Race report: Deep South Triathlon is a 70.3 distance race just outside of Jackson, MS.  I am just easing back into long-distance training after about 3 years of sporadic training.  I just joined the squad a couple months ago and did the baseline plan up until this week.  Overall, I had a good experience and finished 6th overall and look to get stronger over the winter and spring.  

Swim: non-wetsuit swim.  They had the bouys messed up so that shortened the swim some but came out of the water feeling great. 

Bike: The first 20 miles stayed conservative on the power, the next 20 brought it up a little, the last 16, I didn't look at the watch and just went by feel.  I took in probably too many calories but it was very hot.  Probably too much Gatorade (which is what they had on course) but I didn't want to take too many bottles on the bike.  I finished the last part of the ride with 1 bottle of my own sports drink and around 100 mg of caffeine.  Overall, the ride went well but I was not able to put in as much time training on the bike as I would have liked. 

Run:  Immediately when I got on the run I knew it was going to be tough.  Tried to jog and keep my heart rate down the first 3 miles.  Took in water at first then began to mix water and gatorade at the aide stations.  The heat was really hitting hard at this point.  I started the Coke at mile 8 or so as well as ice.  I knew my run split was from lack of training time on the bike and that is a lesson learned but that is all my life will allow at this point.  I was able to see my kids and one of them was able to run across the finish line with me.  I am pleased with this so far and look to improve with consistent training.  If anyone lives in the "deep South" you should consider this race. It was very well put on.