UCSD Tritonman

It's been a few weeks since UCSD Tritonman, but I wanted to have at least a few race photos to post with this blog. Unfortunately, only one picture has come up so far... This year, the race had to be held in January due to some issues getting permits, and the draft legal race was canceled. The race was a great way to get some faster exercising in after a bunch of long, slower exercising, that had taken place during the previous few weeks, in various locations (Minnesota, Tucson, Phx, ect.).

Olive Garden in Cali = expensive...

I could bore you with a lot of paragraphs, on what's happened over the past few months, but lists are easier to read (and write):
- Racing for Team EMJ this year! Use code EMANTELL17 for 25% off :)
- Would recommend the Citrus body scrub.
- Graduated college. Still working for ASU
- Snapped a fork on my bike
- New entire front end on the bike #dirtyfast
- Hired a coach (Elliot Bassett)
- Went home to Minnesota for winter break and road the trainer a lot (S/O Corey Nygaard)
- Drove the family mini van down from Colorado to AZ
- In Tempe for a day, then down to Tucson for 4 or 5 to #exercise at MCTC Training camp
- Back to Tempe for a few #moreexercise
- Back to Tucson for Bassett Training camp (learned to corner on a bike, embarrassed myself in the pool, ect.) #exercisingsomuch
- Back to Tempe
- Trying to find a somewhat real job...
- Swam a lot

biking in Minnesota

Tritonman was essentially a random test set in the middle of a bunch of exercise contest training. It is the first time I've ever actually raced head to head against a lot of the California schools other than last years draft legal race here, and man, those dudes are fast. Due to poor water quality in Mission Bay, the race was turned into a sprint duathlon (run-bike-run). No biggie - didn't really want to feel like I was getting choke slammed for 10 minutes anyways.

Race start (as you probably could tell without this caption)

Run 1: I knew that some kids were going to drop a 4:40 mile in the first run, then pay for it later in the race. Before it even began, I decided not to do anything crazy. I came through the 1 mile mark in 5:15ish, in ~30th position. In the back of my head, I knew that some of these kids were actually this fast (Sean Harrington can haul dude...) There were going to be 4.5 miles of total running, so I figured that destroying myself in the first mile would probably end up with me being really sad/full of regret during the bike and 2nd run.

Bike: After (t)rolling into transition, I took my sweet time getting my helmet on. The visor popped off immediately when I put it on, and fortunately I was ready with some #sicknasty jawbreakers to throw on and get going. Due to extreme winds (above 20mph), I knew that flying mounting wasn't necessary. I clunked over to the mount line, laughing at all the kids getting blown around while trying to velcro their shoes and combat the winds at the same time, and passed at least 10 kids within the first 5 minutes because I could actually ride my bike without worrying about losing my toes do to crashing without my feet in the shoes!

*****When nobody posts bike pics from the race****

Dealing with the headwind was interesting, and I used the first lap of the bike to try to pick out the best lines, and to test the puddle in the middle of the course. On the 2nd and 3rd laps, there were more athletes out on the bike course, and it was going to be important to make sure that I was in a safe position, not wasting extra energy spiking on passes. My legs didn't feel great, but that's kinda what I signed up for, right? As long as I could still go hard, that was the game plan. After about a lap and a half, someone told me I was in the lead. Most of the bike was spent with chewing stem and being as aero as possible. The main strategy I had was to push really hard in to the headwind, and then spin/get aero on the tailwind section. It worked pretty well, and I was please to get off the bike with over a 2 minute lead to the next guy. Unfortunately for Sean Harrington, he flatted while he was leaving the Island and had to run his bike all the way into transition, which cost him quite a bit of time. Jeremie Showa was also right with him I think, and he threw down a pretty nasty last 5k run!

Out on the 2nd run, I really had no idea what I was doing. There was a lead biker, which was super cool. I couldn't see anyone coming in off the bike, which made me happy. It's nice to have someone breathing down your throat and pushing you during a race, but at the same time, it takes a lot out of you when you have surges in pace, and it can be a much more depleting experience than necessary. Given that it's January, I'm not really looking to kill myself over a 5k during a sprint duathlon. During the first lap on the headwind section, I ran into Eric Lagerstrom and Magali Tisseyre. They gave a cheer, which was super cool. Eric usually does the draft legal race, and he makes some pretty gnarly videos that you should definitely check out. The 2nd lap I tried to push a little harder into the headwind, knowing that there was barely any running left, and that I wasn't going to bonk. On the 3rd lap, I hurt a lot, but tried to soak it in, thank the volunteers, pointers, and the lead biker. Coming down the chute, I was just happy that I didn't have to sprint, because there is a 100% chance I would have gotten dusted.

After the race, some teammates and I ran around cheering for people on all the teams. This is usually a lot of peoples first triathlon, and it's great to watch people get into it and just enjoy the experience! Later in the day, we went to Chipotle and got froyo. My two favorite things in the world. So that was #lit.

squad post race

Thanks to everyone who has helped get me through the cold winter months down here in Arizona, the ASU Triathlon Team (and all our sponsors) as well as Team EMJ (and all the sponsors). My family for helping me get through college,  Conrad Sanders (and Scott/Tyler too for that matter) for letting me crash on your couch randomly for 5 days in the middle of January, Elliot for the exercising workouts, everyone I've trained with, and anyone I've convinced to get froyo with then proceeded to silently sit there cross eyed because I'm smashed.

Cheers!

Here are some pics of... Life! Enjoy