Macon 70.3 Race Report

After 16 weeks of training I felt that I was ready to rock Macon. Most multisport athletes say that year number two is the year that you see the most improvement. I guess that is somewhat true for me, and somewhat incorrect. Here is my story....



On Friday 5/29, Stacy drove me over to my coach's house which is about 6 miles from my house. Thankfully, I was able to ride with Brian's family down to Macon. My dog is blind, so now one of us normally has to stay behind with the dog to keep her enviornment the same. The plan was for me to ride down with the Balmes family to Macon, and Stacy would get up early the next morning and wish me luck prior to the start of the race. The ride down was fun, I got to get to know Brian's awesome kids, Erin, Riley, and Ben a bit more. We went straight to the park to check our bikes in and check into the race. We got to check in about 2:00 pm, and it was very hot already.



Check in went well. Brian and I then decided to swim out to the first temporary bouy to get a feel for the open water. The lake in Macon (Lake Tobesfokee), was georgous! The water felt great, and we had heard that it would be wetsuit legal (74 Degrees)! Yes-this means about 3 min. faster swim for me at that distance.



We left the park and then went to check in at the hotel, and I had about 1 hr before dinner @ 6:15 at Carrabbas. I went to the pool there and had the ipod to my favorite "chill mix". Got a shower, shaved down, and off to dinner. At dinner I had grilled chicken pizza. I have to say I was a bit dissapointed with the choice. I had my best training day of the year a few weeks back at Tybee Island and had pizza the night before. This pizza was NOT what I was looking for. I had a bit of heartburn the next morning, and I was pissed!!



I got to bed @ 9:30 and the plan was to leave the hotel @ 5:30....



Race day - Saturday, 5/30!!! Slept good, and got up ready to roll. The hotel coffee was horrible, and I did bring my bagel & p'nut butter for b'fast. So, that was good. Hit the bathroom and was ready to roll. Then...I hit my toe on the hotel room desk, and that hurt like hell! Go fiture, the one day that I did NOT need to do that, I DID. It started to turn red/blue as soon as I did it..Shake it off and moveon.org.



Patty drove us to the race, and Brian and I were both "in the zone" We had our ipod's on and my music of choice was Disturbed, and I am sure that Brian had something similar rocking. Got set up and heard the offical word that we were wetsuit legal, and you could hear the other competiotors cheering! Found my buddy JC, and the three of us when down to the swim/beach start for a little warm up swim. When I got back, Stacy was right there waiting on me with her cup of Starbucks and cheering me on! I was starting to get worried that she was not going to get there in time, but she was there! Bryan's wife, Patty, took some pictures of all of us. Also, my buddies Paul and Rebecca came down to say good luck. It was probably the most relaxed that I felt for a start-ever!



Swim - This was a clockwise out and back swim. The swim portion was awesome. I swam a 35:27 (on my watch). This was about 10 min faster than I thought I would swim!



T1 - Pretty good. No issues.
*
Bike- OK. Nice bike but got my finger stuck in the spokes..That hurt.
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T2 - OK, but forgot my race number belt and had to go back and get it.
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Run- The run was very hard. I felt strong, but my stomach would not allow any more...I would run an 8:42, and then a 9/:50, and then a 8:50, and then a 10:30..

Overall..5:45. not so bad.