| Everyone on the team a little rest after the Olympic Marathon Trials, but for several athletes on the team the passing of the Marathon Trials meant that the Track and Field Trials were on the horizon. Despite being laser-focused on the Olympic Marathon Trials for the better part of the last 2 years, after the Trials the qualifying opportunities on the track were rapidly approaching, requiring a quick shift in focus. |
| The Olympic Marathon Trials was Joe’s 4th marathon in 15 months and he was eager to translate that deep well of strength into strong performances over 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Following his marathon debut at CIM in December of 2018 Joe bounced back to run an indoor 5,000m personal best and an outdoor 10,000m personal best of 28:21 in early 2019. He knew recalibrating the legs to run fast again would take a little bit of time, but it had worked very well for him before and he was confident all the miles over the past 15 months would lead to a break out track season in 2020. Joe had some tightness in his adductor leading into and coming out of the Olympic Trials that impacted his gait and that has been a point of focus for him since. He has implemented a strength and mobility routine along with regular strides (both uphill and flat) to regain the symmetry and smoothness in his stride. Once the Track and Field Olympic Trials were postponed to 2021, Joe took his foot off the gas a bit to focus on building more slowly toward what will hopefully be some late summer or fall racing opportunities. |
| Tristin is another athlete who was very excited coming out of the Marathon Trials and looking forward to changing gears and running some shorter distances. Since graduating from Appalachian State in 2017 Tristin has focused on longer road races in the pursuit of qualifying for the Olympic Trials, which she did last summer at Grandma’s Marathon with her 2:40:00 personal best. Tristin was just over a minute off her personal best at the Trials and finished strong, passing over 75 runners in the race’s 2nd half. Her strong finish and rapid improvement over the last year left Tristin hungry for the next step. She quickly resumed training after the Trials with her eye on tackling some personal bests on the track. Once it appeared the spring track season would be cancelled Tristin backed her training off a bit to rest, both mentally and physically more earnestly than she originally had after the Marathon Trials. She has since resumed training, joining quaratined teammate Joanna Thompson for weekly workouts, and is aiming to be ready to for racing opportunities as they become available later in the year. |