USAT Nationals Race Report/Travel Madness Continued

After all the craziness of friday the race on saturday seemed like the easy part. The weather was beautiful even though by the time I got onto the run course it had gotten really hot. Going into the race I had some specific goals in mind, all of which would lead to an overall time of under 2 hours and 15 minutes because then I would be eligible to race as an amateur elite next year. My swim was a little slower than I wanted, 27 minutes instead of sub 25, but I more than made up for it on the bike. I had set a conservative goal of sub 1 hour and 10 minutes for the bike leg and I killed it, finishing in right at 1 hour and 5 minutes (22.5 mph average) on a really tough course that also had 6 turnarounds which really kills your speed. Out on the run course I realized that I was under the pace I needed to finish in 2:15 so I was able to relax and just go for it. Again, the run course was tough and hot, but I still finished the 10km in just over 37 minutes which is right at my PR. I finished the race in 2 hours and 13 minutes, beating my goal by a solid 2 minutes and officially making me an amateur elite!! My ranking overall and in my age group weren't that great and I didn't even come close to qualifying for the world championships in Beijing next year but the time is what I really wanted.

Now you would think that having finished the race the rest of the weekend would be pretty uneventful... and you'd be very very wrong. Sunday became the longest and most frustrating travel experience of my entire life! After arriving at the airport and checking in for my 11:15am flight I was informed at the gate that due to labor strikes at the airport in Detroit, which is where my plane was coming from, my flight had been cancelled. On top of that there was only one seat left to get me to Indy that day and it left out of Atlanta at 8:30pm. That's bad enough, if I was already in Atlanta... too bad I was in Birmingham!!!!! There were no flights to get me to Atlanta either, so what did I have to do? Rent a car and drive to Atlanta just to get on a plane and fly to Indy! ohhh man did that suck, not to mention the car ended up being a 2 door which made getting my bike case into it a little more than tricky. The only good part was I had some 7 hours until the flight left and it only took 2 hours to drive to Atlanta. Once in Atlanta I found out that the flight had been delayed until 10pm which would mean I would get to Indy by about 11:30pm! In reality the plane didn't leave until 11pm, I landed in Indy a little after midnight and I didn't get home and into bed until after 2am!!! so i was traveling from 8:30am until after 2am.... that makes sunday the longest day ever!!! It was atrocious to say the very least but my bike actually made it too for a change and Delta will certainly be hearing from me in the near future. If nothing else it is a great story to tell and luckily I have plenty of time to catch up on the sleep I missed thanks to my new status of being solidly in the offseason, ahhhhh!!! In all reality things are good. I'll post some pictures from the race when I get them...

USAT Age Group Nationals Pre-Race Madness!!

wow, today has been one hell of a day. Starting at 5 am this morning I have been moving pretty much nonstop until right about now and its just about 9 pm. Not exactly the ideal way to spend the day before my biggest race of the year but what are you gonna do? I didn't really have a choice thanks to f***ing Delta Airlines. I flew from Indy to Atlanta, where I met my mom, then we both flew to Birmingham. My bike, on the other hand, had no trouble getting from Indy to Atlanta but somehow Delta managed to lose it in Atlanta for a few hours. So much for that "handling" that I paid a $200 fee for!!!! I saw it come off the plane, in fact it was the first thing off the plane... how did it not make the connection?! And how did no one know where it was until about 4 this afternoon when I had landed in Birmingham at 11:30am? It has easily been one of the more frustrating moments of my entire life... Packet pick-up was no big deal, but I had to drive the hour back to Birmingham from Tuscaloosa to pick up my bike this afternoon and make it back by 7pm in order to get my bike checked into the Transition area on time... I made it, but just barely. I think I checked my bike in at 6:57 and I was just about the last person out of the 1300 that will be racing tomorrow. I guess that this means that all that is left is the easy part... racing tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes. It can't be that bad because just a couple hours ago I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to race at all...

Breakfast Optimist Club Muncie Tri Race Report

Great race this morning! Everything felt like it came together.... finally! I have felt like I was right on the edge of a breakthrough for soooo long, it's about time I finally did it. Race morning was super chilly, with temperatures in the mid 50s and a pretty stiff 15-18mph wind. Getting in the water actually felt great because it was so much warmer than the air. This was my first race in the elite wave so it was really nice to get out onto the swim course ahead of the hordes of people. Unfortunately, the swim is 2 laps of a 750 meter course so the second time around it was a little bit harder to find clear water. It slowed me down a little bit but I still managed a sub 18 minute swim after posting a 8 minute first lap. The bike was windy and COLD! Being that wet and riding into a headwind when the air temperature is only the 50s... man! But even so I put together a pretty solid split averaging a little over 22mph. I came off the bike in 5th place and then things really fell into place. Thanks to a 37 minute 10k i managed to run myself into 3rd place and my first appearance on a podium with an overall time of 2:08 (a solid PR). And to do it in my first go at racing with the elites was pretty sweet, and i got some money to boot! My only complaint about the whole day is this jerkoff that was drafting on just about the whole bike leg... number 371, i saw you! He came off the bike about a minute ahead of me but I ran him down in no time so at least he didn't beat me... that would have really pissed me off, but i still feel bad for the guy that drug him around the course for 40km and the guy didn't even get a time penalty at all! let alone get disqualified which is what he deserved. Where was the USAT official?!! (Rumor has it he was sitting in his car trying to stay warm... way to go) Anyway, feel really great about the whole race and now am super psyched for the last race of the year at Nationals in 3 weeks... this should be a good one!

Indy Sprint Triathlon Race Report

This morning I raced in only my second sprint distance race of the year in Indianapolis. Going in to the race I was looking forward to the chance to really test my speed leading into my last two olympic distance races of the year. All in all, the race went really well. The weather was not ideal, as it was rainy and that made the course really wet and dangerous (I saw at least a dozen guys go down on the bike course). Even so I managed to stay upright on the bike and post a near personal best 17:35 5k. The bike and run were definitely the highlights of the race and the swim belongs in the regrettable category. I had the opportunity to start in the elite wave but decided against it and paid for it big time! With some 500-700 people on a swim course that was only 500 yards long it made for some seriously tough going. I seemed to be constantly climbing over someone and didn't seem to find any open water for the whole leg. It really slowed me down: I posted a 10 minute split even though I felt much stronger than that in the water. Even with a super crowded swim, and a slower bike course due to the wet conditions I finished in 58:41 which was good enough for 13th overall. I'm pretty happy with the fact that I almost scratched the top 10 against a bunch of guys who specialize at this distance. This also makes me feel pretty confident about registering as an amateur elite at my next race in early September... hopefully I don't embarrass myself. I'll post some pictures when/if I get them...

Crazy Day at T3-MultiSport Muncie Triathlon

This morning was the Muncie Triathlon put on by T3 Multisport. The venue is a really nice course around the prairie creek resevoir south east of Muncie, Indiana. Since I've moved back to Muncie for the fall semester at Ball State University it's a great race for me to do, right in my back yard. This was my first race in just about a month so going into it I was a little unsure about my fitness level. I have been putting in some good consistent training blocks but when you haven't raced in a while there is always that little bit of doubt that creeps into the back of your mind.... little did I know that the actual race would be the easy part of the morning. First off, I managed to get slightly lost on my way to the venue since I had never been there before and reading mapquest directions in the dark, while driving can be tough. I still managed to get to the race site by a little after 6 am and since the race wasn't suppose to start until 8 am I figured I would be fine. Then I went to unload my bike, which I had packed into my car the night before, only to discover that the rear tire had a slow leak and was totally flat... LAME! But no big deal because I always carry a spare tube for just such an occasion. When I went to put it on I realized I had somehow accidentally gotten one that had a valve neck that was too short and it didn't stick out of my rim far enough for me to be able to fit the pump onto it... LAME TIMES TWO!! But still not a deal breaker because there is always a support tent where you can get tubes and things. They had tubes and the guy there gave me one (for the steep price of $5) and I went back to my car to put it on and it wouldn't fit. He gave me a 650x23c tube instead of the 700x23c tube that I asked for.... ANNOYINGLY TIME WASTINGLY LAME.... To make an already long story and little bit shorter, I was able to get another tube, of the right size this time, and pump up my rear tire. I still managed to set up transition and have plenty of time for my regular pre-race routine of nutrition and warm up. Once the race finally started things went very smoothly. I am nursing some sore joints and had very little problems with them and while I don't know my exact splits because the final results haven't been posted yet, I do know that I finished 4th overall. Good confidence booster with two more prep races to go before the big one at Nationals at the end of September. I'll post some splits and what little photos there are once they are made available to me...

Late Season Push

I just got back to Lawrence from a little vacation time in Estes Park, Colorado and I am happy to report that these first few days back to full time training have proven that I don't seem to have lost hardly any fitness during my week away. This is probably due to the fact that my family and I did some pretty serious hiking at altitude all week and I managed to cram in a couple run and swim workouts while I was there also. The time off has done wonders for my motivation and focus, the mental break was much needed! I'm totally ready for the late season push now. I have just 4 races left this season with the next one being the Muncie Triathlon on August 7. I feel like my conditioning is good for this time of year and I'm just hoping that I can maintain it and improve upon it for the rest of this season, which is the longest race season I have attempted. The major hurdle left to deal with is moving myself back to Muncie at the end of the week and then moving to a new house with my roommates once back in Muncie. It's going to mean a couple of really busy days and a whole lot of headaches I'm sure, these things never seem to go as smoothly as you think they will.... anyway, I'll let you know how it goes and talk a little bit more about my feelings about this upcoming race when it gets a little closer...

A Little Vacation? Yes Please!

The one thing that is tough about this long stretch of training without any races is the routine starts to get a little monotonous. Training day after day without any end in sight... it makes the motivation a little difficult to keep up. Also, this will be the longest race season I have ever scheduled so it is important that I don't burn out too early because these later races in August and September are some of the most important to me of the year, especially Age Group Nationals at the end of September. Luckily for me, the fam. is headed on vacation at the end of this week! We are heading to Estes Park, Colorado for a week of hiking and general relaxation in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. I'll still keep up some training: running some in the mornings and getting to a small pool at an aquatic center in Estes Park. Also, there is a stationary bike in the place where we are staying but for the most part I am going to take this opportunity to take a bit of a mid-season break, both for the body and maybe even more importantly, for the mind. It will be really nice to get some change of scenery and to escape this intense Kansas summer heat! Really looking forward to it, and then once I get back it will be time to make the push leading up to the August Muncie Triathlon on August 7th... plus I have to move to a new place, that I am really not looking forward to... more to come later.