I always have to throw in a pic of a kid. It's a Mom thing.
Eating at O'something friday night on Beale St. Memphis. Notice the goats in the background, weird. Ate and drank good stuff!
Beale Street, downtown Memphis!
Heading out of T2 on a REALLY HOT RUN. Ice was in my chest and back!
Right before the finish (friend Deb and her sis are in background!). Finishing the hottest run of my life. It was over 100 deg with the heat index. NOT FUN.I decided to do Memphis in May triathlon a few months back. I did it last year and loved it. Mostly because of the food, but I loved the course too. Sad but the main thing I remembered from last year was the awesome bbq food at the finish. My Dad and I drove down Friday in time for dinner on Beale Street. I got a tasty drink with a little too much alcohol while we walked around. It was one of the few cities other than New Orleans that I have seen with Slushy alcohol drinks sold on the corners. It like mini Disney for adults. You can get a drink in a commemorative cup! Headed back to the hotel Friday night and had a really good night of sleep. It was WAY strange sleeping alone in a king size bed without a snoring man, and random child or two at night. Ear plugs in and I was good to go.
Saturday we headed to the race sight so I could get in some training on the course and just check it out. It always seems to ease my nerves knowing I have been to the race sight. I biked at 8am on Saturday and it was already in the 90s. NOT good. Normally I always run later in the afternoon before races. But an executive decision was made (well really I just talked to myself) to run early in the day to avoid major loss of sweat running in the afternoon in even hotter temps. I went to the Pro meeting and felt ready to race. We ate out at our hotel Saturday night. No driving, quiet restaurant AND no pasta. I don't know why people feel the need to eat at Italian restaurants for races. Eat the local food. Try something fun. I always eat fish or chicken before a race, NO bread products, a little veggies and rice if possible. All easily digestible. Especially with the heat eating foods that would digest easy is very important. Drinking calories with that heat was going to be crucial.
I slept great again Saturday night (I have to admit it was drug induced but hey who cares) and woke up at the nice hour of 7am since I raced at 10:30. When I got out of the air conditioned car at the race sight my Dads car read 89 deg and that was at 9am! Uh oh. I tried my best to not focus on the heat. Even though I come from Chicago where we haven't had that kind of heat yet and I train at 5am when it is cool. I cut my warmup very short, you could walk to the port o potty and be warmed up.
I lined up for the swim start in a time trial format. Not a big fan. Hard to race that way. However you don't get smothered at the swim start which is refreshing. I got out of the water in a good time for me with NO wetsuit. I actually felt bad for the age groupers who wore them. I would imagine they got really hot. Onto the bike if felt like breathing in a sauna. You never felt cool. AND they was never a bottle exchange. They ran out of water during the age group race! I was looking forward to it. It sucked down a gel even though it was boiling and gross. My drinks were like coffee even though they were frozen a few hours ago. I felt okay on the bike but never great. I attributed to the heat. I passed a few girls on the bike and then was passed only by Lauren. I kept her in my sights the entire time. I knew if I felt good after the bike I could run her down. Once in transition I could not wait to get my cooler open with my Lovely ice bags. I grabbed those suckers like they were gold. I bit threw a few of them and drank them then put one in the front of my suit and the other in my back. It was an instant relief. It brought my core temp down right away. Sad to say within 10 min the ice was gone. But at least it got me going. I knew when I got to the first mile it was going to be a suffer run. My first mile was my casual tempo pace normally at 7 min mile. Yikes not good. Then it just got worse. It was HOOOOTTTTTTT. Like I have never felt in my life. I started to feel nausea and then got goose bumps. I kept running my hands over my arms to see if I stopped sweating. My heart race was max out and I was not going anywhere. On the uphill I could have walked faster. Lauren seemed to keep the same distance in front of me for the first 3 or 4 miles. Then when we passed Andrea Fisher I started to catch Lauren. I actually didn't even think I could win. Knowing she started behind me we could tie and she would win. Or someone behind us could be faster. I ran with her for the last mile, I kept telling her good job and just to stop running with me! I was loosing it and didn't care. My mind was falling apart. When we hit the grass which I think is less than a half mile to go I picked it up really just to finish soon not to win. But then I realized she wasn't there anymore. I turned around (sign of weakness by the way) and noticed how far back she was. What? I could win. I just sucked in all the pain and lack of oxygen to run into the finish. IT HURT. And after all that it was my slowest 10k time ever in a race. I don't care. I still won:) Not only did I win the race but I didn't quit. Heat is not my friend and I conquered it that day. I feel like I own the heat now.
All I wanted that day after the race, SALT and lots of it. Were talking a big bag of chips and then a large fry at McDs. I think it is a kid thing. Since I kids I now eat at McDonalds way too much. Other triathletes "treat"themselves with one thing! Insane, I treat myself a little too much.
