A few weeks before AG nationals, I decided to hop into a
local race (TriBoulder) and managed to scratch my cornea during the swim
portion which caused me to go blind in my right eye. Three miles into the bike
I went over the handlebars as a result of hitting a sign in the bike lane that
I didn’t see. Another not-so-pretty DNF, but at the same time I was just glad
to have my collarbone and brain in tact so I could jump on the horse and start
training again!
 |
| just a few of the ASU Tri people! |
The plan for Omaha was to stay at my friend Julia’s house
(also the ASU team president). We arrived on Thursday afternoon, where I went
for a quick run with Andrew (teammate who also raced) before chilling out the
rest of the evening. I can’t thank the Jankuski’s enough for letting us stay at
their home! It was an amazing house and they were very accommodating to our
weird habits/bikes.
After a short bike course preview that resulted in getting
lost several times and a quick jump in the hot tub lake Andrew and I
headed back to the house to put our feet up.
 |
| When people on a boat start yelling at you that swim practice is over... |
We ended up getting a pretty sweet
tour of West Omaha, which is actually quite beautiful compared to the area near
the race site that looked like a gang war zone… Random comment, but not being
around only triathletes for the weekend can make racing much less stressful.
People who aren’t racing tend to be much more relaxed, and if they have dogs
that’s a nice bonus! We closed out Friday by watching the movie Warrior – which
is pretty epic. I may or may not have been crying by the end.
 |
| If this movie doesn't make you want to race then I can't help you. |
Swim:
The swim was a counter-clockwise, non-wetsuit swim. My two
least favorite things in the entire world; I only know how to breath to my left
side, and wasn’t born with webbed feet/hands/good body positioning. I played it safe and started off
on the right side so that I could clearly see everyone and avoid getting chewed
up and spit out by the people who had been swimming since birth. I didn’t
drown, or get my cornea scratched, or make the front pack. Overall it was
pretty uneventful, other than watching someone else mixing in some IM, which was
pretty entertaining. I felt pretty good, but there were still many more people
ahead of me and it was pretty humbling to get out of the water about 2:30 down
from the leaders (and some more were ahead of them), but I was next to Dan Meehan, national champion Mike
Meehan’s younger brother! I followed that up with the slowest transition out of
anyone in the top 10 J.
Bike:
For the bike I was borrowing Tori’s race wheels – a
disc/trispoke tubular combo. I was a bit nervous about flatting on tubulars,
but at the same time I knew that these wheels wouldn’t lose me any time, and
that gave me confidence that I didn’t need to change my effort for
a lack of aerodynamics/equipment disadvantages.
 |
| check the tri spoke ;) |
My main focus for the first half of the bike was to stay
conservative, aero, keep a high cadence, and drink a full bottle. It was really
hard to not smash the first 20k, but I knew that it would pay off on the run,
and I’d probably only bike about 30-40 seconds faster if I did that. After
passing a few trains within the first 10-15 minutes I let myself settle in, and
tried to not kill myself going up the (one) hill on the bike course. A lot of people from earlier age groups were
pedaling at 50 rpms, swerving all over. This was my first time ever using the
little ring during a triathlon! On the descent I tried to increase my gap,
stayed in aero, and spun as fast as I could in order to carry as much momentum
into the upcoming flat section as possible. One major advantages of a disc
wheel is once you’re going fast, you keep going fast for a very long time.
 |
| The chase starting the bike |
At the turnaround I spotted Jack Toland about a minute up
the road from me. He wasn’t crushing me too hard on the bike, which gave me
another confidence boost. He ended up throwing down the second fastest bike split of the day. After the turnaround I assessed the damage I had done
to those behind me and they were closer than I would have liked. I reminded myself
to switch bottles out, and began my second bottle. In previous races I’ve
gotten dehydrated and ended up not being able to run as fast as I would like. I
kept the power nice and steady, and just focused on being in control and in
aero. Sure, I could have pushed it a bit harder, but at the same time I knew I
was going fast and was confident that I would still throw down a pretty fast
split if I just stayed aero and steady as opposed to spiking all over and
killing myself. The run was going to be hot and burning all my matches on the
bike wasn’t a card I was interested in playing. This is the first time I’ve
ever actually felt strong all the way until the end of the bike, and I credit
that to smart pacing and actually taking in liquids. I reeled in a few more
guys and came off the bike somewhere in the top 10.
 |
| AG Nationals power file |
 |
| Havasu power file |
 |
| Collegiate Nationals power file |
Run:
Onto the run the focus was to maintain a high turnover and
negative split. Almost immediately I was passed by Spencer Ralston and Justin
Keefe. I maintained the gap to Ralston for the first mile or so before closing
in and making the pass, but Keefe was seriously moving. When he went by I got
really scared… it looked like he was running a 1 mile time trial. I kept it
steady, and decided to race my own race. Before the race I decided to fill a
gel flask with skratch and drink it on the run instead of getting water from
aid stations. It was pretty humid out, but I seemed to be cracking/trying a lot
less than everyone else ahead of me.
 |
| didn't die |
At mile 2 I felt the urge to go faster,
but kept myself in check. There were some cheerleaders near the run turnaround,
and tons of people lining the course. Everyone was cheering and at this point I
still was conscious, which made me happy! We ran a lap inside the college world
series baseball stadium before turning around and heading back to Carter Lake.
At mile 4, where I usually blow up completely/pass out/black out, I still felt
good, and decided to push it a bit more. I reeled Keefe back in, and kept
moving. The last mile was spent convincing myself that everyone ahead of
me was in my age group in order to keep moving fast, and singing the new Katy
Perry song. This is the first time
where I’ve felt like I wasn’t going to collapse at the end, and it felt pretty
satisfying to finish without obviously needing medical attention.
 |
| thanks for telling me my hat was crooked guys... |
After the race I was informed that I was in 4th
in the 20-24 age group. I was pretty disappointed to hear that, until I found
out that it was good enough for 8th overall. Our AG was stacked, and
at the end of the day, I was only about 3 minutes behind the overall winner. I
opted to skip the awards ceremony because the Jankuski’s were making us a Steak
Dinner, and I’d rather not spend an hour driving to and from downtown Omaha
just to stand on a stage for 30 seconds and receive a medal. The Jankuski’s
were nice enough to host us and feed us and let us eat all the banana
bread/cookies, so I’m glad I spent it hanging out with them instead. We took a
tour of west Omaha houses again, which are seriously amazing, got froyo at Orange Leaf, and
watched another movie.
The race went as well as I could have asked for it to go! I
can’t thank everyone who has supported and trained with me this whole summer,
the #funemployed life in Fort Collins has been epic.
Thanks to:
FAST Masters – letting me jump in and giving us a discounts
for being triathletes. Some seriously good swim practices and a lot of fun!
MP Multisport – Mace, JT, Tess, Frosty – Great workouts and
great people! These guys know how to blend training and fun! NoCo Endurance
center is going to be a hit come this winter.
Patrick/Rocky Mountain Multisport – best bike mechanic out
there by a longshot! Really appreciate everything you do for us!
Green Events – Giving me something to do every Wednesday
night! Awesome events, and good practice getting my butt kicked by 14 year olds
who can swim really fast.
Training partners – Steve, Rachael, Andrew Brossiere, Andrew
Truswell Erik Peterson, Erik Nau, Keith Jackson, Tori, Conrad, and the rest of
the CSU team/TNT crew – thanks for pushing me every practice and dropping the
hammer when necessary. The main difference between this summer and last summer
was you guys. Having training partners was so much fun, and I learned so much
from all of you, especially how to take cool GoPro pics ;)
The Jankuski’s – letting Andrew and I stay at your house was
super nice, and we really appreciate it. The banana bread was amazing (and so
was the baked ziti, steak, snacks, dogs, ect.)
My parents - Your support is amazing, and I appreciate everything you guys do (like help fix the air conditioning in my apartment, harassing me to get a real job, ect.)
My parents - Your support is amazing, and I appreciate everything you guys do (like help fix the air conditioning in my apartment, harassing me to get a real job, ect.)
