Today's Workout: The road is my home

In the water at 7 am today for a 30 minute swim. Awakening to be sure. Back to the hotel (our transition area) to change into our running clothes.

We ran down to the oval where race day transition and the finish line are. Troy Jacobson explained the setup and then had us take our victory lap to start our one loop 13.1 mile run on the course. The run course, to no surprise, is tough. It starts out kind, a nice downhill out of town by the ski jump, by the horse grounds, over the bridge and hang a left into what will be hell. I'm not sure what this out and back loop measures but it seems to go on forever. Race strategy would be to have someone back there for me. I'm not sure if it is possible but I'm hoping someone will ride a bike next to me while I run this part of the course. It's dreadful.

Once you come out of this section you head back to town. Naturally that means uphill. The first uphil is ok, you don't like it but the grade is manageable. The second uphill the grade shifts to extreme. When you get to the top you turn and go uphill more. Then you run by the lake for what seems like forever before you turn around and do it all over again. You can see, hear, and smell the finish line all 4 times that you pass it. I look at this as incentive.

Today's run took me 2 hours and 15 minutes which is not bad. I was in the top women finishers at camp, not first, probably not second, but moving well without setting any records. The ground game, my race shoes on the road, is where I am at home. It may be painful by the time I get to the run on race day but it is my strength.

Tomorrow, rest ye weary body. I think I'm down in calories and fluids and I always feel a little feverish after a hard workout. I am downing my Traumeel and stretching at every opportunity. I feel better then I expected but I also expended more then I anticipated. We'll see where that leaves me tomorrow.