Alarm went off 4:40, made coffee, showered, got in car (pretty much still asleep!). Took me two hours to get there, drank 16 oz of cytomax, 20 oz of coffee and ate a granola bar. Stomach wasn’t feeling great, probably shouldn’t have eaten Indian food the night before a race. That was dumb, I own that, won’t do it again.
Anyway, arrived and set up transition. Race start was 8am, set off at a steady 10:30 minute per mile pace and ended up sticking with that pace for pretty much 10 miles, never really found my speed. I wasn’t feeling any need to push the pace, I really didn’t want to get injured, it’s a long summer ahead and a broken ankle here would of scuppered all plans. I had a gel at 30 mins and 1 hour 30 mins (ish).
Came into transition one (T1), put my helmet on, bike shoes on, and headed out. I thought I followed Sandi out of T1, and proceeded to spend the whole bike trying to catch her, it was Chantel (had I known it was Chantel, I wouldn’t have bothered trying to catch her lol!!). Anyway, I passed about five people on the bike which actually made me pretty happy. I’m usually passed by everyone and it gets so demoralizing. I took on a gel 40 mins into the bike and drank 40 oz of cytomax over the course of the bike. Energy levels felt good. Last year I had to walk the last steep hill and I was really happy that this year my legs had enough not to walk. Finished 5 mins slower than last year, which was lost on the run. My bike was faster. But overall, really enjoyed being out there racing and feeling very positive about where I am. Buffalo marathon next weekend!