Collegiate Nationals

The first time I ever watched a Triathlon was in Tempe, when Steve took 5th at Collegiate Nationals. It was pretty inspiring to see all of the school spirit out on the course, and everyone seemed to be having a fun time. After spending freshman year partying and doing stupid stuff, I decided to do triathlons as well. One of the most appealing aspects of triathlon is that nobody can take you out of the game. It's impossible to get benched, and for the most part, you have control over how you do in the race, or at least your effort level.

Steve with Mom and Dad after nationals in Tempe

Last year, I felt like I was strong and ready to go. If you want to see how that one ended up, click here. Short version: fainted on the run course, ended up in medical tent. Since USAT allows seniors who have already graduated in December, but taken a full load of courses to compete, I decided to give it another shot this year. Post graduation in December, I hung around Tempe for a while. After completely getting crushed by a job interview, I lost interest in working for a corporate company, and decided to seek employment in Fort Collins, Colorado. The training in FTC is far superior to Tempe, and being here has made all the difference.

These sunglasses are at the bottom of Lake Tuscaloosa :(

In the weeks leading into the race, I had my confidence wrecked a few times. There were some tempo efforts that felt much harder than they should have, I got dropped like a freaking rock twice from the same group ride in a 10 minute span, and I still could barely bilateral breath in the pool (lol). Once the dust settled, though, there was a lot of fitness gained, and going into Collegiate Nationals I was stoked to have the opportunity to race a deep field.

PC: Talbot Cox

After a disappointing swim at Havasu, and a talk with my coach Elliot, I knew that starting at the front was going to be crucial to avoiding problems. To make things more difficult, the lifeguard kept yelling at us to get back to the dock, and that we needed to be touching it, while an announcer with a megaphone told us to make 3 rows in the water. LOL. I took it out with a few hard strokes just to get going, but from there, just focused on form, siting properly, swimming as straight of a line as I could, and banking on my ROKA wetsuit to get me out in a decent amount of time... My body was working hard, even if it didn't feel that way (yet). After the first two turns, we ran into some sticks and debris, but still didn't make any contact with wildlife (alligators). The front pack was visible, about 1 minute up on us heading into transition. The gap to the first dude (Eli from Stanford) was around 2:15 - he lead out of the draft legal race the previous day as well. I ran into T1 breathing somewhat normally, very happy that I hadn't completely shredded my anaerobic system during the swim.

Started front right, as you can clearly tell from this picture.

Exiting the water with Sean Harrington - he can run real quick

Right out of transition, I saw EMJ Teammate Chris Douglas next to me. It was an absolute godsend - he is a beast on the bike, and had the fastest split last year. We both put on our shoes, and then proceeded to exercise at faster speeds than we swam at. We didn't really say much to each other, but we traded working at the front for the first lap pretty evenly, leaving at least two white lines between us (something like 20m but don't quote me on that). Getting my hands on some Enve wheels also made this ride so much more enjoyable!

Eating stem

I was stoked that Chris didn't try to drop me right away, because that would have sucked, and I would have ended up riding alone (like Havasu again). We caught some people fairly early in that I didn't expect to catch until the end like Spencer Ralston, a strong swimmer from St. Michaels and a member of team Foakley. I could see that we were actually really close to the front by the turnaround, which was really exciting. Dan, Nick, and Timmy were both working hard on the front with on the way back in on lap 1, we went by Timmy Winslow from CU, stopped on the side of the road. He had a rough day with a mechanical and a penalty for racking his bike the wrong way (#notmygoverningbody), but according to Strava, he had the least moving time on the bike segment of all of us. I'm sure he'll bounce back quickly and is motivated to crush souls at St. Anthony's next weekend.

Exerciseeeee

Chris came by me to start lap two, and we continued to put it down. I was struggling hard at this point, and almost got dropped. After 5 or so minutes, I dragged myself around him to do some more work, fully ready to surrender. Once we hit the far turnaround, we were even closer to catching the front group, with the exception of a UCSB's Gordon Williams (not to be confused with Flash Gordon) up the road. As the last few miles ticked on, we could now get a visual on the lead pack up the road. Then, for a glorious moment with about a mile left in the bike, I came upon a wild gazelle - Dan Feeney - and decided to go in front of him. Mostly just so that I could say that I came into T2 ahead of the national champ. Chris proceeded to pass hard around us just before the mount line to take the bike split prime by two seconds. Chris was an awesome riding partner for the bike, without using each other to push the pace when the other started slacking (though Chris never really slacked...), getting into the top 5 off the bike would have been much more difficult. Stalk that strava right here

totally put my race number belt on the wrong way - PC: Frosty

Dan, Nick, Chris, and this random drafting french dude dude BLITZED the first mile. Like seriously, they were all about 20 seconds up the road before I could even blink. Dan Came by me pretty early on and encouraged me by saying MCTC 1-2-3 - I know it's not what CU wanted (podium sweep) but I figured it would be pretty special if we could show everyone how stacked our conference is. Big shoutout to the ASU cheering squad about a mile into the run course playing Lil Jon! Sean Harrington was bringing the heat though, and closing in on us very quickly. After the far turnaround, I was still running in 3rd, and there were just over two miles to go. I passed Chris on the downhill, and could still see Dan and Nick up the road. There was a French guy from Liberty there, but he received a drafting penalty, so he doesn't get a shoutout because drafting is a big no-no. With about a mile to go, I could hear Sean breathing down my neck. He was cookin'. I merged into 4th place and did my best to keep him in sight. Once I could see the amphitheater it was home free, and that the pain would be over soon. Running through the crowd was so cool. Finishing on the podium at Nationals was a great way to say goodbye to Collegiate racing. Last years meltdown made this even more special.

Heading down the shoot - way too stoked PC: Kaela

This is long, but I figure it's worth it, since it's been a team effort...

ASU Tri teammates - Thanks for all the cheers out on the course for the last three years. It's been a blast watching the team grow, and I think there are some great things in store for the team in the near future. Our team probably had the most fun ever in our rental home. Seriously, it's not all about exercising together - there are other fun activities you can do too ;) Also, our president Julia for everything she has done for the team in the past year. It's not easy to take a club from no funding to one of the top sport clubs at ASU - she's great at keeping things fun, and I'm looking forward to watching the club continue to grow over the next few years.

Had to get some BBQ while we're in the south!

Check out our cribs video for the rental house here:

EMJ Teammates - Nick, you crushed it - all around class act, and super humble. Give him a follow on IG @itsafternoone - can't wait to see you bike sub 2 at Vic 70.3 ;)
Chris - rounding out the top 5, so awesome working with you on the bike and I'm looking forward to the next time we get to smash guts like that again. @chrisdouglastri
Conrad - Great swimming with you, and mad impressive bike run combo. So awesome seeing you cleanly get in the top 20 and break 2 on a tough course. @everymanconrad
Mark - Rough day with a penalty, but mad respect for doing the dirty double and still working hard to the finish. Looking forward to doing more exercising contests with you @mark.kolding - also, follow @wattslayer69 if you don't already. Great account.

Remember - you can save 25% on all Every Man Jack AND OWN Beauty Products (the woman's version) - by using the code EMANTELL17 at checkout. #cleanupnice

Dan's penalty for racking his bike "incorrectly" dropped him from 1st to 5th. But we all know who won... This is why it says 3rd on here, but it's really 4th.

National champ Nick Noone!

Competitors
Spencer Ralston - you helped carry a dude across the finish line, that's dope.
Dan Feeney - You won that race and everyone knows it. Congratulations on being a two time national champion. #notmygoverningbody - read his blog here...
Timmy Winslow - Tough break with the mechanical and penalty, but at least money wasn't on the line like it will be at St. Anthony's! Everyone saw you up at the front mashing watts.
Sean Harrington - Congratulations on an amazing race! You absolutely deserved that podium spot, and easily had the best post race attire.
Josh Fowler - Awesome work out there, way to battle through two days and congrats on the draft legal podium

picture break

Support network
Elliot Bassett - it's been a great past 4 months working with you, and I am looking forward to many more! Get in contact with Elliot by clicking here!
Steve - Dude, thanks for everything.
Mom and Dad - Also thanks for the non-financial assistance, and loving me even when I pass out during the race :)
Alison - thanks for keeping my priorities straight, and congrats on the new job!!
CSU Coaches Frosty/Mace, UA Tricat Coaches Jimmy and Doug, and CU coaches - Thanks for the splits out on the course and the encouragement. You guys know what to say and when to say it, and that's probably why your teams are very fast...

Last but not least, I'd like to give a shoutout to peanut butter for always being there for me, even when I'm tired and crabby. Luv U. Up next is Pelicon Fest Tri in Windsor (EMJ CO dudes should definitely do this plz lets have some fun eh!) before heading to CDA 70.3 in June.

Havasu + Move to Colorado!

February and March have been a few pretty awesome months! Quite a bit has happened, including a camp, a race, and a move. Just a few weeks after Tritonman, fellow EMJ Teammate Conrad Sanders and I drove up to Las Vegas for Team EMJ camp. It was 110% first class.

Highlights of camp in list form so that you can truly appreciate how epic it was:
- Staying in the Las Vegas Mini Castles (Connor McGregor rents them when he's in Vegas)
- Bathrooms stocked with EMJ Products - save 25% using the code EMANTELL17 at checkout! go to everymanjack.com
- Riding red rocks, 70.3 silverman course, running to Arizona, swimming at Henderson Multigen pool (in our matching kits/roka suits)
- Meeting everyone on the team - so many people from all over the country (and Canada) came out, and everyone was very welcoming - just an all around great group of guys!
- Food - Donna Trauger is amazing, kept us full even in the toughest of times! And breakfast burritos at the pool were clutch
- How organized and smooth everything was (S/O Ritch and everyone who helped with that)
- Saturday night party bus to the strip
- Getting the gear from Every Man Jack, Garneau, Roka, Sockguy, Lululemon, BoCo, GU - made me feel like the division 1 athlete that I never was ;)
- Pictures by Talbot Cox! And videos too... Seriously, just watch these videos and then you'll get an idea of how much fun we had :)

Check out his instagram here

After an awesome weekend in Vegas, we headed back to Arizona. Since I can't seem to stay away from Tucson, I made trips down there every weekend, including an 8 day camp over spring break where I crashed on Conrads' couch. It was great to say goodbye to Mt. Lemmon (for now), ride the shootout a few times, and just enjoy the Dirty T! While it may be a little bit ghetto, the bike infrastructure is significantly more built up than Phoenix, and the people are much more friendly towards cyclists.

With a lot of training done, it was time to head to Havasu for the MCTC Conference Championships. The field was very similar to Pumpkinman, with Dan Feeney, Nick Noone (EMJ), Timmy Winslow, Josh Fowler, and Conrad Sanders (EMJ) all in the mix. One of the nice parts about being in our conference (MCTC) is that it's relatively stacked. With the defending national champs CU in the mix, it's hard to not get excited.

I packed the car the week before Havasu, in anticipation of not wanting to move for a few days after...

it was a good decision

The swim didn't get off to a smooth start. Originally, the plan was to line up front left, but a dock was definitely in the way of that, and swimming headfirst into a wood structure didn't seem very fun. Instead I lined up in the middle second row, right behind the CU train (Dan, Nick, Timmy), hoping to grab some feet. Probably the worst idea ever... If any of you were ever put into a washing machine by older siblings as a child, this is very similar to what it felt like being in the middle of 50 people trying to move their arms as fast as possible. Looking back, and after a talk with my coach Elliot, I have now realized that the second row is farther from the finish line than the first, therefore I should line up at the front in order to be closer to the finish line. Live and learn, and while I still probably would have gotten dropped hard like usual, I tell myself that with proper positioning at the start, the deficit would have been slightly less than 1 minute - it helps me sleep at night ;)

sucks that you can't use paddles in a race

After a not-so-smooth transition where I almost forgot to put on my shoes, I hopped on the bike. Dan, Nick, and Timmy had all come out of the water together, and were going to be working together to put a gap on the field. I knew that the time to catch them was limited, and that if I was going to catch them it needed to be quick. After trying to bridge up in the first neighborhood, they still held around a minute gap on me. By the far end turnaround, I realized that I was not going to catch them. The gap was around 1:20, and I was beginning to feel the effects of chasing for around 25 minutes. While my legs didn't feel great, I tried to remind myself that you don't need to feel good to go fast. After shedding a few tears, I tried to be as smooth and aero as possible heading back in to town. Some post race strava over-analysis shows that I actually made up 10-15 seconds there! Yay! Coming into transition, I could see them all running out together about 1:20-30 up. Even though it was a lonely ride, I'm still glad I went as hard as I did. No ragrets.

No race pics again, so I had to improvise

When they tell you that Nick and Timmy came out of the water with Dan and you realize you're screwed

After another meh transition, I headed out on to the deceivingly tough run course. The first mile involved zig zagging a wheelchair ramp and climbing up some stairs. I found my rhythm about a quarter of the way in I settled in, and started ticking off pretty well. The on-the-spot race plan was to build in to the run, and if I smelled blood to go for it. At the turnaround, there was no sign of any fading from the CU train. They were all pretty far ahead, and unless someone completely imploded there was no way I would catch any of them. I tried to pick up the pace for a little bit heading back in, but that effort was short lived. One of the highlights on the run course was when Conrad yelled SEND IT at me. I got pretty pumped up and almost started laughing actually. Watch this video to figure out why. At the end of the day, I realized that I could have probably gone a little bit faster if I had been focusing on myself as opposed to everyone in front of me.

Nevertheless, I still went hard, am happy with the result, and am fired up to race again at Collegiate Nationals in April! Hats off to Dan, Nick, and Timmy for showing everyone how to throw down. You guys crushed it.

After the race, we went to chipotle, froyo, and then froyo again. It was pretty lit. This week, my mom came down to Arizona to help with the move to Fort Collins, Colorado. It was a tough decision to leave Tempe during the spring, and I'll miss everyone there. But... To put it simply, Fort Collins is freaking awesome, and passing up the opportunity to move here would have been silly. If you have any questions about Colorado or want to come train here/experience unlimited froyo at TCBY in the summer hit me up, because exercising and eating are fun.

Hangin at Lynn's place aftter Havasu! She's the best