This past weekend I made my 5 hour way to Macon, GA for the
Rock ‘N RollMan Half, which is a Setup Events event (B2B is another). This was
my first race of the season so I was finally able to sport that awesome Fleet
Feet kit that is imprinted with two places I have lived – Nashville and
Huntsville! My goal race this year is IM Louisville, so to take the guesswork
out of training I partnered with a pretty fabulous coach from Endurance Concepts in
Atlanta. We chose the race in Macon as a B race to gauge training to this
point. I have been missing many local races with the team making sure that most
every race I do this year has some purpose towards the IM.
I had originally signed up for the complete Half, but due to
various running injuries since Pine Mountain 40 trail run in December, I
changed to Aquabike. For many of you who have swam with me in open water, I
have had some problems with anxiety in the water over the years. I have had a
DNF because of open water anxiety, yet the next month do just fine in another
race. I practiced an OWS in Guntersville the week before this race and it did
not go well. I was a total mess. The
week before the race I practiced some imagery and mantra’ing, and as hokey as
it sounds, it worked.
This race is at Lake Tobesofkee, a beautiful lake surrounded
by some constantly rolling hills. I was able to get to the race site early the
day before, pick up my race packet, listen to the race briefing, and check-in
my bike. The next morning, my coach met me at the race site (did I mention she
was fabulous!), gave me a sweet pep talk, and warmed up with me in the water.
Thankfully, I was feeling little to no anxiety about the swim aside from race
day excitement. The water temperature was a balmy 82 degrees, somewhat like
bath water. The Aquabike division was with the second wave of swimmers, mixed
in with the men. My first mass start ever, so I moved to the outside front,
which worked out perfectly. I am happy to report that other than feeling like
the swim went on forever, I had no problems with the swim. I took it slow –
very slow – and steady thinking of it as a training swim, not a race. There
were 12 in the female Aquabike and I came out of the water 7th (44:33).
As in most lake/river swims, there was an uphill run to
transition, so I walked once I crossed the mat to calm my HR down for the bike.
Transition went smoothly (1:21). The bike is where I am most comfortable and my
stronger event, so I was in my happy place for 56 miles. On the bike I had one
water bottle, one bottle with EFS, 2 gels, and one Lara bar.
There were two aid stations that I grabbed the water bottle as I rode by and
used to drink a few sips and cool off with but tossed soon after the aid
station. The route was constantly rolling but the time I lost on the hills I
was able to make up on the downhill and use some of the momentum on the next
uphill. I moved up to 2nd Aquabike on the bike course, finishing in
(2:42:31, 19.8mph avg). I was aiming for between 20-21mph, but that was before
I really knew the course!
I highly recommend this race if you are willing to travel -
great venue, well run event, with some good competition. Next up, IM
Louisville!