The Zen of Ultra Running

 Tri CLE Rock Roll Run is a local race in NE Ohio. The race always takes place the weekend before school starts. Usually, the race is on Saturday and the first day of the semester is the following Monday.  Since it was a local race, I couldn't not do it. After discussing with my coach, he said I could do a sprint tri at this race because he did not want me to do anything too long that would take more time to recover from the race than actually get long training in.  I signed up for the sprint tri again this year. Since the race was two days before the semester begins, it's the last thing on my mind leading up to the race day. The weekend before the race weekend, I went out and did another long, hilly road ride, which left me feeling toasted for the next couple of days (but it was a good training ride tho). Then, I had to scramble to get my classes ready for the new semester. On Friday (the day before the race), I had research meetings in the morning and then attended a college

 TriFit Challenge - Olympic distance tri in Columbus, OH. I wanted to use this race to practice bike and run nutrition because I have been trying to figure out how to get enough calories on the bike. Many people mentioned Infinit. So, I talked to the company and got the customized mix for my bike and run. I tried each of them once but never at a race. So, I figured this would be a great opportunity to test the nutrition.  The race was on Sunday, July 31st in Columbus, OH. Pre-race check-in and packet pick up was on Saturday and there was no race-day check-in/pick-up. The week leading up to the race day I was pretty busy with work so I did not pay much attention to all the RD emails and race details. It turned out that the race was a point-to-point race where T1 and T2 were in different locations. I found that out at the packet pick-up!  P. came home from a company trip on Saturday morning. I asked him if he wanted to go with me to Columbus in the afternoon and he said ok as long as he