Music City Tri

I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville, TN this weekend to compete in the Music City Triathlon.  Me, my mom, and Matt drove up to Nashville on Saturday and stayed with my mom's friend Michelle.  She was an incredible hostess.  She made us a gourmet dinner of baked chicken, potatoes, grilled asparagus, and rolls, got us set up with fruit and bagels for race morning and the drive home, and even gave up her bed for us to sleep in.

The race was put on by a company called Team Magic who always do a phenomonal job.  The last time I did this race was three years ago, but it wasn't a very good experience.  There was a tropical storm on the way and on race morning it was really windy.  They ended up canceling the swim and the bike ride was awful, there was a bad crosswind and it was rainy.  This weekend, however, was much different.  On race morning, we woke up to skies that were a little overcast, but didn't look like they would turn into rain.  We drove downtown (transition was in one of the parking lots of the Tennessee Titans' staduim) and got everything ready to go.  I was racing the Olympic distance race (1500m swim/40k bike/10k run) and my mom was racing in the sprint distance (400 yd swim/20k bike/5k run).

Lining up to get in the water

Swim- 31:10 (31st female)

The swim was a rectangle shaped course in the Cumberland River, which wasn't the cleanest river.  Half of it was against the current and half was with it.  The part that people had the most problems with were the short sides where we were perpendicular to the current.  Watching some of the people before me, they were getting pushed by the current and swimming way wide of the bouys, so I knew I would have to sight often and "crab" as my dad calls it or swim diagnolly so I would end up going straight.  I didn't feel that great and was disappointed with my time which was a few minutes slower than usual, but was happy to get on my bike.

Part of the swim course

                                                                                     Bike- 1:10:52 (7th female)

The bike was a 20k loop that the sprint distance racers did one loop of and we did two loops of.  The course had rolling hills throughout, with a couple pretty big ones in there.  It was really nice because the majority of the course was on a highway that was completely closed to traffic and had just recently been paved.  I took a GU at the beginning and drank about a half a bottle or so of HEED throughout.  I should've drank more, but I always feel like I'm drinking more than I am until I go to empty out my bottle after the race, something I need to work on.  Anyways, I felt good on the bike, was able to catch a few girls, and really  enjoyed the course.

Mom finishing up

Run- 44:22 (4th female)

By the time I got to the run, it was about 10:00 and it was sweltering.  The course went through downtown Nashville and there were some killer hills.  Again, it was a 5k course that the sprinters did once and we did twice.  We hit the first big hill in the first quarter of a mile, we ran up to the top of a walking bridge.  There were two other pretty big hills and by the time I was done with the first loop, I was not looking forward to tackling them again.  I didn't end up with my fastest run time ever, but I was happy with it considering the heat and the hills.

Heading up the bridge

Finish- 2:30:36 (8th female)

I was happy to see mom, who had finished her race earlier, Matt, and Michelle cheering me to the finish.  I got some cold water, a cold water soaked towel, and waited around for the award ceremony.  My goal going into the race was to finish in the top five, which I didn't quite do, but ended up as the eighth overall female and second in my age group.  My mom had a great race and got first in her age group.  Though I didn't quite have the race I had hoped for, I had a lot of fun and recognized some areas that need to be worked on.  I have about three and a half weeks left to prepare for nationals up in Vermont and I can't wait!

This past weekend I made another (much shorter) trip to Texas.  On Thursday evening, Me, Matt, and my parents left for Texas to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday.  She has seven kids and they were all coming to my Aunt's house for the weekend.  It was the first time in I don't how long that they have all been together.  Some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in 5-10 years were there and I finally got to meet one of my cousins who lives in Australia and his family.  It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and catching up.  Me, Matt, Lindsey, Matt, and Eli were able to stay at Devon's house which Isaac was excited about, of course.  Over the weekend, we spent alot of time swimming with the kids, hanging out with everyone, and then on Saturday evening was the birthday party.  My grandma really enjoyed being around all of her family, though she wasn't thrilled about turning 90, she kept mentioning that she couldn't believe it.  She is in great health though and alot better off than most people 10-15 years younger.

Grandma and all her kids



Grandma and all the cousins (that were there)



Me, my parents, and my cousin Hayley decided last minute to do a local 10k on Saturday morning.  It was called the Toughest Texas 10k and it did a pretty good job of living up to its name.  We picked up Hayley and got to the race venue about an hour early so we would have time to register.  Registration took no time at all, so we had plenty of time for last minute trips to the bathroom, waiting around, and warming up.  The race didn't start until a little after 8 and it was already pretty hot by then.  That was one factor that contributed to the toughness, the other was that there were 13 hills within the 6 mile race.  These weren't little hills either, most of them had a pretty significant grade, definitely not what we're used to in Pensacola. 

It was a smaller race, I think there were about 300 people that ran including those that did the 5k and it wasn't too competitive.  I was able to stay with some of the top guys for about the first mile and could tell by then that I wasn't going to have too much difficulty finishing as the top female.  I ended up as the first female and ninth overall, my mom and Hayley both got second in their age groups, and my dad got fourth in his.  Not too bad of a way to start off the weekend.

Last week was a very low volume week for me trainingwise.  It was a good mental and physical break, but I was going crazy by the end of the week.  I had too much pent up energy and couldn't wait to get back at it.  This week I'm ramping back up and getting ready to race in Nashville on the 24th.