Age Group Nationals

This past weekend I raced age group nationals in Omaha, Nebraska. One of my goals for the 2016 season has been to do well in races with competitive fields, and after DNFing at collegiate nationals, I really wanted to do well at another national championship race. Training leading into the race had been going well given that I was #funemployed for the summer and had all day, every day, to do as I pleased J

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 4^th in the 20-24 age group. I was pretty disappointed to hear that, until I found out that it was good enough for 8^th 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.)