End of the season

I know it has been a long time since I have updated anything on this blog. I will try to do a better job with this next year and hope to have at least one update/post every month. I finished up my season this year at the Anderson Rev3 in mid October. It was my first professional race, but I went in hoping to at least be in the mix for most of the race and to give it a good shot on the bike. Starykowicz and Collins went off the front early on the bike gaining minutes on everyone else in the field. I got out of the swim about a minute down from the lead pack with a few others including James Hadley and Rich Allen. We were able to bridge up to the lead group about 15-20 miles in and I felt great in the early stages of the ride. It was quite a large group of about 10 guys, which made it a bit tricky to remain staggered the whole time. Everyone ends up constantly zig zagging across the road trying to stay in a legal position. The biggest difference I noticed from my experience in the age group ranks, was the constant changing of pace in the group. At one point I would be sitting there almost soft pedaling and then someone will surge at the front and I would have to stomp on it for a bit. Around mile 40 or so, Richie Cunningham went towards the front and started to get a small gap. It didn't seem like anyone was reacting at the time, so I went to the front of the group and was able to close the gap a bit to Richie. Unfortunately, around mile 48/50 a number of guys put in a good surge and the group really started to split. After this acceleration, my legs were fairly toasted and I really suffered the last 5-6 miles of the bike just trying to limit my losses as most of the group rode away. I think I ended up losing 1.5-2min in the late stages of the bike which was a bit frustrating at the time. The run was a painful one and I ended up in no-mans land for most of it getting within a minute of 9th by the end but unable to catch anyone.

After finishing my first professional race, I can't say I'm ecstatic about 11th place and certainly thought I was capable of finishing higher on the day. But I don't think I would have raced any different. Maybe I could have monitored my effort a bit better on the bike and just sat in the group the whole time. But that's not how I want to race. I wanted to put myself out there and see if there was a chance of getting away from the group and gaining some time. I knew I wasn't going to out run the likes of Terenzo Bozzone and Richie Cunningham so I didn't want to sit back. I learned quite a bit from the race  and look forward to a full season racing as a professional next year. I want to give a big thanks to Hincapie Sportswear and Blueseventy for supporting me this year. I am very excited to be working with a few new companies in 2013 and hope to announce them soon.

Age Group Nationals

I flew out to Burlington the Wednesday before the race and made it there late that night after a bit of a delay out of New York. I settled into the Burlington Hostel the next morning and was pleased to see that my bike hadn’t taken too much of a beating while flying. I have to thank Cameron Afkhami for recommending this hostel that both he and Rudy Kahsar had stayed at last year. It was a great spot and worked out really well for the few days that I was in Vermont. I went through my normal routine the few days before the race and was fortunate enough to be able to drive the bike course with a few other guys I met at the hostel who were also racing. It’s always a bit tough judging what a bike course will truly be like when you’re sitting in a car, but it certainly seemed like a fast course but also one that could really sneak up on you in the latter half of the course if you went too hard too soon and I knew that would be the point at which more significant gaps could form.

My wave was set to go off last at 9:20am on race day, which meant that I had quite a bit of time in the morning to hang out after getting my transition all set. It was great to be able to head back to the hostel for a bit to relax before heading back down to the mayhem at the start. I knew there would be some fast swimmers in the wave-so I was ready for quick start and just hoped I could hop onto some feet after the first few hundred meters. It was pretty congested at the start and by the first turn buoy I could see a small group that had formed a gap-one that I was unable to close. I never seemed to get into any sort of groove on the swim and was struggling the whole way as I tried to limit my losses. I seemed to end up in a bit of no-man’s land on the swim in between groups. Getting out of the water, I knew I had many guys ahead of me in my wave but was unsure of any time gaps. I quickly headed out on my bike and hit it pretty hard right from the start. I knew I had to ride very aggressively with hopes of getting to the front of my wave and distancing myself from some of the faster runners who had started earlier.

It took me a bit to get my legs to come around, but after a couple miles I felt that I was moving pretty well. Due to starting in the last wave, traffic on the bike course was a bit crazy as I was weaving amongst the masses. I began to ride up on some of the earlier men’s waves and had to press quite hard to get around a few guys who were moving quite well on the gradual downhill sections in the first half of the course. Once I got around a few, I was re-passed by a few guys at which point I would have to sit up to give them the legal distance. For a couple miles I was unable to get rid of them, so I decided to wait until the turn-around point where the course turns back and gradually climbs up to the highway. Once we made the 180-degree turn, I went fairly hard for a couple minutes and was able to get some distance. The rolling hills on the second half of the course along with the wind that had kicked up definitely played more to my strengths. Rolling into T2, I still had no idea if I was leading or what any time gaps were.  I later would find out that Brian was seconds behind me heading into T2 and went around me in transition when I made the mistake of running down the wrong bike rack.

I tried to stay fairly controlled running up the first big hill that smacks you right in the face after you leave transition. Once you get to the top though the road flattens out and it is a gradual downhill for the next 2 miles or so with one little hill. I felt quite good for most the run and tried to really push the first few miles. The only word I heard on course about the gap to Brian was from another racer I went by around mile 3 who yelled something like “there’s one more guy up there-go get ‘em”. I pushed on, and my legs really started loading up the last couple miles yet I didn’t suffer the collapse that I have had in some of my other races this summer where I’ve really fallen off the pace in the last few miles.  When I crossed the line, the tank was pretty empty and I was spent but happy with the effort I gave. It wasn’t until later that I found out that Brian was the one ahead of me the whole time. Unfortunately, my clumsy transition had cost me the chance to start the run right with Brian.

At the end of the day, I’m a very competitive person and of course would have liked to win, but I’m still happy with 2nd. I came to Nationals because I wanted to race against the best amateurs in the nation and compete in the most competitive amateur race in the United States. The depth of the field here is impressive. Congrats to Brian Duffy on a great race and a well deserved win.  

I’m back in Boulder now with one more week to recharge and get ready to race again at the Hy-Vee Triathlon on September 2, in what will most likely be my last amateur race before jumping up to the professional ranks. It will be another chance to go head to head with many of the top guys who raced in Burlington.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support-including Hincapie Sportswear, Blueseventy and Specialized, which helped carry me to the fastest bike split at Nationals.

Update

The last 4 weeks have gone by in a bit of a blur as I've done 3 races during those 4 weeks (1 sprint, 1 olympic & 1 half ironman). I had never raced this much before in a row, but I figured as long as I was diligent in recovering after each one then I would get through alright. I had some very consistent weeks of training before the 5430 Sprint which I think set me up well for the consecutive weeks of racing and allowed for me to cut back a bit on training in between the races to recover. I'm not sure I could have asked for the races to have gone any better than they did. I was able to come away with 3 wins, and had easily the biggest win of my triathlon career in Lubbock, Texas at Buffalo Springs 70.3 by claiming the fastest time on the day by 2 seconds. I've always felt my strength was on the bike, but this was the first half-ironman I've done where I really was able to get into a good rhythm early and avoid a big drop off in the last 10 miles. It was a great day for me and was also my fastest time that I've ever done at the half distance in 4:01:13, bettering my time from 2011 by 23 minutes.

I finished off the string of races last weekend at the Boulder Peak 5150. This was the 5th year that I've competed in this race and I was returning after winning the amateur race in 2011. The field here is always quite good in the elite amateur wave, so I certainly was not taking anything for granted and knew I needed to have a good swim to set me up well for the rest of the race. I was able to catch a nice ride on my CU teammate David Bobka's feet for most of the swim and came out of the water with David about 45 seconds down to the leader. Only about 600 meters after I hopped on my bike, I ended up catching the leader and then began the grind up towards Olde Stage. No matter how many times you ride this section, it never gets easier. I felt like my heart was about to explode at the top of Olde Stage, but I was able to recover quite well on the downhill section and was ready to stomp on it once I hit Lefthand Canyon. I had no idea what kind of a gap I had at this point, but I just rode as hard as I could with hopes of gaining as much time as possible. When I jumped off the bike, I got a split from my Dad that I had around 3 minutes. Starting the run I was feeling a bit cooked after my effort on the bike, but I did what I could to keep rolling along. I faded a bit towards the last few miles (as I did last year) but luckily I had enough time at that point and it was a great feeling to break the tape again this year and to dip under 2 hrs in 1:59:21. It was nice to have my family out there cheering at different points on the course and yelling at me to get moving on the run!

I really appreciate everyone's support this year and especially want to thank Hincapie Sportswear and Blueseventy for their support. Also, thanks to Specialized for the rocket bike (also known as the Shiv) that makes it a lot easier to get the job done on the bike.

Collegiate Nationals

Here is a race report from Collegiate Nationals that I wrote last month for the blueseventy blog. http://www.thewaterisopen.blogspot.com/2012/04/unstoppable-cu.html

It has now been a little over a week since I arrived home after traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the first time to race at the Collegiate National Championships. I was very excited to finally get a chance to compete at Collegiate Nationals, and to do so with a team like CU. I was well aware of the history of the team and the numerous national titles that had been won when I joined last Fall. Heading into the race this year, I knew the strength of our team was quite good. However, at a race like Collegiate Nationals, it seems like you can never really know how well you will do because people you've never heard of can come out of nowhere.  I think everyone on our team had a bit of added confidence gained from the months training together and witnessing what each person on the team was capable of.

I had heard all sorts of stories from current teammates and others in Boulder who had competed at Nationals before. Almost every person I spoke to commented about how this race was unlike any other triathlon out there. It’s not often that you get over a thousand college students together at one event, with everyone equally as excited as you are about competing in a triathlon. The atmosphere created is certainly different from any other race I’ve ever done.  

On race morning, as people gathered at the swim start before the women’s race, team cheers began to ring out one after another. Everybody was pretty fired. Our women ended up having a phenomenal race, winning the overall and giving our men’s team a bit more inspiration before we raced. 10:30AM finally rolled around meaning the start of our race. I was with teammate Rudy Kahsar (last years champion) in wave 1, and we both were lucky enough to sneak out on the far side to find some clean water right from the gun. I felt great on the swim and just tried to bury myself to limit the gap to some of the faster swimmers in the field. As always, the Helix wetsuit felt awesome. I came out about 2 minutes down to Dustin McLarty, but very close to a large group of guys just ahead. I managed to pass probably 5 or 6 guys on the run to transition before hopping on my bike.

Onto the bike, I tried to get into some sort of a rhythm as quickly as possible and hopefully start picking some people off. I was a caught a bit off guard early in the bike when I was passed by two guys right before Rudy came rocking by at about mile 5, having already made up the 20 seconds I had on him out of the water. This seemed to give me a bit of a spark, and I knew I had to stomp on it then to remain close. I came off the bike in 4th place and about 20 seconds down to Rudy, while the gap to Dustin had unfortunately remained about the same. The run was a bit of a struggle for me as I never quite found my running legs, but after getting passed by Ryan Bice around mile 2.5 I just tried my best to hang on and was happy to cross the line in 5th place.  Our men’s team had a great day overall, with Rudy leading the charge in 2nd place, and Chris Braden and David Bobka finishing strongly in 6th and 15th.  

The awards ceremony that night was quite the party with teams dressing up in all sorts of outfits and parading around before the awards started. I think I can safely say that no other awards ceremony comes close to what it is like at Collegiate Nationals. On the flight home the following day, I caught myself already thinking about next years race and I can’t wait to give it another go. It’s awesome to see this sport growing so much in the collegiate ranks and I’m very happy to be apart of it.