Rest of the Summer

I have finalized my races for the rest of this 2011 season. I am doing the Mid Atlantic Regional Sprint Championship, Sunday August 7th at Noxamixon State Park, PA. After that, US Age Group nationals will be August 20th (day after my 21st birthday), then the Nation's Tri September 11th in Washington, DC. After that will be two draft legal races, September 25th in Buffalo, NY, and October 9th in Myrtle Beach, SC. I am excited that I will be able to do a mixture of draft legal racing and non drafting racing to hone my bike skills.
This first week after Colorado Springs has been a hot and humid adjustment in Delaware, but I've still managed to get a good week of training in. I have done a track workout, a bike/run brick, a swim/bike brick, and a hill workout. There will still be a long run, and long bike this weekend with some swimming both days. Endurance Films will be announcing their elite racing team next Tuesday, August 2nd, and I have applied and am a finalist for this team. I hope I will be able to align myself with such a great company!
The last bit of exciting news I have is that USATriathlon has helped me find a good draft legal bike to rent until I get an official bike sponsor! They have provided me the frame of a Blue RC4 bike, and I will be switching all the components from my current road bike (much too big on me) to make this one my race bike in Buffalo and Myrtle Beach. I will also get my first TT bike ever, courtesy of Bike Line Middletown, a Trek Speed Concept 9.5 I am excited to see what I can do on a truly fitted time trial bike. It looks like quite the machine, and I can't wait to try it out.

Speed Concept 9.8

Blue RC4

OTC Collegiate Recruitment Camp

Barb Lindquist, head of the usat collegiate recruitment program, incited myself and 12 other collegiate swimmer/runners from across the country for a week long camp of triathlon training, skills, and learning. I'm posting this on Thursday of the week, and training has really begun to kick up! Our mileage figures have not been that high, but everything has been done with intensity and it has been a great learning experience! This morning, we went to the cappy crit course (a 1km loop course with several s turns, and a good mix of hills). There, after a warm up, we went into 3 sets of 5km bike (draft legal), 2km tough run. This was a really hard workout done near race intensity. My runs were right around 5:08-5:10 pace, and the bikes were all above 23.5 mph. Following this workout, we had lunch, then off to Colorado Country Club to do some open water swimming practice. Unfornately, thunder/lightning got the best of us and we had to resume open water practice at the pool at otc with 4 bouys and no lane lines. This swim lasted about an hour, and included some turn work, fartlek swimming, and diving into beginning of race work. Everybody is pretty spent this afternoon, and it appears we have some time off before dinner and a guest speaker.

Here is a final schedule for the week. Good training+meeting other driven triathletes=success.

Time/Day	Sat 7/16	Sun 7/17	Mon 7/18	Tue 7/19	Wed 7/20	Thu 7/21	Fri 7/22	Sat 7/23
6:30 a.m.					Swim
7:00 a.m.	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast		Breakfast	Breakfast
7:30 a.m.					Breakfast			Breakfast
8:00 a.m.			Run Technique w/Bobby McGee				Group Ride or Coaches Lecture w/Scott
8:30 a.m.		Bike Skills Assessment + Transition Skills at Prospect Park		Bike w/Neal- 2hrs lecture, 2 hrs skills @ Prospect Park	Bike w/Neal- Crit Course	Bike/Run Brick at Crit Course
9:00 a.m.								Swim/Bike Brick at Pool
9:30 a.m.
10:00 a.m.							Start RETUL fits
10:30 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.		Lunch			Lunch	Lunch	Bike Maintenance over Lunch	Lunch
12:00 p.m.			Lunch	Lunch
12:30 p.m.		Video w/Dr.G (second half of group)				Open Water @Country Club (12:30) or LCM 1-2:30
1:00 p.m.			Mental Skills w/Bobby	Swim Technique w/Barb			Swim Technique w/Susan	Trail Run at Woodman Trail
1:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m.	Bike check 2-6	Dr. G Lecture 2-4pm	1:1 w/Bobby, 1:1 w/Barb, or TP Therapy Demo		Run w/Barb- bounds, 100's
2:30 p.m.
3:00 p.m.	Video w/Dr.G (first half of group)			Group Ride w/Neal to Garden of the Gods	Strengthwork
3:30 p.m.						B/R Transition Skills Practice		Bike Packing Party
4:00 p.m.		Surgical Tubing
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner		Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
5:30 p.m.
6:00 p.m.	Intro Talk + Icebreakers		Free night or  1:1's w/Barb	Dinner	USADA	Katie Talk on ITU	Free Night!	Wrap Up Survey + End Talk
6:30 p.m.		Watch Bobby's Run Video
7:00 p.m.				Susan Pep Talk
7:30 p.m.

Getting Started

I am pretty new to this whole website idea, but many aspiring professional athletes have a website, so I wanted to start one. My background in the sport of triathlon started when i was four years old as a young swimmer. I kept swimming year round until my junior year of high school. I had earned three all state swimming accolades with pr's of 4:16 400 IM, 4:52 500 free, 1:59 200 back, 2:11 200 breaststroke. I started running cross country my junior year in high school, and fell in love with it. In 2009, I accepted a scholarship to run for the University of Delaware. During two years at UD, I lowered PR's to 14:48 5k, 9:18 steeple, 25:01 for 8k XC, and 31:51 for a 10k XC.  Sadly, during my sophomore year, the University dropped the men's running programs. At this point in my life, I was faced with a huge decision; either transfer to keep running, or pursue the idea that has always been in the back of my head (turning pro in triathlon). I chose triathlon, and have not looked back.

Since my decision, I have been invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in July with the USAT collegiate recruitment program headed by 2004 Olympian, Barb Lindquist. In the beginning of the summer, I won my first triathlon, the 2011 lavaman sprint triathlon in Lavalette, NJ. Up next was PhillyTri, a huge international distance race. I placed 10th in the elite amateur division without a time trial bike.  After this last race, I have ramped up my training during the month of July (with the help of the camp in Colorado), and also purchased, with the partnership of Middletown Bike Line, a Trek speed concept 9.5. Also, XTERRA wetsuits have given me a pro deal for a velocity x2 wetsuit.
The rest of the summer racing will be:
The mid atlantic sprint championship in Quakertown, PA on August 7th.
Age group nationals, Burlington, VT August 20th (day after my birthday)
Elite Development race in Buffalo, NY September 25th.
Elite Development race in Myrtle Beach, SC October 9th.

I will try my best to update this site with training, racing, and sponsor information!