Tritonman - a Learning Experience and a Half

It's February, so naturally we're beginning to race down here in the South...

First things first: to support our teams journey to nationals click here

New logo

My training since January had been interesting. I was sidelined from running for a few weeks because of an injury that I got while playing in the alumni hockey game, so I focused a lot on swimming, biking, and doing strength workouts. I also bought a new bike, which has newly replaced di2 components since the first set were trash - if you want to ask more questions about details regarding the bike I'd be happy to talk about it... just not here because this post isn't about my bike.

training camp was awesome again

Sammy Scott, an ex ASU swimmer has taken over our swim coaching, and he has been cranking up the volume on us. It's been much nicer having someone who you can relate to as your coach, and he is going to be a massive part of our teams journey to becoming better triathletes.

After being injured, I did my best to ease back into running. Even after a week completely away from it, I still didn't feel like I was running 100% pain free for another 3-4 weeks. That was probably good, though, because it gave me some time to work on my biking and getting stronger. There is no point in being a ridiculously fast runner in February anyways (what I told myself to help me sleep at night).

Team bonding

TRITONMAN: Draft legal

Tritonman consists of a two day races series on a ridiculously fast course. the first day is a draft legal race that attracts some extremely high level pros (Joe Maloy, Eric Lagerstrom, Ben Kanute) and the second day is a non draft legal race. It's very similar to collegiate nationals, except both races are sprint distance.

Race morning started with some rice cakes and pb/banana. I had no problems emptying out my system, if you catch my drift. I got a ride down to transition with some teammates and checked in. The nerves weren't too bad, and as I walked into transition there were a bunch of stud athletes. The field was stacked by amateur standards... Like 5 dudes who race WTS events on a regular basis and ~20 total pros. I borrowed Julia's (another teammates) road bike for the race in order to save room in cars and not be that guy who brings two bikes. Plus it's a really nice bike.

I want to thank the UCSD Tri club for giving us a legitimate 30 minutes to warm up in the water. I lined myself in the second row directly behind a group of pros. I figured maybe I could catch a little bit of a draft for the first 100 or so and just try to get in a group after that. Overall that plan actually worked well! I was out of the water right in the middle of the pack, exactly where I expected to be. This was my first ITU Style race where you actually had to get all your stuff in a bucket, and I am proud to say that I didn't screw any of that up! I got a split from Sammy as I headed out onto the bike.

Bike:

I decided I would put my shoes on right away and then try to bridge up to the group that was only a few seconds ahead of me. It wasn't my best idea, as a 5 second gap quickly turned into 20 when I put the shoes on. Look at pictures, I was able to determine that most people didn't put on their shoes until ~2 miles into the ride. I spent 6-7 minutes going balls out, and eventually was able to bridge up with another guy to the group that had some really fast runners. I took my turn at the front, feeling not as great as I thought I would on the bike, and then pulled off. The next person behind me must have put in some ridiculous surge, because I found myself off the back just trying to hang on for dear life.

Trying to bridge up

The next 3 minutes were spent in no-mans-land. Instead of resting once I bridged up I immediately went for it and paid the price of not being able to cover any sort of move. I was caught by a pretty fast group on the second lap, and worked with them for the rest of the bike. The support form our team out on the bike course was amazing and they kept me going hard the whole time by positioning themselves all over the course and they were awesome.

Throwing in a few surges

For the most part everyone took their turns and we ended up not losing any time after lap 1 to the group directly ahead of us. Heading into transition a UCSB guy attacked and I covered it, but I brought the entire rest of the pack with me when I bridged up. Then while everyone was taking their shoes off I moved up, which was another dumb move because when I took mine off I got passed by one or two guys.

The run went way better than I expected it to. The first lap was pretty rough, and it felt like my shoes were only half on my feet. After that, I thought I only had one lap to go, so I started to open up. By the time I got to the finishing straight I was ready to sprint and be done with it. But then someone yelled "OK NICE JOB ONE MORE LAP KEEP IT UP". Crap... I opened up more and was able to pick a few more people off in the final lap. Our team had somehow managed to all get over to the run course to yell at me which was awesome. It's so much easier to crush yourself with 20 teammates yelling at you.

After the race I ate a lot, then went for another ride, this time on my 53x15 TT bike... More on that later.

Non draft:

After a big night of chipotle, pasta, and a bunch of yogurt pretzels I was ready to race again. My legs felt better than they did on Saturday, although that isn't really saying much...

Swim:

They had our swim separated into waves based on when you signed up, so I started in the 2nd collegiate wave. I lined up at the front this time, and knew that I could have a legit chance of being out of the water in a good position. I focused on just going as hard as I could for a while before settling in. I found myself in a chase group before it got strung out along the way in. I got out and was within one minute of the leader from our wave.

Bike:

Onto the bike I put my shoes on right away, but this was so that I could just step on the power and race my own race. I saw Andrew from CSU right there with me and we were going about the same speed. Eventually I took the lead and he was pretty much right behind me.

Click Here to hit up Erin if you want your helmet to look this cool!

Background on why i'm riding 53x15: Last weekend I had a flying mount "incident" during practice that resulted in a smashed rear derailleur. I ended up having to buy an entirely new di2 groupset because they don't make 7970 compatible with any of the new di2 components. After the first lap I had settled in and was feeling pretty good. I knew I would finish the bike with a solid amount of energy left for the run if all kept going as planned. I made a pass and looked back only to see another athlete sitting on my wheel. Being the level-headed, calm person I am, I started freaking out. I swore at him, screamed at him, told him to get the f**k off my f**king wheel, but it didn't work. he just laughed. I threw in major watt bombs, and started trying to shake him but nothing was working.

What I'd like to do to cheaters

Looking back I would have been better off waiting until we went by a photographer and then attacking. He would have had to let up his draft for a bit so they didn't get it on camera, and then I could have distanced myself. I am not happy about his cheating, but I am also not happy about the way I handled it; I could have very easily ended up with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. In the end, I tried to make him run over a pile of sticks, and got myself a flat tire in my rear wheel. I couldn't change it because I had no way of downshifting to take my wheel out.

What I will do in the future

I saw our entire team out there and just tried to be as positive as I could. I was bummed, but they still had a race to finish and I figured that mine was over so I might as well just yell as loud as I could for them.

Random thoughts on drafting:

In hockey, no matter how many times you blocker someone in the back it will still never be as effective as a cup check. Instead of showing roos how pissed I was, I should have just taken it as a compliment and kept racing my own race and disposed of him at a more appropriate time (like doing a cup check when they're not expecting it).

Next up we're heading to Henderson, NV for spring training camp, and then making our way up to Havasu again on March 19th for MCTC Championships!

Thx for saving us lifeguards!

 Thanks to Jimmy Song , Jorts Sports, and Keenan Photography for the pictures!

gotta get more aero