Nothing Beats Racing

...especially to be able to race in February. This weekend was stellar. I made it down to Encinitas around 3 and made a quick stop at Nytro to get my flat rear tubular fixed with the tape strip, as the glue probably wouldn't dry for the next day. Good thing I had a spare in the car! It must have been all the glass that I rolled over on my ride Wed which was the first clear day after the rainy weather that must have pushed all the debris onto the shoulder.
Anyhow, from there I went to Kristin's, settled in, and her Gavyn and I hit up Panera for dinner. Their paninis are yum-o! Crap, I think I just said one of Rachael Ray's cheesy words :/
The next day I got up at 4 as I had to be at the race site pretty early to get my packet first thing. I wanted coffee but no Sbux was open at that hour. My genious substitution: the big cold frapuccino Sbux brand drinks at a gas station. Wow...GOOD MORNING! That stuff has a kick.
I made it to the site and everything before the race was pretty uneventful, did a 20min w/up jog and waited. We started about 30min late. The water was not nearly as cold as I expected. Of course, after my experience at Worlds in Vancouver last June, no water is cold, no race miserable.
The collegiate waves went off first; it was weird to not be "one of them" anymore hehe. My wave, all the non-collegiate women, went off about 4th or 5th. I started out great, had the feet I wanted; it was three oter girls and I at the front. Then we rounded the boeuy and see-ya, once again I lost the pack...FOCUS!!!
Once on the bike I was slowly turning into an iceicle but felt great. I pushed hard the whole way, 3 4ish mile loops, and rolled in at 32 and change.
Now the best part- transition. Oh boy. My feet were non existant. I had to literally place them into the shoes. So after about 5min of getting into my Newtons I was off. It was a very interesting feeling. My feet felt like wooden blocks that were about to break with each foot fall. Nevertheless I was able to run how I wanted, and they finally thawed at the turn around.

I crossed the line in just over 1hr and couldn't have been happier with how it all went. Oh yea, my IT/quad thing was perfect when I woke up so all good on that front too. I'm happy to be at the point where long-course-planned big weeks with heavy volume and intensity are still allowing me to mix it up with the short course folks.

After the race, I showered, chilled with Kristin and Gavyn while Dan was out riding and then she and I went out for an ez ride up to Carlsbad. I tried to convince her to ride longer with me but she listens well to her coach hehe. I just added another hr inland to Rancho and back up La Costa to Quail Gardens.

Dan cooked some awesome burgers for dinner, I had a glass of wine (uh-oh!) which just about put me to sleep in an instant, and drove home only to crash in bed for 9hrs straight.

Today will be mellow. I have to get the kids ready for back-to-school from their Febraury break as their mom's not home until Tuesday. So it'll be a swim and I had a ride but I rode plenty yesterday, so probably will do about 1hr run.

3 more days till I'm in Texas dude!