Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Sweet Home Alabama....Duathlon Nationals!

The bags are packed, the car is full of gas, the cooler has plenty of snacks, we are ready for the first road trip of the year down to Birmingham Alabama. It isn't ideal that the first duathlon of the year is the Long Course Nationals at Powerman Alabama but most other racers will be in a similar situation.

The taper this week has gone well, for those you that train with power, the training stress balance has crept back to zero and will be positive by the time the race rolls around on Sunday. I ran today for a short 20min with some pick-ups and the legs felt good. The race on Sunday will be my first time racing with power and am pretty excited about that from a pacing and analysis point of view.

So what will Sunday bring? The course is rolling with a 10km run, 60km bike and finished with another 10km......not truly long course compared to many European Powerman courses but long for most US duathlons. I am going down to the race with aspirations of placing well and it would be nice to say that I am National Champion. I am gunning for that but at this stage of the season and this being the first race, it might be a long shot. If you don't try.......

Before the race however, we have the road trip with a stop in Chattanooga tomorrow night.....we have heard that it is a great City so should be cool to spend a few hours checking it out on Friday. After that it is onto Birmingham for Saturday and Sunday. Time there will be pretty much consumed with the race but we may try to see some of the area. The trip home on Sunday and Monday is yet to be decided but it may involve a quick trip to Bristol Motor Speedway if I can convince Sarah :-)

1 comment:

Stephen said...

While in Birmingham, you MUST try Milo's hamburgers. This is a Birmingham institution and they refuse to expand outside the metro area despite their profound reputation around the state.
There are several locations around the city and shouldn't be too difficult to find. I would even expect your hotel could direct you to on if you ask.