Last weekend I had the opportunity to compete in the USA collegiate nationals championships.
It’s by far the biggest race I will compete in all year, and it’s the main one
that every collegiate triathlete trains for. This was the most competitive race
that I’ve ever been a part of, and it was tons of fun.
The venue was awesome |
We left Tempe for Clemson on Wednesday Morning. After a
quick swim I headed to the airport. We had already checked our bikes with Raceday Transport (clutch), so we didn’t
worry about having to fly with them. Since we flew southwest, we got to check
two free bags (also clutch). We arrived in Atlanta, and went for a quick run
around the woods with the team. I felt pretty sluggish, but at the same time I knew
I would adapt to the humid environment eventually. We finished up the evening
playing some basketball at a local park. It was nice just to relax and do
something non-triathlon related for a while.
That night, we finished editing our Jaybird Journey to
Nationals Video. Obviously, we won the $2,500 in free Jaybird swag for the
second consecutive year by a landslide.
Clearly the best video out there
After a quick run on Thursday morning we left Georgia for
Clemson. We found ourselves stuck in a major traffic jam. Our van moved a total
of 0 inches for well over 2 hours. We got out of the van to investigate, and found
out that a truck had flipped, and was blocking the entire highway (including
the shoulders) so no cars could go around. After what seemed like an eternity,
we were finally on our way.
Once we arrived in Clemson, we attempted to check into our
hotel. Unfortunately, they had lost our reservations, and we were forced to
head to a different hotel further away from the race sight. This was less than
ideal, but we didn’t really have a choice. We got an easy ride and swim at the
beach in later on in the evening. Shout out to my parents for going food
shopping and leaving a ton of food for me at the hotel. That was awesome.
Friday, my teammates Oscar and Paul were racing the draft legal, as was
Steve. The race was fast, but two guys solo’d off the front for the entire bike, and some guy ran a sub 15:00 5k to take the win.
Later on, we went for easy workouts and hung out, eating food. We went to a
really good spaghetti place in downtown Clemson, and enjoyed a nice dinner.
Jason West absolutely crushed the run |
RACE DAY
I woke up just before 5 and it was raining outside, which
would make for interesting conditions on the bike. I had oatmeal for breakfast,
because hotel rooms don’t come with rice cookers. We left for the race at 5:45.
When we arrived, there was already a massive line to get into transition, and Raceday
transport hadn’t showed up yet (they didn’t get there until 6:30) to let us get
our bikes and check them into transition. A lot of people were panicking, and I
did my best to stay calm and control what I could control. I got everything
else ready, and once they did open up the RD transport, I got my bike, and then
got into line for transition.
The weather wasn't quite this nice on race day :) |
SETTING UP TRANSITION
Normally I wouldn’t make a section for this, but I had to
say something about the bike next to mine. It was a Dimond. For those who are unaware, it looks like this, and it is
crazy fast and awesome. I ran into my brother and David at the swim start, and
after a few delays, we headed into the water to warm up.
Yeah, transition was a little awkward |
My bike was looking good, too (Thanks Andre) |
SWIM
As always, the race started with a sprint for position. I
purposefully started myself behind the first line of guys in order to avoid the
mash pit for the first 500 yards. I'm not even close to fast enough to keep up with the lead pack, so I tried to play it smart and minimize my loss. I went out pretty hard even though I wasn’t
really trying to. I found myself in the third group, which was pretty good for
me given the skill level of some of these swimmers. There was more physical
contact and curse words than a normal race, but that’s to be expected when
around a ton of college kids probably. I got out of the water in great position
for me, right behind David from CSU. My swim has improved, but it still needs
some work if I want to get out with the really fast bikers. The transition
started down at the water, and included a huge run all the way up a hill to get
to our bikes. Once I got my helmet on, I put on my sunglasses. The lenses were
fogged up and blurry from the rain, so I decided not to wear them for the race.
BIKE
The bike course started with a pretty big hill. I used it to
set the tone, and passed a few people on it. My goal for the bike was to keep
David in sight. He is a strong biker, and if I could stay with him, I knew I
would have a chance at doing well. I took too long to get my shoes in, but
luckily he wears a bright orange helmet, so he was easy to spot. Once we got on
the course, I made a few more passes, and then joined in with a group and we
began pushing the pace.
I felt good, and did my best to use the uphill sections to
my advantage. It was pouring rain, and so intense. The bike course was pretty narrow;
since they only gave us one lane on the highway (1 lane – 600 dudes trying to
go fast on bikes...). I took the U turns slow, because I figured if I crash
that’s not going to help me at all. I felt strong on the bike, especially after
taking a few days easier before racing this time. The course had a ton of
rolling hills, and I really enjoyed it despite the rain. I got off the bike
about 45 seconds behind David, and knew that I had just pulled off a great bike
for me.
Posting this picture is probably illegal, but whatever. |
Special thanks to the ASU cycling team – this wouldn’t have been possible without people to ride with
and push me, and the road racing has helped me tons. Thanks again to Alec for
the TT bike and Andre for the race wheels.
After seeing a few people do it at Havasu, I wanted to go
under 1 hour on the bike portion of a race. I came super close, and just barely
missed it by about 15 seconds. I am still happy with how much my bike has
improved. There will always be another race, and bike times are so dependent on
the course and conditions that it’s mostly just an ego boost to go sub 1:00.
Nonetheless, it would still be pretty cool to beat that time.
RUN
After a brief detour down the “bike out” (whoops) I headed down to the main road and saw some of the leaders heading the opposite direction. I knew I would need to run faster than I did at Marquee, and I felt a lot better coming off the bike, so I settled into a (un)comfortable pace that I was confident I could negative split. I saw all the leaders, including Steve. We were wearing matching EMJ visors (I’m not sponsored by them though) and I said “sick visor bro”. We ended up crossing paths quite a bit, and the course was cool because it snaked a lot and you could see the people you were trying to chase down, and also see the people chasing you down. There was also a hill in the middle – which is very uncommon for triathlon run courses to have. I knew that a lot of people would be dying on the hill, so I did my best to maintain my pace all the way through the top.
After a brief detour down the “bike out” (whoops) I headed down to the main road and saw some of the leaders heading the opposite direction. I knew I would need to run faster than I did at Marquee, and I felt a lot better coming off the bike, so I settled into a (un)comfortable pace that I was confident I could negative split. I saw all the leaders, including Steve. We were wearing matching EMJ visors (I’m not sponsored by them though) and I said “sick visor bro”. We ended up crossing paths quite a bit, and the course was cool because it snaked a lot and you could see the people you were trying to chase down, and also see the people chasing you down. There was also a hill in the middle – which is very uncommon for triathlon run courses to have. I knew that a lot of people would be dying on the hill, so I did my best to maintain my pace all the way through the top.
The finishing stretch |
With 1 mile to go, I was caught by a person who I passed
late in the bike. He had been chasing me all run. I let him go ahead, but
stayed right behind him, with the plan of sprinting by him for glory at the
finish. We were going pretty fast, so I knew if I went out early I would die
and he would pass me. I went way too early, died, and he passed me about 30
seconds from the finish. I came down the finishing shoot and tried to enjoy the
moment. It was a race atmosphere I will certainly never forget. It’s really
cool seeing all the school pride, and to top it off, my parents go to watch me
go head to head (ok maybe not that close) with my brother the entire race. It
was so cool representing ASU and I felt like I left it all out on the course. I
had a good run, and finished the collegiate season strong.
The run course was very crowded |
ANALYSIS
Before the race, my brother Steve, who has made the podium
twice at this race (2013, 14) tried to tell me how competitive it was going to
be. I figured “duh, every race is competitive – it’s a race”. What I didn’t
realize is that in this race, every second matters. If I were one (1.00) second
slower, I would have placed 95 instead of 94. The person who got 88th
was just 25 seconds faster than me. The fact that these ridiculously close
times are over a 2-hour race shows just how competitive and awesome this race
is.
There were a lot of people finishing with similar times - every second counts (I'm 2:04:47) |
Here is a link to
the full results for the Olympic distance race.
After a race this close and intense, it’s hard not to wonder “what if ___________”.
Some of the thoughts going through my mind while overanalyzing splits include,
but are not limited to:
·
“What if I had ran faster in transition?”
·
“What if I had gone harder into that U turn on
the bike/run course?”
·
“What if I had sprinted for the finish at the
end of the race?”
·
“What if I hadn’t even tried to put on my
sunglasses in transition?
All said and done, I had a good race and also had tons of
fun competing against these incredible athletes. Our men’s team had a great
showing, placing 12th out of 120 teams. Unfortunately, our women’s
team didn’t have enough athletes to qualify for the team competition. We had 4
men in the top 100 and one in the top 20, which is a great showing, especially
when you consider that we only had 7 racing.
It was raining in Clemson, so we never got a team picture :( |
You can check out the official highlight video of nationals right here.
WHATS NEXT?
Next up are some local races in Bend, then hopefully Lake
Stevens 70.3 in August. I’m looking forward to the new environment in Bend and
escaping the heat while taking in some beautiful scenery.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!