Southern Cross

Sometimes it is good to get your butt kicked... keeps things in perspective...

Greg Rittler, Tom Blanks, and I made the trek from Baltimore to Georgia on Friday before the race.  We made it there in a solid 10hr 15min of driving and we arrived just before packed pickup closed at 7pm.  Greg did all of the driving... while Tom and I prepared for the race :)

Sleeping while Greg does all the driving!

I was pretty excited to race this one and I was hoping for a top 5 finish.  I am still not super strong and coming off of base training but I still figured I could put in a decent effort and do decently well.

The morning before the race I had 2 bowls of oatmeal and 1 probar.  In the past I usually eat way more than that before any race but I felt like I didn't need any more food so I didn't eat anymore... this ended up being my #1 mistake of the day.

At the start Greg, myself, and Tom

The race started at a medium/fast pace.  I was not outside my limit but I had a bad start and the lead pack of about 7-8 guys got a gap on the group I was with.  By the time I was in a position to catch them they had already created a substantial distance between our groups.  Luckily I had some strong guys in my group and we were able to work together to catch back up before the start of the 1st climb.

The first major climb was a little over 5 miles and very steep at the top.  I had overdressed a little and I was really sweating about 1/2 way through... that was okay though I would rather be hot than cold.  As we were getting closer and closer to the top I was starting to get really hungry and feeling really weak.  I was only in zone 4 and I didn't feel very strong anymore.  I could not seem to push into zone 5 and I watched the 4-6 leaders slowly got away from me... I had nothing to respond with.  My heart rate slowly decreased and so did my power output.

Not doing so good... (photo by Donna Combs Garcia)

Lots of guys passed me for a very long time :)  It was not until the last aid station at about mile 33 that I finally was able to find enough food to eat to make a full recovery.  the last 10 or so miles I felt great!  I was back to myself but it was way too late to salvage my race at that point.

I have trouble traveling and racing well.  I think the traveling messes with my eating schedule.. I need to figure this out for my races this year because I am traveling to quite a few.  There are other races like Cohutta that are in TN that I really want to do well at and I can't make this mistake again.

Greg Rittler crushed it!  He rode strong the whole time and finished 10minutes faster than his goal.

Tom Blanks had pretty much the same issue that I had, we both struggled with our energy levels.

We all had a great time!  The course was super challenging, well marked, and very well run.  Maybe next year I can have a good race when I go back.