Off to Mazatlan - Pan Am Championships

Jet lag hit hard today.

I have had trouble, as is to be expected, sleeping and adjusting to being back on the west coast. A 16 hour time change is a lot and quite hard to do two times in only 6 days. One very evident side effect, beyond sleep deprivation, is my extreme hunger. So much so that I woke at 3am two nights ago and had a little early morning snack. I suppose 3am here is about dinner time in Japan, so it isn't surprising.

Workouts have been going really well since arriving home. I think the two short runs I did post race before boarding the airplane made a big impact because I have had little to no soreness. Today though, I was completely out of it. I had a massive case of the yawns before diving into the pool but managed to put together a really solid session despite my state of delerium. This is giving me a lot of confidence heading into the weekend because my fitness is very obviously there, I just need to let it out.

So, tomorrow, I head down to Mazatlan, Mexico for the Pan American Championships. It is an important race for me and will be the first goal off of my 2008 goal list that I attempt to meet. The race is Saturday morning and will have a field of roughly 45 women (both Elite and U23). With massive ocean surf and a lot of flat riding and running it should be both fast and super fun. I know what I need to do. The aim is to both correct the errors from last weekend and to allow myself to just enjoy my final race as a 23 year old as my birthday is on Sunday.

I'm also really excited because Jarrod will be racing and so will my little brother (yes, there is another Shoemaker coming up the pipeline) Jake. Jake will be racing in the Junior race and I can't wait to see him out there. He has been working really hard and it is a great opportunity for him. If he does well he could make the Junior World Team and if not, it will be another race under his belt that he can learn from. Either way, it will be so much fun to have him there with us!

I won't have my computer with me, I'm traveling light, so you will either have to wait until I return or check online at www.triathlon.org for results. Catch you next week!