Over The Mountain Triathlon - Aquabike

Had a really good swim. The visibility was great so my navigation was dead-on. I felt really good in the water and just concentrated on breathing and using long strokes.

Nothing.

I usually take a gel in T1 but, for some reason, I opted not to here. I think it was the idea of having one more thing to shove in the bag before I exited t1. Bad decision.

Take a gel.

Whoa! This was a tough race, mentally, for me. Started out good but by about mile 3 I was convinced I was bonking. My breakfast was long gone and I was on empty. (Remember that gel I didn't take in T1!) I kept putting off taking a gel b/c I don't like to take gels with gatorade and all I had was gatorage. Had planned on drinking gatorade until the water hand off at mile 15 and then take a gel with the water they gave me. At about mile 6 I decided to take my chances with the gatorade/hammer gel combo. Thank goodness I did. After a few minutes I started to pep up. By mile 12 I was singing the song of the day:
And the sun is shinin'
This road keeps windin'
Through the prettiest country
From Georgia to Tennessee..."
(Singing is what I do to drown out the pain and keep bad thoughts at bay.) I went back and forth b/n this song and the "I think I can, I think I can" mantra. :) I did take another gel after the water bottle hand off and it really helped. I did much better on the second half of the course than the first half. Saw a couple of people walking their bikes up mile 24. Ouch! Once I made it up 24 I realized I still had a chance to make my push goal for the bike of 1:35. Didn't quite make it but it was a good bike for me.

Get my nutrition plan down. I was very lazy about this and it came back to bite me. I also need to get rid of the negative talk going on in my head.

They didn't mark the AquaBike racers so Icouldn't tell who I was racing.

Walked around and cheered everyone headed out on the run. Got some much needed ART therapy on my hips and legs.


Poor nutritional planning and I just need to ride more.


Really liked this course. Hope to do the whole Tri next year. Great volunteers!