Augusta 70.3

Before Augusta, it had been a few months since I've raced a 70.3.  After Chattanooga 70.3 I decided to do Eagleman but leading up to that race I had been sick and didn't recover well from Chattanooga.  I thought I would be better by the time I raced Eagleman but I was still sick.  I raced anyway and it didn't end well. Getting sick has been one of my big problems in the passed few years.  I just couldn't stay healthy more than 3-4 weeks and I seemed to always get sick before races.   After Eagleman I decided to go to the doctor. I ended up having a sinus infection and my ears were halfway filled with fluid. My immune system was very low.   They put me on some anti biotics,  which helped my sinus infection but I was still getting dizzy, had no energy and felt very tired.  I got some blood tests done and most of it came back great except for my sugar levels were very high, my a1c levels were almost to a diabetic level.   I talked with a couple doctors and it seemed as though I was not getting enough protein and healthy fats in my diet and my sugar levels were up and down without enough protein. My immune system was low and it seemed that my body was having a hard time getting better after each time I got sick.   I've changed my diet by adding a lot more protein and healthy fats and have been paying close attention to things that contain sugar.  I try to keep sugar to a minimal.  
I slowly began to feel better a couple weeks before racing in the New York City Triathlon.  I had my energy back and felt alive again! My goal has been to stay healthy even through weeks of hard training.  Just recently I had my blood re-tested and all my levels seem to be back to normal.  Leading up to Augusta was the healthiest I've felt for a very long time! I was happy to get to the starting line healthy and had some good training behind me even with Hurricane Irma disrupting my life for a week! 
Race morning I wasn't nervous, just excited and ready for the race to start!  It was supposed to be a hot day but the morning was pretty nice. 
I did a 10 min warm up run, stretched quite a bit and warmed up in the water.  The water was 77 degrees (non wetsuit legal).   I had a good swim start. I knew there were a few super fast swimmers and I let them go, I was somewhere between the front pack and a group of girls behind me. I swam by myself the whole swim.  As I ran out the swim exit I saw the lead girls running out of T1 with their bikes, so I knew I wasn't too far behind at this point.  I was around 7th or 8th out of the water.  
My coach and I had discussed a plan for me to execute on my bike.  In the passed I've started out too fast and faded quite a bit towards the end.  He gave me some power numbers to stay around within the first 25 miles with the goal to stay consistent or pick up the pace on the back half.  Starting out I could see some girls up the road and wanted to take off and reel them in but I didn't! I stayed within my power numbers and tried to keep this first 25 miles under control.  A few girls passed me and I let them go.  I tried to stay with them for a little bit but it was taking too much effort this early in the ride so I focused on my own race.  Eventually a few girls slowed down and I passed them and another girl was going about the same pace as me so I did have a few cyclists to pace off of more towards the middle and end of the race.  I kept my power more consistent this time, for my average power it was a little lower than it pry should have been, I will have to work on that next race.  I came off the bike feeling good.  
Once on the run I tried not to go out too fast.   My legs and energy level felt good.  I was around 6:45-6:55, which was about where I wanted to be. I moved into 8th place on the run.  I took some calories and drank water through the aid stations and somewhere around 6 miles things started to fall apart. I took some more calories and then a side ache started to creep up.  My side hurt so bad I had to slow down.  It made breathing hard.  I walked through a couple aid stations, drank some more water and took some salt. I was a little frustrated, the race had been going well until this.  Around mile 10 my side ache started to feel a little better to where I could go a little faster and still breathe.  Last couple miles were better.  I finished in 11th place.  (4:33)
Thanks to my coach and sponsors for keeping me on the right track and as always to my husband who is the most supportive, wonderful person I know!! :) 
My next race will be New Orleans 70.3!  I will be racing for charity and helping to raise money for the Girls On The Run scholarship program.  If you are interested in helping me meet my goal amount, the link is below.  I am looking for 70 sponsors to give $10 each, one sponsor per mile!  Thanks so much for reading and for the support! 
Already Looking forward to racing next month :) 

​https://www.crowdrise.com/otherraces2017/fundraiser/brittanyhiggins