Lake Guntersville Triathlon

So, G and I signed up for Lake Guntersville Triathlon (Olympic Distance) and completed it this past weekend.  You cannot beat the “early bird” pricing – $25!!!  We have done this race for the past 3 years and love it.  The bike course is very rolling and the run is very rolling as well.  The run is also part road and part trail – so there is your fair warning.

I love Lake Guntersville State Park and the Lodge!  We usually drive up after work and spend the night.  The rooms are nice, fantastic pool, workout room, and great restaurants on site.

The Lodge from the race site.

Hand carved bear inside the lobby.

Our room view!

This race is pretty low key – low stress.  It starts at 8am, central time and you can pretty much stay in transition until your wave is called.  It is an in water start and each wave goes off every three minutes.  I think there was a total of 4 waves this year. (Total people for both the sprint and Olympic @300).

G, me, Buck, and Kristie

I beat my time from last year by a minute, so I totally consider that a win.  G however beat me for the 1st time in this race by 2 minutes.  Guess I need to start training a little harder, not that we are competitive with each other at all 😉

Coming back in from the bike.

I wore my new kit from #BestTriClubEver and it worked perfectly!  No hot spots and it did not ride up anywhere.  Looking forward to next years race already!

Next up….. Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon (which if you want a discount code for this race, let me know)

 

Are You Ready?

For those of you that race – 5K up to an Ironman, people always ask “Are you ready?”  Raise your hand if you ever answer that question with “Yes”!  I never feel totally prepared for a race.  I always ask myself, “Should I have completed another long bike ride?”, “Should I have run 20 miles instead of just 15 miles?”.  So much self-doubt runs through my head.

Last year G and I felt prepared and confident going into Ironman Florida.  We had done the race back in 2013 and completed it with no issues, it was the perfect day!  However Ironman Florida in 2015 was a totally different story.  Florida was experiencing a heat wave in November which did not work in our favor.  G and I both had great swims, but half way through the bike I started to over heat and felt like I was going to pass out.  I waited at special needs for G, so I could tell him I was going to call it a day.  After talking with him, he was feeling bad also, to the point where he was puking in the woods.  So we both had to call it a day.  Our dreams of completing a second Ironman were crushed and our ego’s were bruised (and still are today).  I do know though if we didn’t stop when we did, we both would have suffered a lot more.

So now, when people ask “Are you Ready for Ironman Louisville?” my answer will always be NO!  No matter how many long rides, runs, or swims we have put into our training I will never feel ready because you never know what race day is going to bring. Luckily a guy in the IMKY Facebook group put together a “Doom’s Day” scenario, so if we are able to follow this everything should turn out ok.

 

So here is to hoping G and I will be able to see this awesome finish line next weekend!

Do you ever feel prepared for a race?