Macon, Georgia United States Set-Up Events

Total Time = 00m Overall Rank = 20F/? Age Group = Age Group Rank = 2/?

Night before drove up to Macon. Just made it in time for a group dinner. Restaurant took a couple of hours to get the entrees together and then didn't have one for John or I. What????

Next stop, our hotel where they had lost our reservation and were overbooked. After driving around to several other hotels we took the only supposed available option: a gross jacuzzi suite at a motel. Features included a moldy hole with running water coming thorugh the ceiling of the bathroom and said jacuzzi in a carpeted adjoining room with a coffee table and couch in front of it. Weird! By this time, it was past when I wanted to be sleeping, so I did the best I could with that.

This was another race where I "learned some lessons" (seems like I have been having a theme this year!) I wish I would have gotten around to writing a report for Gulf Coast bc the lessons I learned there were a bit more entertaining such as how to avoid having whole shot blocks come out your nose and how to find the best trees during the run leg for bathroom stops. That one might have been a bit graphic though!

The lessons I learned here more listening to your body and brain types of things. Also just being a more reasonable person about your physical condition.

Lesson #1 Don't do a race your really not into.

Normally I am excited and nervous about a race and adrenaline and enthusiasm can overcome a lot. The opposite of these feelings is dread, wanting to go home, wanting to quit, and thinking about "retiring" from triathlon. Thats how I felt going into this race.

I had also considered either doing the aquabike or putting together some relay and in retrospect that prob would have been the best plan for me.

Anyways, on to the details! Right before the race started, I was a mess. My tire was leaking and I was freaking out about that. I needed a serious attitude adjustment and quick! I tried to remind myself of my original goal for this race which was to "have fun" and get in some good training. The first goal was in serious jeoporady so the only thing I could do was just commence the long painful training day!

I was also experimenting with a few different things during this race. I figure that a c priority race was a great opportunit to try different nutrition and pacing things that I had thought about.

1. I was experimenting with little to no rest going in. Had a normal week through Wednesday the week prior. Also, I rode to Alabama and back on Sunday, my longest ride ever by 40 miles (113 miles). I was interested to see if I could recover quickly enough to put in a decent showing. Racing as much as I like to ( or have been ) I can't afford to taper down for every race or Id never train!

2. Different pacing. Normally I have my hr at about 160 on the bike. Actually for New Orleans I hit 160 exactly and 159 for Gulf Coast (when I was less trained. I peaked and tapered for New Orleans.) I decided to throw caution to the wind for this one and see if I could still run after biking at 5 bpms higher. I won't ruin the suspense factor with the answer but Im sure you could guess from the tone so far!

3. Finally I was gonna see if I truly could use mind over matter to pull out a decent race despite my neck nerve thing and also a being a bit sick the week prior. Long story short, I'll spare you the details but Im pretty sure I have put a hole in my stomach through the process of comsuming multiple aspirin daily over the last several weeks. I stupidly didn't make the connection between the aspirin and my "stomach bug" either until a couple of days ago. Consequently, eating and drinking have been nauseating lately. Sooo I was also hoping that would miraculously sort itself out in time for me to be sufficiently hydrated and fueled.

Okay, FINALLY onto the race!