USAT Age Group Nationals

How I got here:

Last year after Ironman St George, I went back to race Loveland Lake2Lake Triathlon after getting two flats the year prior and a challenge thrown up by my buddy. I ended up having a good race that day, 2/22 in my Age Group (AG), 2 minutes behind my AG winner and 4 minutes ahead of 3^rd place.  So in any USAT sanctioned race the top 10% are invited to compete in AG Nationals every year at any distance (sprint, Olympic/international, long course/70.3 and ultra/140.6).  Additionally there are regional and special qualifiers held in each region you can compete in and the top 33% of each AG are invited to Nationals. For more info on qualification click on Nationals. Due to Loveland being in June and AG nationals in August, the slots were already sold out and the race was held in Burlington, Vermont in 2012. So there was a mark on the wall,  why not shoot for the following year? 2013 USAT Age Group Nationals were being held in Milwaukee, WI.  

This led me to sign up for Maple Grove Olympic Triathlon in August to qualify for the next year.  This is one of the bigger races in the area so I knew I would have some tough competition.  We had lived in MN for about 2 weeks before I woke up early that morning to drive to this race.  Not ideally trained: had not been in the pool for 3-4 weeks, bike and run were intermittent with moving from CO to MN during this time but I was going to give it my best.  This ended up just being enough as I came in 3rd out of 34 in my AG. So I was pretty excited to qualify for this race.

Pre Race:

We had set up to stay with my Aunt who lives about 30 minutes from the race site.  It was very relaxing to not having to worry about a hotel, keeping kids entertained; along with getting the opportunity to visit with family. We made it out to the race site late in the afternoon Friday. I was able to get checked in which was less complicated then Ironman events with waivers and death benefit paper work (ha ha just kidding).  My main goal was to get the layout of the area after getting a hold of one of my athletes who was also racing. We met up as I finished getting my race packet and goodie bag. Walked by the TYR booth and was thinking “Man, what are they giving away wetsuits over there”.  Nope it was just the 4X Ironman World Champ, Chrissie Wellington signing autographs.  So it was cool to see her little did I know I would see her again.  I was able to talk some race plans with Angel and get a few photos before we parted ways.  Went back to the car where J was with the sleeping boys. I got my race number on my bike took a quick spin and headed over to transition for bike drop off. We headed to my Aunt's and got unpack and prepped for race day events. That night we went over to my cousin’s house for a pasta dinner and some relax time just what I needed to get my mind ready for the next day. We settled in for a good night of sleep prior to a 5:30 wake up.  

Morning of:

Transition Area

Transition was open from 5:30-7:30 with my wave start at 9:30 so getting there by 7 was the goal. We allowed about 45 minutes of drive time which was plenty.  I was able to park the car pretty close to transition and headed over to set up. After walking in I realized yep this is the biggest Olympic Distance Race to date with over 2,700 athletes racing. I found my bike and set up my transition. Took me less than 20 minutes to pump up tires, clip shoes in to my bike and rubber band them to the frame (for a flying mount), set up helmet and my run gear.  Getting back to the car, boys were out of their PJs and dressed so we played around the vehicle for a little while before the start of the first waves. I had my wetsuit, goggles and swim cap along with my mixer bottle with 2 scoops of UCAN lemonade to take with (which I consumed about an hour before my swim time). I put on my tri top (rocked my "Green Green" from my club) , body guide, sun screen and grabbed my extra shoes to do a warm up with.  We had about 1.5 hrs prior to my start at this point.  We worked our way over to the swim exit to catch Angel come out of the water to cheer her on. The swim start waves were push back 15 minutes so 9:45 was now my start time.  I did a quick warm up around 9 then grabbed my things, kissed J and the boys and headed to swim start.

Nutrition: I took my 2 scoops of UCAN about an hour prior to swim start and took nothing but water during the rest of the race. Metabolic Efficiency!

Swim 25:06 (1:31/100 yds) Rank 92/183 AG

My wave was 183 strong and this was nationals so I knew most of these guys were good swimmers. I planned to try to stay with the mid-pack. We had a good 8-10 minutes to warm up in the water prior to the start after a quick warm up it was pretty awesome hearing all the different places guys were from in pre race conversations happening around me. Soon the waters calmed as we waited to start. 

Few minutes in to the swim

The horn went off and man that was one of the roughest swim starts I have ever been in.  Ironman was pretty rough but I was able to swim away from most of the crowd in 200 yards that day. Today I was right in the middle of the chaos: kicked in the chest, elbow to the face and of course I threw some wild haymakers.  It lasted almost ¾ of the way to the turnaround before we got spaced out enough.  I just tried to stay with the group around me sighting every once and a while to make sure the dude in front of me was sighting.  The swim was in calmer and warmer water than the race in Racine so I was enjoying it. At the turn around I thought time to take it home I started to move to the front of the pack I was with and started to push it a little harder.  We crossed under the bridge and headed for home. The swim exit was a ramp with some volunteers on it to pull you up right and keep you from falling back. That ramp was pretty tough (felt like a 30 degree incline) as I was trying to get blood back to my legs but made it up and on the way to transition. I hit lap on my watch just over 25 minutes right where I thought I would be.  Just at that time I heard my name it was J and the boys.

T1 2:08

I made it up out of the water and ran the carpet to the grass transition area.. NO SAND! It was great. Got my wet suit down to my waist and part of that process I hold my goggles and swim cap in my hand so they end up in the sleeve which is one less thing to worry about when I get to my transition spot.  Getting to my spot I got my wetsuit off, helmet & sunglasses on and I was on my way out. The aisles were large and I picked out a landmark (speaker) to find my spot in my aisle which worked out well.

Bike 1:05:49 (22.7 mph) Rank 107/183

Small climb up the bridge

Ran my bike out of transition, hitting the line with a flying mount, got my feet in my shoes, velco tight and I was off.  The bike course was something I wasn’t able to ride so mileage points were unknown but I knew we headed out to the north along the lake to a turnaround then south to another turn around then back to transition. I was planning to just hammer the bike to the best of my abilities on this closed course. The first leg up to the turnaround was a bit of a climb but I knew we had a downhill on the way back. Not much to speak off this was a pretty short section of the bike only about 7 miles. Then we headed south getting on the closed freeway with a short climb up the bridge and down the other side.  My average was doing pretty well at this point. I saw a number of race officials on the back of motorcycles and I wasn’t going to be one of those to get a drafting penalty (2 minute penalty).  The course started to get busy as we started to catch the prior swim waves in front of us.  I had to hang back as others made passes and groups were starting to form but tried to stay on the throttle the best I could as we continued to the south turn around. After the turn around I knew there was only one more climb up the bridge then coast the downhill to transition. I got my feet out of my shoes as we came down the ramp. Came up to the line jumped off the bike and ran in to transition. Hit lap yep right where I thought I would be within a minute.

T2 1:12

Started running my bike back to my spot looking for my speaker to find my bright green Newtons awaiting me, I racked my bike, got helmet off,  shoes on,  grabbed my race belt/visor and I was out of transition.

Run 40:23 (6:30 min/miles) AG Rank 47/183

Boom here it is, (my event) the run. I got my race belt and visor on just as I came on the course. I counted a number of dudes in my AG that past me on the bike out of transition, time to let them know they don’t have the legs to keep that lead. I dug in to a pretty aggressive pace to start out the first mile just to see how the legs felt passing a number of guys I rode near on the bike. I think the first mile was just around 6:05-6:10. There was a small out and back section so I could see those just in front of me and later those behind hind me. I felt good I let my pace slow a little bit to leave some for the last mile. I started to put bull’s eyes on every male with an age of 30-34 on their calf.  I ran through the water stops (there was one about every mile) grabbing mostly just water and then ice at mile 3. The temp was starting to warm up but still great race weather. I took 2 cups of water one on the head and the other to drink. I was feeling pretty good to the last out and back section just over 2 miles to go. I caught another guy in my AG group at the water station. He slowed to a jog so I missed that station oh well I am not stopping. I was starting to hurt by this point but I was going to try to run these last 2 miles as hard as I could. I just kept trying to gain some ground on my AG. I remember seeing "a rabbit" a little over a mile and a half from the finish he was a good 500 yards ahead of me, he had on Mark Allen Coaching Kit. Yep catch him that is what kept my mind busy.  I closed off the crowd and anyone else on the course at that time; I needed to catch that guy.  By the time we made the turn to the finish I had closed on him within 8-10 second. Realized I wasn’t going to catch him but here comes the carpet time to zip up and look like it was a walk in the park for my finisher photo. Crossing the line I knew I was under 2:15 but before I knew it I was standing in front of Chrissie Wellington as she was about to put on my finisher medal. I was star struck didn’t really know what to say...”You are the best?” “I read your book?” “You are an inspiration?” “Sign my Chest?” Then I remember watching Kona 2011 and the amazing performance she did for her 4thWorld Championship and was humbled.  If you didn’t see it would be a good thing to see.  I thanked her, she congratulated me on a great race and continued on to get some water.  

Official finish time 2:14:40 AG Rank 77/183

This was a great experience and great course to race.  Very happy with my performance, with my focus on Ironman couldn’t have expected too much more. With 2:23:58 being my fastest time at this complete distance its nice to claim another PR (Loveland Race was cut short on bike and run due to fires and construction so my finish time was 2:02:19).

Next race:  Ironman Wisconsin 8 Sept.

Racine 70.3

I decided to do this race to get use to the terrain in Wisconsin prior to the full Ironman in Madison. Due to scheduling I went to this race solo but was able meet a friend of mine, Matt, who made the drive up from Chicago to help me out during the race. We volunteered together last year in Madison for the Ironman. So it was good to see him and hang out again. We both raced the sprint during Rocky Mtn State Games in 2010 (while we both were on Active Duty stationed at Fort Carson), after that we both started hitting the longer distances. He completed a 70.3 and Ironman Coeur d’ Alene so I followed his lead with Boulder 70.3 and Ironman St George.This year I have both the 70.3 and 140.6 on the schedule. Representing the Greater Mankato Multisport Club in my "Green Gear" kit. 

Lake Michigan (Swim start prior to Race)

Race Morning: Got up at 5:10 after panic attack thinking we woke up late. Then I was kindly reminded we agreed to wake up at 5:15. We walked over to get some of the hotel continental breakfast (I just went for the coffee since I prepacked my breakfast). We loaded everything up and headed over to Transition. We were able to find a spot near where we parked the day before and walked over to transition.  Getting there at 6 with plenty of time to pump up tires, fill up water and lay out shoes, belt, hat etc.  I exited out of transition around 6:20 after talking with all my fans (or they wanted to use my bike pump not sure) and meet up with Matt for an hour of hurry up and wait time. During our exploration of Racine we heard that you have to try a Kringle (Danish pastry) while in Racine. So we drove around town looking for a place open on Sunday morning. We had a few failed attempts, eventually gave up and then headed toward the swim start.  I had my bottle with 2 scoops of UCAN (cran-raz and chocolate) between 7:00-7:30. Got to the swim start around 7:30 did some dynamic warm up and ran a little bit before putting on the wetsuit. About 20 mins before my wave start I got in the water and noticed the beach was shallow for about 150 yds out from shore.  The waves were pretty good closer to shore not any white caps but you could see the waves moving pretty good out by the bouys.  I stayed in the water until my wave was lined up in the timing

Matt and I prior to the race

chute. I was pretty comfortable in water and want to stay cool in the wetsuit.

Swim 35:01 (1:48/100m)

After the horn sounded, I figured I would walk/jog out as far as I can before trying to swim since the beach was so shallow.  The majority of the group did the same, a few guys tried to swim and realized it was too shallow and picked up the jog.  We were swimming straight in to the waves for 250-300 yds before we turned to swim parallel with the beach.  The waves were rough nothing like at St George but it was difficult to sight over the top of them.  I was able to swim with a group from my wave most of the swim, we were separated a few times as we were passing people from previous waves. Starting as the 19^th wave we passed a couple different color swim caps.  I never checked the watch for pace like I had planned, but felt like with the waves I knew it was going to be slower than planned so I am just going to swim the race the best I can. I was able to get in the shore side position of the group a few times which gave me a little break from the waves.  After making the turn to head back in to the beach it really was congested due to the shallow beach again I was swimming right in to people walking. So I jogged it back to shore hit the timing mat and heading up to T1.

Coming out of the water

T1  3:31

Pretty good run up the beach (after the previous waves the beach was pretty rough) to the trail that took us in to transition. Wet suit strippers were lined up where I was able to get my suit off quickly but not without a tear in it first.  Nothing I can do about it now. I ran in to transition to 3 rows over and down to my bike put on my sunglasses and helmet boom get going.  Of course I get stuck behind an athlete with his cycling shoes on trying to run (CLICK, CLOCK, CLICK, CLOCK) ha ha.  Slowed me up a bit but once we got to the mount line I passed by a few of those that stop at the mount line trying to get clipped in as I ran by and hopped on my bike about 10 yards past the group. I was riding up the hill out of transition before getting my feet in my shoes to start the bike.

Bike  2:35:34 (21.6 mph)

The bike was a single lap course with a 30 mile split along the way.

Getting out of transition on the bike

After getting my feet in my shoes and velcro fastened, after the climb out of transition, I was off.  Plan for this bike was to keep a high cadence and power below 220 watts.  I packed a bottle with the same combo of UCAN on bike along with a cliff bar cut in 6 pieces.  I also had my Speedfill bottle with a liter of water. I was going to drink water every 15 mins and every 30 mins take a piece of cliff bar along with pulls from my UCAN bottle.  The bike course was mostly heading west with a little 8 mph tail wind for the first split. There were a few rolling hills nothing any more difficult then what I ride in training. I was able to keep a high cadence 95-100 and a lower power output.  After hitting the 30 mile split I thought, “wow this is going to be a wicked fast bike split” even with all the traffic on the course. 30 mile split (1:19:21, 22.68mph) Shortly thereafter heading back into town I met the former tailwind now the head wind. Continued to keep cadence higher but had a higher power output with the head wind. Everything was going as planned.  With the roads being as bumpy as they were (seemed like a crack in the road about every 2-3 bike lengths), there were bike computers, water bottle cages, aero bottle parts etc all over the course. I was sitting up out the aero position a number of times to give my “body” a break from the continuous bumps along the roads. I saw a number of people lose control of their bikes on the bumps and around corners.  I will never complain about the roads that I ride on around my home again. With the headwind I took the last 5 miles pretty easy as we came through the north part of town back down to transition. My legs weren’t feeling bad but my quads were pretty tight so I used the bike to stretch during the last 2 miles as I passed by athletes on the run course. I took my feet out of my shoes before riding down the hill into transition to the dismount line.  26 mile split (1:16:13, 20.46 mph)

T2 1:32

I jumped off the bike and started running into transition. Really? Again I was behind a guy running in bike shoes down my chute to my bike. Getting to my spot I racked my bike helmet off, socks on, shoes on grabbed my belt and visor then on to the run course.

Run 1:43:17 (7:53/mi)

The run course was a double out and back course with 3.3 mile splits.

Around the "suicide pace" discussion with myself

Out of transition at the aid station, I still had my belt and visor in hand grabbing a cup of water to dump on my head.  Got my belt and visor on and then was able to get set in to pace. The original plan was to run a 1:30 half marathon.  So I was getting my pace just under 7:00/mi. Just after a half mile in my legs were hurting this was not a good sign (maybe just need to run some more to adjust I thought). I continued to push over the two hills with in the first mile of the course.  As I got past the first aid station (mile 1), I knew I was on suicide pace (since I am not Prefontaine) if I kept it up (I knew if I tried to keep this pace I was going to blow up which would mean walking most of the race). I also saw Matt around the aid station; he ran with me a bit. Had some words of encouragement about my bike split and to crush the run. It was good to have someone out there cheering me along.  I slowed my pace just around 7:10/miles seemed to work well for a while. I ran through all the aid stations during the first split (3.4 miles) on the way back I started to walk the aid stations. My legs were still feeling pretty heavy, I assumed after running for a while they would finally figure out it was time to run.  My pace was continuing to fade along with an increasing frustration level.  At the half way point my legs were hurting I was starting to take coke at the aid stations along with putting ice in my top. It wasn’t too hot being in the upper 70s low 80s but the sun was pretty intense out of the shade.  I planned a little mental game looking at my watch I was 50 mins in to the run at the half way point around 6.5 miles. I am going to jog and walk if needed up to the turnaround just before 10 miles.  So I pretty much ran aid station to aid station sucked up the pain and frustration.  Before I knew it I was at the turn around, I took some ice, water and an orange slice at the aid station. Ok I need to negative split this last 3.3 miles. My watch keeps track of overall pace I was at 8:01/mi average at this point I need to push these last few miles. I tried to push the legs as hard as I could; I still walked at each of the aid stations to grab ice, coke and water.   At this point I was just trying to finish in less than 5 hours. So I continued to push through the last mile where a majority of the spectators were.   Finally I could see the end, I decided to walk the carpet and enjoyed crossing the finish line. Crossing at 4:58:55!!

Even after a mental beating, Suns out Guns out !

Even with a frustrating run I was able to put together a pretty decent race.  12 mins and 34 seconds faster than the 70.3 I did in Boulder 2011. With a good AAR (After action review ) with my Coach on power and nutrition on the bike and we should be all dialed in for Ironman Wisconsin.

Placed 28/237 in my Age Group

180/2275 Overall (missed the money by 174 places ha ha ) 

Next Race is USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals 10 Aug in Milwaukee, WI.