Back to Arizona :)

 2020… am I right?

It’s been a while since I’ve used this space to put my thoughts into words. Some people can just absorb everything that happens in their life to them in their own heads. Some put everything in the form of 14 paragraph Instagram captions. Others tweet to the point where they literally get banned from all social media platforms and lose a presidential election. I like to write, and sometimes publish my thoughts on the internet for 6-10 people (mostly immediate family) to see.

My life for the past... 48 months?

The past year wasn’t an easy one for me, or really anyone in the world. The pandemic put me in situations I never thought I would be put in, and forced me to make some challenging decisions I was not emotionally expecting to make at this point in my life.  After some stressful months, I recognized where my headspace was at, and realized that I wasn’t happy with the track that my life was on. I felt like I had so many things that I wanted to do, places I wanted to live, people I wanted to spend time with, and I needed to take action. I want to be able to look back with no regrets.

Crocs store... Yeah I got new ones!

Without going into too much detail, In early September I packed up what I thought I might need for races and for training, and headed back to Fort Collins to go live with some generous friends. My overall stress levels shot down. I started to feel more confident in myself as a human and as an athlete. And while mental health doesn’t improve overnight (it takes a loooong time) I did notice more positive thought patterns and slightly more optimism. So I decided to race Memphis 70.3 and just see what would happen.

Up in the mountains 

I started writing this blog on the plane on the way home from Memphis 70.3 - a race that while originally I was incredibly embarrassed by - I’m now actually pretty proud of. After reading through some of my old blogs I noticed some patterns. My mindset played a massive role in how I perceived myself and my performance, and my actual performance from a results standpoint. So while I was feeling really positive about moving back to Fort Collins and confident that my body was in a good spot, I know that in the days leading up to the race I had an incredibly negative mindset about the potential race dynamics that might unfold. The reality is, I’m not an awesome swimmer - especially without a wetsuit, or bike rider in the rain. And in the days leading into the race, I realized I was probably going to have 1-3 people to swim with, and it was going to be raining the entire time during the bike, and I don’t ever ride my bike in the rain! In my head, the field was stacked against me, and I was already anticipating getting embarrassed before the event had even started.

Rolling back in at Boulder 70.3

Physiologically, the race went OK. I had a swim where I came out further back than I’d like, but also not necessarily around poor swimmers (Taylor Reid, George Goodwin). I rode behind George Goodwin for like 12-15 miles, and averaged like 310w for the first 30 mins, got dropped like a bad habit, and then rode my own pace for the rest of the bike - bleeding time, especially on anything that remotely resembled a turn. I got off feeling pretty demoralized, and down on myself for being so far behind the lead group. Which obviously I have no control over how hard or fast they bike. I wanted to drop out after 3 miles, peed, then somehow went on to run the last 8 miles under 6-minute pace - and didn’t really even feel like I was racing.

On the run at Boulder 70.3

But the bigger thing was this: I was mentally defeated during most of the race. I was in a negative headspace, and it was really not very enjoyable. I felt a lot of not great emotions, self doubt, and like I was generally a terrible athlete who will never be competitive. Looking back at everything now, I’m proud that I didn’t quit. I know that those thoughts and that negative self perception will return again - but next time I have a plan for how I’ll handle them. I remember before the races where I have the most fun, and usually feel best about my performance, I just trust myself to show up and turn it up. It feels like I’ve been trying to force an amazing performance at every race I do this year, fighting myself and not really trusting my ability to compete. It’s significantly more fun to compete and battle than it is to chase an arbitrary time, or finishing place. I think that everyone performs best and feels happiest under different circumstances, and I think for this year, I’ve been trying to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to my mental thought process with how I am approaching races. Another reality is that I’ve been stressing myself for too long of a period of time, with a variety of different stressors (work, school, exercise, etc.), and need to eliminate some in order to perform at a higher level and to feel good!

Guardsman Pass w the $quad

My original master plan included racing the LA Triathlon / Oceanside double, but I’ve decided to head into the off-season to give my brain the mental space it needs to recover. I’m loving the fall here in Fort Collins, but pretty soon it’s going to be winter, and I have every intention of riding and swimming outside this winter for the first time in years. So in a few weeks, I head down to Tucson Arizona, where I will be positioned firmly between the pool and the bike path. I’m looking forward to the chance to improve all around as an athlete, and spend the winter working hard with my friends in a place that I love to be!

Wattslayer Camp 2020... Good memories

2021 Slayer Camp - Loveland Pass

I will not miss the snow in Utah

Waco 70.3 and What's Next!

Another weekend of touring a city in spandex has come to an end, and I had a blast! This last weekends race was in Waco, Texas - about two hours south of Dallas. Luckily, my father decided that this weekend would be a good time for some bonding, so decided to make the trip down from Minnesota to help sherpa me around for the weekend! We crammed all of the luggage into the back of his rental, then paid our $2.00 that Dallas charges you to leave the airport, and began our drive down to Lorena.

We stayed on a quiet farm about 15 miles out of Waco, which means about 10 minutes of driving at Texas speeds. I was alarmed at a sign that said there have been over 2500 deaths on Texas roads this year so far... In Utah this morning there was a sign that said there had been 25 during the month of October, and was discouraging drunk driving. The farm was really peaceful, and had everything we needed for the weekend.

Father, thanks for being there this weekend!

On paper, Waco looked to be a stacked race, however before the race there were a bunch of question marks as to who would start. Would Starky really race just 7 days before he does IM FL?? Would Joe Gambles do this just 2 weeks post Kona?? Metzler is on like 4 published start lists this weekend, will he be at this one, or the other one, or the one next weekend?? Would Sam Appleton really have to embarrass everyone and win by an unreasonable margin (again)?? Then there are always the people you've never heard of on the start list... Basically at this point, I've learned that the only thing you can count on is the people who are physically in the water with you also peeing in their wetsuits when the gun goes off are the ones you're racing.

People who put themselves on every start list

Summer seems to have come and gone without a Fall period here in Utah, so luckily this race would have a high of around 75 degrees. The swim was wetsuit legal, and the water was nice and brown. I would have liked to see how I fared in a field like this in a non-wetsuit swim (probably would have gotten dropped), but that will have to wait again until next year. It was a point to point adventure - and I managed to get off to a great start and found myself somehow sighting off  the person who was sighting off the person who was sighting off a group of people who were directly behind the lead kayak. I filtered around, and just did my best to hang on to feet and get as much of a tow as possible in order to conserve energy, knowing that if this group all came out of the water together I would probably be towards the back, and that is not a great spot to be in at the start of the bike.

As we came out of the water, we were about 20 seconds down to a group that contained Timmy Winslow and Elliot Bach, but I had exited the water with Steve Kilshaw, who I really needed to get away from in transition if I wanted to have a chance at staying in the group once we got onto the bike. Kilshaw has had some of the top bike/run splits at races this year, and I knew that people would try to hang on to him as long as possible. If I could get a jump on him and be in the group before he got to the group, then when he went to the front of the group I could just sit in, as opposed to trying to bridge to a group that he was towing, which would be basically impossible. I got a jump on him and a bunch of other guys in T1, and road aggressively until I caught the group with the guys I knew, and waited for Kilshaw. It took him about 5 more minutes than me to close the gap, and by the time he got to the front of our group I had recovered for the effort and was ready for battle.

Up until that point, the power had been relatively sustainable for a 2 hour pack ride, but once Kilshaw got to the front it was either 350w+ or 20w... I was not having a fun time, and knew that the speed hadn't risen enough to warrant these massive surges I was having to put in just to stay in contact. I reflected on previous groups I had been in where this was the case, and tried to move up in the group hoping that it'd be a bit steadier. After trying that and still being disappointed with the effort, I decided that I had to pee and would just let the group go. I used a downhill and lost a bit of weight, and then basically road my own power for the rest of the race. I could basically see the group the entire way to the finish.  By the end they had only put around 1 minute on me, and I had ridden relatively steady. I was proud of my tactical decision making considering how hard I've blown myself up in races earlier this year - I knew that I could have burned a lot of matches considering how hard the run course would be, and I hadn't cramped or imploded, so was probably going to be OK. The downside was I had already peed twice more (lots of vibrations from the chipseal in TX), and decided to not drink a water bottle I grabbed at the last aid station, so I didn't feel awesome getting off the bike like I had in Augusta.

In the mountains prepping for some cold weather racing

Looking back, if I had to change anything about my race - it would be to chug that damn water bottle and see if I could have run better! It's not that I felt "bad", I just could tell my body was already a bit closer to the thin line than it needed to be coming off the bike, and literally every race where I've had that extra bottle I end up feeling good on the run for at least a small period of time. During a 1/2 on the run off the bike, you never are going to ever get enough water/fluids in unless you stop at aid stations, and even then you'll still probably get dehydrated. Luckily, I'll have more opportunities to put that theory to the test...

Stole this pic

Anyways, the run course was pretty tough, and I was happy to be coming from a place like Salt Lake where we have giant hills we can run up to prepare mentally for the misery that is lap 2 of the Waco run. I came off the bike with Ben Deal like I have basically every time we raced, and this time I decided to see how long I could stick it to him out of T2. He's usually one of the strongest runners in the field, so if I could hang with him and feel comfortable I knew I was in a great spot. I quickly realized that it was not my day to do this, and committed to an effort I knew I could sustain for at least 10 miles.

Crossing the bridge on the way to the finish

I got some splits from my dad, was still down from quite a few guys, and making up time. But not as much as I hoped I would. I crossed my fingers that the all of the dudes ahead of me would all have to take a porta potty break at the same time and be stuck in line, or that they would all be walking up the hills, and eventually at like mile 10 I finally had another pro within reach. We ran shoulder to shoulder for around 800 meters before coming to an aid station, where I was able to pull away from him. Once we hit the out and back with around 800 meters to go to the finish I could see I had put a gap into him, and allowed myself to enjoy the bridge across to the finish, which was lined with spectators.

Post race chat about how we spent way too much on our sneakers

After the race, I ran into Erin, who was the president of the ASU Tri team back in the day (like 2 years ago). She's living in Texas, and works for every endurance athletes favorite company, active.com. After crushing some pizza and burritos, My dad and I headed back to the ranch to pack up and head back to our respective home states. On the list of the worst things to have to do directly after a race, packing up a bike and driving 2 hours to an airport is definitely up there. To make matters worse, when I arrived in SLC, my gate-checked carry on (you know, when they say hey we want you to check a bag for free) was missing. The lady made me sit around for another hour waiting for it, and when it didn't show up after an hour they finally filed a claim. TBH I just wanted a cheeseburger and a nap at that point and was basically acting like an adult sized toddler who hadn't eaten in the last 30 minutes (just ask Emily). The next morning my bag magically got on a different plane from Dallas and appeared at our apartment door.

Hangin with Erin!

Overall, I had a great time in Waco. The race was well organized, I got to spend some time with my dad, and ate some solid food. Experience participating in a tactical race and making decisions while under pressure was gained. At the end of the day, Elliot and I have focused this year on beating as many people as possible. And while I haven't really won anything big, each race has been super important and each time I've learned what I can do to potentially beat people who are actually better than me but just race like idiots. at the end of the day, I think now I've got a good idea of tactically what it takes to put yourself in a position to perform, and now it's all about just getting more fit and continuing to learn what the dynamic is like at the top level.

Thanks, Delta...

The next race on the calendar is Challenge Daytona, out in Daytona Beach Florida! The race takes place at 4:30 PM on December 14th, and is sure to be pretty sick! It's a 1500m swim, 37.5 mile bike around the race track (15 laps), and then an 8 mile run. I'm still looking for a Sherpa for that race, so if you would like to hang out with me and buy me food for a weekend, you can apply here

A week works wonders

No swim pics? no problem

As this 2019 exercise competition season is only a few races from completion, it's nice to reflect on my activities, accomplishments, and failures. It's been a great learning experience this year by showing up to some really competitive races and trying to compete with some really good athletes. I've had some really disappointing and negative experiences that have been insanely frustrating, and some awesome moments like getting a fat paycheck ($750, but more like $450 after taxes) from Ironman. Above all, I've found that one of the best ways for me to refresh my brain after a $hit race is by writing a blog. Even if I don't end up publishing it (i.e. Post Santa Rosa/Boulder).

some solid photographers out there in Santa Rosa

It's not a giant secret that I just didn't come to play at Santa Rosa and Boulder 70.3 Relative to how I performed in St. George and CDA. I was about a minute back from the swim to where I need to be (hanging on for dear life to the 2nd group), and just never made up any ground and made all around stupid decisions. At the end of the day I was really not stoked on my results at those races, but the positive takeaway was that my body could handle racing two half ironmans back to back weekends, and I got a bunch of tactical experience and fitness after it even though they weren't exactly great race results on paper.

Forced Talbot to get a sick transition shot for me

For your entertainment, I'll have a 1 paragraph summary of each race listed below:

Santa Rosa was all around depressing. Between driving two hours to the race site from the airport, finding a chicken nugget under my bed, and just general exhaustion I was not in a mental state to be racing. The pro meeting was impossible to find, the swim course had a turn buoy 200m in which means bad things for a sub-front pack swimmer like myself, the bike course had without a doubt the worst pavement I've ever ridden on, and the run course was littered with actual litter and homeless people, and barely any crowd support (which is something I absolutely rely on to get through races - especially miles 11-13). Basically, I showed up and got destroyed, and cried myself to sleep after the race, then got charged a bike fee for my Hen House, which is literally designed to avoid bike fees. After trying to reason with them they said they could cancel my flight if I wanted to continue to argue with them, and then I proceeded to be in such a hurry through security that I lost my laptop case and a bunch of charger cords in my rush to be the last person on the southwest flight. Sick.

Stick with the Next %'$

Boulder was a slight improvement. I was able to stay with Timmy Winslow, who also lives with Rudy Von Berg and Nick Granet, so I was just praying that some of their speed would rub off on me. I found myself hanging on for dear life to Kennett Pattersons feet during the swim. About 800m in, I called it off, realizing I was killing myself. I swam easy for the rest of theswim, hoping I'd be able to work with some guys around me on the bike and do OK. Long story short, I rode with Sam Long for about 30 miles before absolutely imploding. I cramped so hard in the last 5 miles that I was literally unable to pedal at one point, and was re-passed by everyone I had passed earlier in the bike, and a grandma on her first lap of the bike course also passed me :). I figured I'd be totally screwed for the run, but I had also just dropped like $250 on some Nike Next %s so figured I'd do at least a lap and then see if the 20 people ahead of me were all going to drop out of the race and maybe I could win it. The run wasn't terrible, but it was outrageously hot, and I was basically jogging every single aid station beginning at mile 1. Overall, I had a lot more fun, especially post race, and was just ready for a week off!

Photo - Paul Higgins

Thanks Kenny Withrow for the pic(s)

After a week off, I came back an entirely new man. There were probably 7-10 more hairs on my chest/legs, and I was feeling like a functional adult both at work and at triathlon. My swimming rapidly progressed back to the level it had been at before St. George and CDA, and I finally got my road bike built up, which meant I could do some 4-7 hour adventures in the mountains. Generally speaking, I actually trained pretty chill between Boulder and Augusta. I knew I was already fit, and that a lot of my poor results were due to me being tired leading into the race and being tactically an idiot. I just needed to get to the start line ready to race and trust my body.

Add caption

Steady rides in the mountains are my fav

Emily and I went to Colorado Springs one weekend for the Pikes Peak Ascent, and my brother Steve was also going to be out there for the marathon. It was an awesome time, they both crushed it, and it got me motivated to just keep training consistently and developing my skills slowly and then applying the tactics during the races. Steve decided to come out to Augusta with me, and that made my trip about 100x more enjoyable. I didn't have to drive for the entire weekend, had a hotel, pool, food, and etc. He made sure that everything I needed was taken care of, and made sure I was doing as little as possible, including taking the elevators, which is basically unheard of in our family.

Bae won her age group

Steve before dying

The race itself in Augusta was just a reflection of my mental strategy since I had taken the week off. I was totally recharged and just stoked to be out there. I practiced a lot of positive self talk in training, and found that even when I really didn't believe what I was telling myself, if kept doing it I could get through whatever I needed to get through. The final reinforcing point on this was watching Rohan Dennis absolutely crush the TT world championship despite going through some serious adversity - you can read that article here. Before the race had even started I didn't care how it would go, just knew that I was happy to get out there with my family watching and would do my best and that was it.

One of the memories I like to think about that gets me stoked - 3rd at coll nats, but 1st in the hair competition

I lined up between Hunter Lussi and Nils F., with Lionel pretty close by. The swim didn't have much of a downstream current like I had been promised, but I found myself holding onto the front group a lot longer than I had ever thought possible. About 700m Lionel came around, and I sat on his feet for a bit, before slipping back to Paul (former ASU teammate)'s feet, before realizing that we were all swimming massively off course, so I swerve'd aggressively towards the "sighting" buoys. Turns out that the only buoyed that mattered was the turn buoy, which was actually way to the right, where the group was heading. I had gone off course, losing probably 20-30 seconds by the end of the swim.

Has anyone noticed that I've got a new helmet every race?

I wasn't super stoked about that, but after stalking a lot of power files from Augusta last year I found that people just blitzed the first 20k and then died slowly after that, so riding alone might actually be a smart move for the first part if it meant that I could just roll at my own effort. I was rolling with Lewis Elliot, a former pro cyclist, and he wasn't coming around, so I figured the pace was probably solid enough. The gap stayed the same until about 20k, before all of the sudden I made up 30 seconds in like 2 miles, and found myself at the back of a 6 person group. I had been riding at a conservative effort doing my best to keep them in sight and just take in nutrition, but not push the hills too much since it was only going to get more steamy out as the day went on, and any time above 300 watts would probably be burning a match that I just didn't need to burn if I rode efficiently on the downhills and maintained my power. I put in a few surges to try and drop the group, but eventually just gave up. I'd let the group pull away on the uphills and then catch back on with the descents, just doing my best to stay within myself and take in as much fluid as I possibly could, knowing that dehydration would be the only thing stopping be from having a fast run after this ridiculously easy ride. The 12 meter drafting rule continues to be an absolute joke, but as long as that's the rule I will continue to save 30 watts by riding in the group. Side note - the bike course here was amazing. 10/10 would recommend.

As we hit the run, I could tell I had some awesome legs. I saw Steve at mile 2 and had already caught everyone in our group except for Paul Stevenson and Sean Daugherty. He gave me some positive reinforcement and told me that most people did not look good. Awesome. Lewis Elliot caught up to me around mile 3 and him and Paul and I ran together for a couple hundred meters - which was pretty neat. Lewis was stopping to get ice at every aid station, but I had a flask with redbull and another with gels, and had drank like 5 bottles of various fluids on the bike (and even peed while riding!) so was doing alright. We kept the pace honest, and at mile 5 I saw Steve again and he said someone was walking, and 6-8 were right ahead of me. Lewis started to fall off the pace here, and I opened up a solid gap on him. As we hit the aid station at mile 7 I pranced past 8th (he was stopped stretching his hamstrings), and then watched as 6 and 7 stopped at the aid station to get water. I jumped through a sprinkler I was so stoked, and grabbed some water. I felt amazing from miles 7-10, but knew that 11-13 would be rough so tried to not blow it. the last thing I needed was to get passed in the last mile because I got too carried away with 10k to go.

Cruising in to the finish line

Around mile 11 I saw Steve for like the 45th time (run course was very spectator friendly) and was now struggling, and asked if I could chill. He gave me the thumbs up, and I backed off the pace and enjoyed the last two miles. The crowd out on the run course was spectacular - without a doubt the best support I've ever had on a run. The streets were shaded, and the aid stations had ice and sponges. Maybe it also helps that I was in a way better mood, but overall I would say that Augusta 70.3 will probably always be a special race for me. Even though I got beat by 5th place by like 8 minutes and Lionel curb stomped me by 18 minutes, I felt like I raced tactically the best I could have. Maybe I could have gone 12 seconds faster and broken 4:00 and 1:20 for the run, but at the end of the day I wouldn't have placed any higher and probably wouldn't have enjoyed the race as much!

Steve came through clutch for helping advance my ironman paycheck, as you can see above.

I've noticed a solid trend on races going well when I have support in place (Emily came to St. George and CDA, Steve at Augusta), so I've recruited my Dad to come out to Waco 70.3 next month and help carry me around pre race so that I don't have to walk anywhere.

No laws when you're drinkin claws

Basically a summary of my 1-1 meeting with my boss this week

It's almost August?!

Blogs: The thing I start writing at least once per week, then either decide it’s a little bit too PG 13 to publish, or forget to complete it. Since beginning a full time job, it’s been tough for me to keep all of my thoughts in order on where I’m at, where my racing’s at, etc – and I haven’t done a good job of writing it down. It seems like we’ve suddenly went from January to June without the pesky months in between – and my road bike still doesn’t have a crankset on it, the outdoor 50 meter pool is open, I’ve switched my rides from inside to out, and the treadmill is a long lost memory.

Me every time I begin a blog

My race season did in fact begin with a bang, as I blew up real hard! I was feeling fit and wanted to test myself with another ocean swim, so decided to hop on the Oceanside Start list for a good pounding. I still haven’t quite nailed that beach swim start, and Oceanside’s start wasn’t nice to me. Within about 5 miles on the bike I had managed to eject both of my water bottles with all of my calories minus one gel, and was still riding like a crazy guy who hadn’t raced in like 10 months and didn’t realize how terrible a ½ IM can be without nutrition. Long story short, I blew myself to pieces in the first 70 minutes of the bike, then cramped for the remainder, continuing to neglect nutrition. Off the bike I could feel that my legs were not in a position where continuing would be healthy, and I had salt stains all over my kit. I decided to run moderately for a bit, then jogged around to the aid stations and got all of the free snacks I could before pulling out of the race. It sucked – but was an experience I probably needed.

No pics from Oceanside bc I'm lazy

After Oceanside, Emily and I headed to Phoenix for 5 days. Phoenix is not only where her grandparents live, but also where my boy Conrad lives. We exercised non-stop for the entire trip, and it was awesome. Conrad also was racing St. George next – and I was glad to be able to hook him up with a homestay for that race!

I can't get this picture of us to rotate, but you can turn your computer/phone upside down to enjoy Delicate arch in Moab!

St. George went a lot different. I was able to get back on the chase pack in the swim, but then biffed the T1 and almost lost my shoe doing a mount. I could see the giant train of people I wanted to be with dropped by (including Kienle, hoff, etc.) and watched them ride away from me. I made sure to keep the power on the pedals, but for whatever reason wasn’t really crushing anyone on the bike. Eventually, Trevor Wurtele rolled by me, we caught up to Paul Stevenson (who had a slightly better T1 than me despite me swimming on his feet the entire time) and I decided to stick with them. I knew that if anyone was going to have a smart race at St. George, it’s probably going to be the guy who races there religiously every year, and the pace didn’t feel hard. I also remembered how terrible Oceanside was after mile 30, and the elevation profile of the St. George run course doesn’t exactly lend itself to someone who has overcooked the bike. I ended up losing some more time in T2 taking a pee, but ran my way back into almost 14^th after losing in a sprint finish. First time under 1:19? Yup. If I can do it at St. George, I guess I can probably do it anywhere now, right?

OMW to a 1:19 and change run... Emphasis on the change...

After St. George, Conrad trekked back up to Salt Lake and we did some more exercising together!

Another adventure took me out to Los Angeles. It was an interesting dynamic, with a work trip to Vegas on Thursday-Saturday, then driving out to LA Saturday night for a race Sunday Morning. Missing the "pro" meeting was inevitable, but luckily I knew a few guys racing so arranged for Robbie Deckard to have me on speakerphone while I sat in the car heading out of town. LA Traffic is no joke... I spent way too much time trying to figure out where to park, and still ended up paying over $40 just to be parked in the same spot for one night, despite having a $40 parking voucher...

Since I didn't go to a pro meeting for this race, here is a picture of me at one

The race was point to point, so I dropped my T2 bag off the night before and got some subway for dinner and picked up some muffins for breakfast the next morning. Herbalife was nice enouogh to hook it up with a room at the JW Marriott - so that was cool. I did a little splash in the hotel pool and convinced myself I was ready to ball out and swim with Ben Collins (which I wasn't).

The race took a while to start because of some road closure delays, but then again, they were closing down 20 miles of 4 lane road so I can't really complain. Once it began, it was pretty chill.  I swam with the group, and then biked with Paul Stevenson. Until I hit a rough patch of road and ended up with a pinch flat in my back wheel. Luckily, a stranger on the side of the road who happened to be spectating handed me his rear wheel, and I only lost 10 minutes on the change. Also it was an 8 speed wheel pumped up to about 20 PSI (not super great for making U turns or riding down hills, but better than walking 15 miles). I was bummed that the race had a wheel sponsor, but couldn’t seem to throw together enough brain cells to have an actual wheel pit for the race. Lesson learned on my end, and I’ve got an appointment setup to turn my race wheels into tubeless monsters! It was great to be able to just finish the race – and despite a not great “result” on a day where my legs would have been able to maybe do something good, I didn’t scrape my cornea like I have before, so I guess that’s good?

Ron doesn't wear a cape, but he is a baller.

The next event I participated in was CDA 70.3. Many of you will remember this as the race where my femur said “naw” and I limped a few miles in and then collapsed and then didn’t run for like 5 months! I’m happy to announce that I did successfully complete the race, ran 5 minutes faster than I did with a messed up leg, and broke 4 hours on a pretty damn tough course. I also have an awesome homestay up there that make the trip so enjoyable, and luckily Emily decided that she could come too, which also made the trip a lot less stressful! 

Race morning was pretty early, but now that I'm a full on corporate dude, early mornings are pretty normal. We were allowed to swim warm up, and also got  to enjoy one of the best part about WTC Races: AN ON TIME START! Seriously, it's mindblowing how many races that aren't standardized end up having delays from 5-30 minutes at the beginning. About 200 meters in someone decided that my goggles no longer belonged on my face, and decided to remove them with a swift blow to the head. This forced me to stop and tread water for a second while I put them on, and really pissed me off. I sprinted back up to the group I was in, desperate to not have my race ruined by that particular jacka*s who definitely did that on purpose. I managed to get out of the water just a little bit behind where I would have liked to be – but probably where I “belonged”.

Happy to see Trevor's butt

Through transition, I saw Andrew Talansky and a few other strong cyclists like Nathan Killam and Trevor Wurtele, as well as Robbie Deckard who also happens to have one of the dirtiest runs in 70.3 (which he put on display later). After not messing up in transition I sat directly behind Talansky for the first 25 miles of the bike, thinking “wow this is so easy”! My power file agreed. Sitting 2 wheels back might be easy, but try sitting 5^thwheel behind some BIG guys, and you probably save around 50 watts even at the legal distance… Then, Andrew Talansky decided to show us just exactly how he placed top 10 at the Tour de France, and dropped us insanely hard. I was still feeling pretty solid, and was able to bridge from 5^th wheel to around 3^rd with Robbie, and we managed to catch another one of our buddies Timmy. For the rest of the ride it was pretty uneventful. Nathan rode away from us while I was distracted, and by the time I realized we were getting dropped it was definitely too hard to bridge back up, and I knew that I would be better off conserving my energy in the group, so after a brief tenure off the front I soft pedaled at 150 watts back to the group, which took a surprisingly long time to catch me (kinda regretted not sticking with that move). Then Jon came by and I had another chance to get a golden ticket back to Nathan, but was not feeling super great and was running low on water so decided to not push my luck with dehydration. I botched a few (5) water bottle hand ups at the down hill aid station, and was definitely feeling dehydrated while rolling into T2 (cramping, etc).

Ref's checking out my legs

Over this year I’ve made slow gains in my tactical decisions, and this race I definitely made a few mistakes that could have cost me anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 seconds, but I also made some great decisions that gained me a few. At the end of the day, as long as I keep trying different things and they keep working, I’m pretty happy with it! On that note, going into T2 at St. George I was in last position of my group, vs at this race I made a note to be in the front. I nailed that, and then was also one of the first guys in the group to hit the run course. At St. George, I couldn’t pee on the bike so stood there and lost over a minute while I peed myself in transition casually chatting with some volunteers. At this race, I decided that I’d either end up peeing myself while running (wait, aren’t you dehydrated?!?!) or pee myself at the finish line. I took out the run pretty hard, which it’s easy to do when your GPS isn’t functioning and you know you’ve got guys coming in HOT behind you! My legs felt terrible, but I had faith that eventually they wouldn’t feel terrible (haha right…). I saw the local tri team from salt lake had a cheering squad (BAM) and they recognized me and gave me some cheers, which was greatly appreciated. At this point, Robbie already had somehow run like 40 seconds into me (probably less than a mile in) and I was thinking about the finish line. I was passed by Kevin Portmann, who was breathing a lot harder than I usually am about 2 miles into a hard run, so I chose to let him go.

Turn your phone again for full effect

The course in CDA is pretty honest, considering all of the spiky hills and twists and turns, and I knew that my legs were not huge fans of running dehydrated, so I tried to keep them from raising their little white flags and giving up. My position stayed literally the exact same until mile 9, when I could tell that I was closing back in on Kevin, and then could also see Justin Daerr painfully close and definitely targeting a pass on me. Ugh. My legs still felt like at any second they were going to just cramp up, and that I would go from running sub 6 miles to 9 minute miles, so I decided to back off a bit and make sure that I didn’t fade insanely hard. I caught and passed Kevin fairly easily and gave myself a mental pat on the back for knowing my body and not being an idiot 10 minutes into the run. About 3 minutes later Justin passed me and I knew it was going to stick, because my brain was starting to get fuzzy and My legs were also starting to feel like 400 lb bricks. I backed it off slightly more, and told myself that if I still felt OK in 2 miles, then I could push for the last 800 meters and try to dig it back and catch him off guard. I crossed in 10^th, about 20 seconds or so behind Justin and 20 ahead of Kevin. I also jogged so I could finish with a finish time of 3:59:37 because 37 is my lucky number which I also stole from Steve..

Robbie dropped me less than a second after this was taken

Post race, I kicked myself for not sticking with Nathan or Jon on the bike. If I had simply hung with them, I could have had the chance to place 7^th if I executed a slightly better run (then Nathan also might have run faster…). Either way, I still would have walked away with $0 in prize money and $0 in sponsor bonuses, and a net loss on the trip, proving how priceless the lessons you learn in this sport can be .

Having fun post race with Emily. Huge thank you to our homestay Nid and David! I even drank a beer...

Up next on the agenda is 70.3 Santa Rosa, followed by Boulder 70.3 the next weekend!

I have to finish this by saying thanks to everyone who has supported me so far this season - my Family, girlfriend Emily (and her family), friends (especially Conrad), homestays, GU, Intermountain, and O.C. Tanner!

Moving to Utah!

As many of my billions of loyal followers are aware, I have recently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah! There were quite a few motives for this recent move, but the biggest one is quite well summarized by a song “get a haircut” by George Thorogood. I heard it about a year ago while watching the Orica-Scott backstage TDF videos, and thought it was hilarious. One line in the song is even “get it together like your big brother bob” – which is funny because my big brother does “have it together”. I’m currently at phase two of the song, where I am trying that 9-5 scene… Maybe someday me and my rock and roll band will “hit the big time” and I’ll be “10 times richer than my big brother bob” – but I’m not going to hold my breath.

The move started a few months ago in June. After Pacific Crest, which my girlfriend Emily and I road tripped up to from Colorado (a solid 19 hours each way…), she realized that she didn’t want to go to PA school. The applications for PA school, as some of you may know, require more than enough personal information, essays about why you want to be a PA, and generally speaking, are not standardized. This means that every single school you want to apply for, you must specifically tell them why you want to go there. Then if selected, you have to go out there and interview with them, and sell them your soul. If you think that this application process sounds pretty stressful, you’re right. Now imagine getting accepted, then having to commit the next few years of your life to actually becoming a PA… Emily realized that she was more interested in actually doing science with her degree (Biological sciences), than becoming a PA and talking to random people about their mysterious bodily growths on a daily basis. She applied for a job at the SMRTL drug testing lab at the U of U, and was accepted the next week. She committed to starting in August, and before we knew it I was faced with possibly the easiest decision I’d ever have to make: Do I go or do I not go.

Big Cottonwood With Emily 

This past year has been pretty rough for me, and I’ll probably delve into more of that in future blogs depending on my mood when writing. But to summarize my once “friendly roommate”, let’s call him Patrice, decided that I was burdening him by him letting me live in his spare bedroom and pay him monthly rent, and that I didn’t deserve to be treated like a typical human since my name wasn’t on the lease. I was verbally abused on a regular basis, and eventually I left one weekend when he was visiting his girlfriend in Vail. I had contemplated moving out several times before then, but never really pulled the trigger on it until I came home that weekend and he had a friend staying in his bedroom that he didn’t warn me about, while he was out of town. I almost called the cops on the person thinking they had broken before I realized they were his guest. Trust me, I’d love to be making this up.

@ The Pool. 50m outdoor, 25yd indoor 

The next month, I was welcomed in by a great retired air traffic controller and his wife who works as a nurse. They allowed me to stay in their basement for the month, and I felt safe again. Patrice didn’t know where I lived, and I was happily out of a terrible living situation. I had planned on moving in with a Co-worker, Dillan, and a few guys from the CSU Triathlon team in May. We began our lease on May 1st, and the house ended up being a giant train wreck. There were hella bugs everywhere in the basement, and with everyone out of town for the summer at internships, etc. I was the only one living there for a lot of the summer. The yard, which we were told would be cleaned and landscaped for us, was a giant weed fest, and we weren’t even given a lawn mower (LOL). Oh yeah, and it didn’t come with a washer and a dryer. These landlords were CLASSY…

My job was barely paying me enough to keep me afloat. While getting discounts on shoes is sweet, not being financially stable is less sweet. I began trying to court a sponsor to help with my triathlon/financial endeavors, but nothing seemed to bite. Maybe I just didn’t have it as far as they were concerned. After all, I haven’t really had any great results that say “Wow that kids gonna be a world champ someday”. One of my main points of pride is on working hard and doing things the right way, but maybe this just wasn’t going to be and I wouldn’t be able to make it in triathlon. I realized that my most valuable asset was not my triathlon skills or social media abilities, but my college degree. I value risking it all for doing something you love, but my bank account was approaching the point of no return if I didn’t get it together and make a big change. Sitting around and waiting for someone to bankroll me to get to the races wasn’t working, and working part time paid me enough to train, but not enough to actually go somewhere and race!

The view from directly outside our apartment. 5 minute ride straight to the mountains... 

Emily and I decided that long distance wasn’t really our cup of tea. There wasn’t really a point of me staying at my job that I was barely surviving at, when I could get another job that paid the same in Salt Lake City as a worst case scenario. We found a sweet little apartment in the Millcreek area, and have settled in nicely. I began applying for jobs and exercising full time (spoiler alert: my last race of the season ended up getting cancelled). It was nice finally getting to exercise as much as humanly possible, and knowing that there would eventually be a light at the tunnel.

Big Cottonwood, again 

Before we had moved, I began applying for jobs in Salt Lake City, and found that there were significantly more companies willing to look at my resume than in Fort Collins. Despite several distinctions that I would consider significant on my diploma, I felt like I was never truly given a chance to legitimately use my degree in Fort Collins. Most of the jobs required you to start with a base of an amusing 30k, then “work your way up the system”. I didn’t get a college degree in Supply Chain Management to work in sales. And I honestly hate sales anyways… So despite a few interviews for that role out in Salt Lake, I kept looking. In Salt Lake my resume was valued a lot more, and I found myself being responded to by a lot more employers. My bank account was teetering on the brink of extinction, when I finally got an offer from a real Supply Chain Company out of West Valley City, and they gave me one day to respond... This didn't seem fair to me, but I was getting desperate for something in real supply chain! It seemed like an OKAY enough fit, the commute wasn't great, but they had a few coffee machines on site, flexible hours, and unlimited PTO with a decent 401k match. I’d probably take it if I didn’t find a better offer!

You should see what it looks like inside 

The next day I got a better offer from my current employer, O.C. Tanner. The company has been around for longer than you and me combined, and the people here are passionate about what they do. The company produces employee rewards, and among other things, we made the medals for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. We have an insane 401k match, regular profit sharing (which means we actually turn a profit), and a great company culture. There is a casual dress code, gym on site, my manager is awesome, and most of all, they seemed really happy to have me here. The commute is literally 5 minutes from my house. A lot of you might be saying “well I thought you weren’t about money”. Well, I am a little bit about money…. In 25 years I don’t want my kids to say “dad, why can’t I go to college X” – and I want my response to be “because your essay sucked”, not “we couldn’t afford it”.

Unlimited coffee too!

I enjoy life here in Salt Lake City. The pool opens at 5am, leaving plenty of time to get a 10k set in before getting to work at 8am, we have an on site gym, an amazing trail system less than 10 minutes from our apartment, and without a doubt the safest cycling I have ever experienced! The roads are beautiful, the cost of living is cheap, the weather is relatively predictable, and my roommate doesn’t hate me. If you had told me about a year ago that this is where I’d be I’d tell you you’re nuts, but isn’t that how it always works? I’ve got my haircut and real job now, but life is a lot better than it was before, and I’m glad I did.

With all of this said, I'd like to thank the people who have helped me out along the way on this journey. My parents, siblings, Emily, my imaginary friends that I talk to when I'm bored, my bff Conrad, and coach Elliot Bassett (i'll talk more about him in a future blog, but he's a lot better than your coach according to me).


Thanks,
Ernie

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Ernie Mantell
Purchasing Analyst - Indirect Spend and MRO




1930 South State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
office 801.4XXXXXXX (you're crazy if you think you're getting that number)