NOLA 70.3 Weekend

My brain is still too tired to relive the race so for now I thought I’d reflect on the days surrounding the race.

We arrived to New Orleans Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and headed off for lunch. Afterwards we met up at the race transition area with Katie and a few of her other athletes. I got to meet Wes from ProBike Express and he taught me a little something about tire pressure and let’s just say mine was too high. Despite the fact that he didn’t transport my bike, he was awesome and helpful to me all weekend and I’m happy I get to hunt him down in Chattanooga and bother him some more. We did a shakeout ride which included a tour of the swim start and end and the long run to transition. We also got our first taste of the wind and a look at the choppy water. There will be a lot of talk about the wind in the race report but let’s just say it was bad! We all went out for dinner afterwards and then tucked into bed early.

The next morning we decided to explore New Orleans a tiny bit with whatever was within a short walking distance which wasn’t a lot. We met up with everyone again for packet pickup and then went back to the race site for another ride and run. We checked our bikes in and then there was nothing left to do but relax rest of the evening (very exciting for my husband). The next morning it was up bright (well actually dark) and early to race!

I was looking for joy over the weekend to get me through a few tough days and that is exactly what I found. I was surrounded by like-minded people who understand what this triathlete life is about. They don’t judge you for the way you are eating, for wanting to go to bed at 8 or for the training you are about to jump back into. It was nice to feel like I belong and am accepted for the way I am. We are all supportive of each other, a real team. I’m so thankful to be part of team amazing day and to have Katie as my coach. The weekend was filled with laughter and eating lots of white food together and drinking margaritas and eating beignets after the race. We shared in the good and certainly the bad of the day. It was good for my soul. And it’s always good to spend real time with my coach.

Above all, my husband was the most supportive. It’s not easy being married to a triathlete. I’m a pain to deal with between always being tired, always gone training, always talking about pace and watts and this part on my body really hurts. On top of the day to day stuff, race weekends can be tough. That was vacation time he took to drive way too many hours to do a lot of standing around the whole weekend while I trained and raced and spending time with my team. He is awesome and I couldn’t have done it without him.

The weekend was wrapped up by waking up at 3:30 to drive home so my husband could catch a flight. The universe had different plans for us 30 minutes into our drive and at 70mph the hood latch on my brand-new-post-last-accident car decided to fail and the hood flew up and smashed our windshield. A very long day and short story later, after trying every possible option, 4 attempts at loading our car on 3 different hitches/trailers and a very expensive bill, we finally hit the road driving a 20’ uhaul towing the car. My body was really pissed off at me for racing a difficult race, sleeping 4.5 hours, dealing with the car stress, sitting in a uhaul  truck for over 8 hours and being awake for 21 hours before going to  bed after 1AM the next day.

Although I still hurt all over, my body is starting to heal. I’m so sick of white food. For 3 days I had nothing but white food… pasta, rice, pizza (3 times!), pretzels (soft and hard), cheese and English muffins. I like white food and I rarely have it but I’m so over it. I don’t even want to look at it. I’m craving salads and Brussel sprouts and other plants that my body needs right now. My body needs sleep and rest. Yesterday I accidently took a nap, woke up for a few hours to eat and sit on my butt and then slept 10 hours. I can finally walk normally (although still painful), the post-race inflammation weight is starting to drop and I feel less like a puffy marshmallow and my ankles aren’t all swollen. I still have this awesome chafing line across my stomach… who chafes there?! For the first time in a very long time I’m happy doing nothing. I don’t want to sit on my bike, I don’t want to put on running shoes, and although I want to swim, I have no desire to do anything more than move at a pace that keeps me from drowning. The training mojo will come back in a few days but for now I’m content being lazy before I’m jumping back into half IM training. I can only imagine what I will feel like post IM. Yikes.