 50% of the people who check this blog on normal basis- hi Mom!

From Duke to UNC

Probably the biggest thing on my plate has been leaving my research position at Duke to take a job with UNC Hospitals.  In this new role I'll be the working as the Performance Center Coordinator for the UNC Wellness Center.  I'll have a hand in working with both athletes and the occasional clinical rehab patient.  For those interested: VO2, lactate threshold testing, run gate analysis are all within the scope of what we do at the UNC Wellness Center.  I'm definitely stoked about this move from a professional standpoint, but the endurance athlete junkie in me is equally excited.  Now I head to work each day with resources like treadmills, an indoor pool, and a computrainer at my fingertips.  This job change has definitely streamlined my life in general, and helped me to find time/balance between work and training.

 
Thanks for checking in.  Next up is the White Lake Olympic on September 8th, before going all in for the Rev3 South Carolina & Rev3 Florida 70.3's in October.

jw