Back To The Grind

The Longmont Triathlon was my main event for last weekend. It was nice and close, only a 1 hour and 45 minute drive north from Colorado Springs. I headed out on Saturday after morning swim practice and breakfast. I was in no rush because the pre-race meeting was at 2pm and that was my only mandatory event of the day.
I found Longmont, thanks to my MapQuest directions, drove the bike and run courses, attended the meeting, checked into my hotel, relaxed for an hour, and then braved the afternoon weather for some training. After cooling off and cleaning up, I headed out for a yummy pre-race pizza and ice cream dinner with some friends.
I booked a nice hotel online...big king bed, a suite, and a free breakfast buffet. One good thing about the afternoon race times are that you can eat a decent meal before racing. With the 6am race start...a 4am wake-up...it's more like a bowl of oatmeal for sustenance.
Back to the race... it was hot just like predicted. I had a lot of fun, survived the heat but dealt with a few mechanical issues. In the end, I was happy with my 5th place finish...right at the bottom of the prize money (so the weekend wasn't a complete waste:).
After the race I was picked for drug testing. Talk about 2 hours of thinking about peeing...and being so dehydrated that it's not even an option! So around 6pm, I was finally loading up my car and getting ready to make the drive home...after gassing up and grabbing some delicious gas-station snacks to keep me awake and alert! The traffic cooperated with me all they way back into COS...with all the construction going on in this town, we have come to accept going 25mph on the interstate as they rebuild 3 out of 4 of our bridges!
I pulled into the OTC, ran inside and took the world's fastest shower and change before heading back out again. This time I grabbed Tim and Brian and we met Cliff and Sam at our favorite restaurant for a celebration dinner (Sam won the half IronMan in Boulder that morning...we had something to celebrate:)! After an afternoon race, I am always too wired to go to sleep at a normal bed-time and this day was like all the others. After getting back from a yummy dinner at 10pm, I was out watching TV on the couch until midnight. I forced myself to crawl into bed...now is not a time to skimp on sleep and get sick...two weeks out from World Champs are crucial for 100% health!