Magog Pan American Continental Cup

Last weekend (July 22nd), I raced the Magog Continental Cup in Quebec, Canada.  This was my first race in an area where the general public did not speak English readily! The motel I stayed in was also a bit of a surprise with a very euro feel and a chicken coup outside!!

View from my room!

 I got to Canada Thursday evening around 6:30 pm, and did a short bike ride to preview the course.
 Although I ended up not riding the actual course, it was nice to spin the legs out after a 8 hour car ride!

Here is the swim venue- very nice 1500 meter course

The course was really awesome, a 5- loop, 40 kilometer bike ride on rolling hills with a 180 and a short, steep hill for the other turn around. I thought it suited me pretty well.

About the race:

Split was 19:29. Race best was 18:40. Race was a beach start with some water running, about 15" of physical dolphin diving and then swim. Got out really well, especially considering I don't particularly care for beach front starts with my short legs. About 400 meters in, I realized I was next to Dan Theleen, who I knew made the front pack in Dallas, so I figured I was in good position. Rounding the first turn bouy, there was a huge jostle where fists, feet, bows, everything was flying, and I think this is where the front 10-12 guys got away into clean water and opened up about 40 seconds on the chase group, which I was in. I was stoked to get out of the water with Dan T  as well as Alex Hinton, who just got third in Edmonton World Cup.

Love the "Sydney Bike racks"

Race was 25 miles, and I split 59:29 for it. Pretty solid for 5 loops of 5 miles with one very hard hill and the rest rolling. Got out of transition in second of my group, got in my shoes and we immediately started HAMMERING. I mean 28-30 mph pulls on the flats, and I was thinking this was pretty hard. We only made up about 10 seconds on the front pack after two laps of hammering, so we settled into a more manageable pace. I could kill the short steep hill as well as the rollers, but the 180 turn and subsequent sprints out of it were where I was feeling scared of getting dropped. Just thought "pain is temporary, and it is better to be in a group then off the back." We popped two guys off during the ride, and It finished as me, one guy from Mexico and 5 Canadians. We worked well together as a group pace lining the entire time.

Got off the bike and felt pretty tight. Tried to grab a water at each aid station, and at bare minimum pour it over my head. Was drinking some of it, but realized I was only worsening a side stitch if I drank any of it. Anyway, Three guys from my group took the 10K out hard, and I thought it was way too early to be red lining, and two of them came back to me. I neg. split the run pretty well. Could have run better, but my running training has been on the lower end due to the need to improve swimming and biking. This race was a step in the correct direction. 3rd American behind two solid guys, 13th overall beating numerous World Cup winners, and a top 10 U23 athlete from last year. Very happy with this starting to go in the correct direction and first ITU points!

Finishing up the run 13th overall, 3rd American

Philly Tri 2012

I finally had a triathlon where I was not going into it injured, with a broken bike, etc. etc.  I was extremely excited to race the Philly Triathlon as a pro this year because it's so close to where I live, I had a lot of friends and family come out to support my race.  I knew going into the race it would be a really really fast field, especially in the swim. There were the usual studs in the race such as returning champion, Andy Potts, as well as Cam Dye, Matty Reed, and more.  Just to have the opportunity to race alongside these guys is incredible for me. 


I ended up finishing 12th for male pros in the race- a result that is good, but I know I have to keep improving if I really want to pursue this sport.  It is encouraging that I am still young, but that is not an excuse I want to use.  I want to get to the point where I can win races like this, so I have a tough road ahead, but I am excited about my progress. 



To the race:
Got up at 3:30 AM, did a 10 miute run shake out, had coffee, bagel with peanutbutter and a banana. Drive the 35 minutes to race course and got to transition around 5:00 AM. Did a 15 minute bike to make sure everything was in order gear wise, etc. Got on a bus to the start at 5:30 (bus driver subsequently got lost but still got to the start by 6:00 AM for a 6:30 start. Did another 5 minute run plus drills before the short swim warm up we were given. Felt ready to go. Had a Power Bar double latte caffeine gel about 90 minutes before the start.

Swim:
My first thought in the swim was oh Jeez Andy Potts will fly out of the gate- not true. This was the nicest swim start I've encountered in awhile. I would contribute this to both the fact that I have been swimming in excess of 24KM/week long course and it not being an ITU race. I was very comfortable in the swim. Unfortunately, I followed the wrong person's feet and ended up to the far right in a slower swim pack. I ended up leading that pack out of the water with Australian Pellow and Nick Early. I think I could have easily swam 30 seconds faster if I had stayed in the group to the left. This was more of a sighting error. Spit was 18:18 with less of a current than last year plus leading a group comfortably. 

Bike:

 The bike was tough as I knew I had ground to make up, and the Philly course is twisty, you can't really see how close the others are to you. I felt great on the climbs and would make up considerable ground on Nick during the climbs. The descents, I lost some ground, and pretty much was even on the flats where we would be hammering 27-29 mph to make up for the slow uphills. Actually misunderstood the stagger rule. I thought you always had to be BOTH 10 meters behind and 2 meters to the side, so there were times I would drop back while biking because I did not think I could just ride 2 meters beside them. I learned that lesson now and won't forget. There are definitely differences between ITU racing, which is akin to track intervals, and non drafting- more similar to a hard 1- hour tempo run. Overally, my 1:02 split was OK at best.  I know my bike strength still has a way to come, but I was pretty happy with the result.

Courtesy of Mark Hannagan

Run:
I started out the run hard to make up ground. I quickly caught up to some stragglers and focused on Dan Eckel and Nick Early. I think I tried to make up too much ground the first 2 miles, because I slowed the second two miles with some leg cramping. Nothing major, but I was digging deep. Overall, all the run splits were slower than last year's because (I assume) the heat. I felt like I fought the whole way, and am happy with it, but not content.
35:07 for 10K split- only the top 4 pros out split me, but still was not as tough (cough cough pansie) in the middle 2 miles a little bit.  

I have to thank my incredible sponsors as well as friends and family for supporting me.  Power Bar, Kiwami, Trigger Point Therapy, Middletown Bike Line, Delaware Orthopaedics, Bifferato Gentiloatti for helping me get to races prepared.

Courtesy of Frankie Feitzman

Thanks for the picture Mom

 

Dallas ITU, LavaLove Triathlon, Worlds

I had a pretty busy last couple weeks of racing, getting back into shape, and starting practice with Blue Hen Aquatics every morning. I did get some incredible news that I will be representing the USA for the ITU Elite World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France this coming September.  I am also stoked that my fellow collegiate recruits Jason Pederson and Chris Baird would be racing there as well.  I am beyond excited to race internationally in a world championship race.  But to recap my last two races:

Dallas ITU Pan American Cup: Well this race did not go as planned, but I honestly was a little worried before it even started.  I had only about 3- weeks of training before this race after my knee injury, which abated all biking and running for almost a month. I had a solid swim in Dallas, and was only about 45 seconds off the lead pack.  I am confident that after a summer swimming with Blue Hen Aquatics, I will close that gap, and be in the main pack.  I immediately felt my lack of power while biking- I just could not close the gaps I needed between groups, and got spit out the back.  I rode in the 100 degree heat with strong wind in one direction, and the race went downhill from there.  I just tried to put this race behind me and get back to steady training.

Here is the group of former Division 1 runners warming up (courtesy of Jason's Dad):

One week following the Dallas race, I drove the 2- hours to Lavalette, NJ to attempt to defend my title at my first triathlon I raced when I switched sports.  I love the races Jersey Shore Multisport puts on, they are great family atmospheres, fun, exciting short races that always have good challenges. The race director, Chris Wilcoz, asked me to come back to race again this year, and I was excited to race.  The day before the race, my new Coach, Brooks Doughty, assigned me to swim with UD's team, (6K), bike a steady 30 minutes, then had 7 miles of running intervals where I was running between 4:40- 5:00 pace for the 5 miles of workout.  I knew I would be tired coming into this race, but was still excited to challenge myself. I also had an awesome home stay from the Costello family, and Mr. Costello provided me with the pictures below.

The swim started in rough waters, with large waves.  I actually can say I finally enjoyed an open water swim.  I am feeling strong in the water, and was very comfortable in the choppy water.

It was a wetsuit legal swim about 0.45 miles in Barnegate Bay.  I got out hard, and found myself near the front at the first bouy.  There was one guy who got a good sized gap on the group, and I did not even see him.  Because I thought we were the lead group,  I just relaxed and sat in for the swim, exiting the water in 3rd overall- about 15 seconds down on the leader.  After T1, I hopped on my TT bike and got into my shoes after biking over a small bridge hill.  I quickly made the pass to get into second place behind the leader.  I got my first split on the 3- lap course, and still was 10 seconds down.  I was hammering pretty hard on tired legs over 26 mph, so I decided I would just try to maintain 2nd with only a 10ish second lead, and let the run play out.  By the end of the bike, I got off only 10 seconds behind the lead feeling very comfortable.

I caught the leader about 1/4 of a mile into the run, and just tried to maintain good form and keep my cadence high during the run.  At the first turn around, I saw I had about a minute on second place.  I just tried to run comfortably and enjoy the remainder of the run.  By this point in the race, there was a pretty solid crowd of people standing outside their beach houses, so it was a lot of fun to get all the cheers.  I came home in 20:50 for the 3.9 mile run course, a time I was happy about considering the hard intervals I ran the day before.

 

Following the race, I had a great time at the awards, and cheering the others in.  They also have some of the best tacos for post race meals.  I am pretty happy with my efforts from the day, and excited to race in Philly in two weeks.  There will be some of the best racing there including Craig Alexander, Matty Reed, Cam Dye, Andy Potts, and more; it's great to race the best.  Until then, I will be putting time in the bank training.

Lava Swim 2012

Over memorial day weekend, most of the pools around where I live would be closed to lap swimming and open to the throngs of kids getting out of school and ready to play for the summer.  I am familiar with this from my years as a lifeguard, and I love it, but not with the purposes of training.  Because of this, I opted to go to the Jersey Shore and race a 2.4 mile open water race. Below is a brief race report:

I got up at 4:45 AM and left my house by 5 for about a 2- hour drive to the Jersey Shore (literally about 1 mile from where the show with Snookie and "The Situation" was filmed.  (On a side note, I feel like this post will get some odd links from google with people searching for Jersey Shore related topics- if you are one of those people- sorry, at least I am 50% Italian!)

After driving through some torrential rain and thunder showers, I got to the beach and the weather had calmed down to just rain.  The water was about 68 degrees, so almost everybody wore wetsuits (myself included).  I was not sure honestly how deep the field would be, nor how fast I could swim 2.4 miles. I started out slightly harder just to get clear of the group.  After about 50 meters, I was in third overall and just clear of any thrashing.  The top two guys were going after it, and I was not confident in my ability to red line for 2.4 miles.  I settled in and just focused on sighting.  I did get a little help at a sand bar where I took advantage of dolphin dives to change up muscle groups as well as the fact that they are much faster than normal swimming. Before the second lap, I was passed and was sitting on the feet of the guy in 4th.  I pretty much keyed off him the entire second loop as we navigated through many of the 1.2 mile swim racers (who were started 15 minutes after we started).  After a few thoughts about how damn long this felt, I resigned to just relax and focus on keeping my stroke even until the last bouy, where I'd make one last attack.  When I finally got to the last bouy, I took a few hard strokes to pull up on 4th, then I used a few well timed dolphin dives to get onto shore faster.  After the race, the guy behind me asked if I swam in college, which I took as a huge compliment because a year ago at this time I was pretty much just a collegiate runner who once upon a time ran. 

Results were here: http://www.jsmultisport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Preliminary-2012-Lava-Swim-24m-Overall-Report.htm

The swim was probably short (the race director, Chris Wilcox, said he believes with the storms, the bouys were short to about 2.2 miles.   I believe that along with the helpful currents, aided in the extremely fast times.

USAT Collegiate Nationals 2012

Going into this race, I had a feeling I was in for an interesting weekend. For the three and a half weeks prior to racing, I had not been able to run or bike without a lot of pain. Thankfully, with lots of stretching, I was able to get to the start line. I got down to Tuscaloosa, Al the Friday before the race to find my ITU road bike (courtesy of USA triathlon) had been cracked irreparably by the shipping company, and my bike box was destroyed! This was the icing on the cake, injury plus broken bike, all I could say was wow. I tried to keep my mind positive despite planning on focusing on the short draft legal relay since I knew my knee was not up to par to do a full OD triathlon. Ironically, it was the bike I needed to use for that relay that got broken.. so I was left to scramble and try to find a replacement. Thankfully, Korey from N. C. State came through in the clutch and let me borrow his.

The OD race: I started the swim with the full knowledge that I would probably not be able to complete or race competitively. This was partially realistic, but also too negative of an attitude to have- and is something I can't let happen again. After having a sub par swim and exiting my wave about 16th, I got on the bike and felt okay at first, riding with a  group keeping the average over 25 mph. However, around 10K into the ride (1/4t of the total) I felt my knee seize up, and all the muscles were making my knee track incorrectly. I had to just ride back into town, and relinquish my goal of winning collegiate nationals in 2012. Very tough decision, but something I had come to copes with before leaving for the race when I could not even bend my knee the Thursday before the race.

The Draft legal relay: This was honestly a perfect way to cap off the weekend. Although my team had some tough times with cramping, I was really happy to have the 6th overall fastest leg with the fastest run split overall.  Using Korey's bike was great, except my cleats did not fit into the pedals, so I basically rode without much efficiency (as shown by my disproportionately slow bike split), I am confident I could have ridden with anybody that day if I had my own bike, and possibly a pack to work with. I was super happy to finish the weekend with plenty of new friends from N. C. State, and get home to try and heal my knee before Dallas Continental Cup in early June, where I will be attempting to earn a birth to Under 23 World championships this coming October!

My relay team for the first ever collegiate draft legal relay

My poor Blue RC4 frame. Put a damper on the race upon arrival.

Plus the bike box. Ouch, they are pretty sturdy usually.

Injury and Moving On

This will be a short post about the events leading up to my preparations for Collegiate Nationals 2012. About 4 weeks before the event, I did a long run on a knee that was hurting right over the patella. After the run, the ensuing days were very painful, and I have still been unable to run/bike on a regular basis. On the bright side, I have had a monstrous swim block with all my weeks over 30K, and have seen times drop precipitously. I leave in two days for collegiate nationals in Alabama, and have honestly never gone into a race feeling like this. I am not sure if I will be able to ride/run at all, let alone at the pace necessary to win this race.

Here is a link from USAT about the race: http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2012/4/041612-collegiate-nationals.aspx

I hope to not disappoint, but am trying to prepare myself for anything. I will still go into this race with as much focus as possible, and actually am seeing a doctor this afternoon to try and find a way to race with less pain. This has been a tough time, but with the requisite time off training, it makes me realize how lucky I am that i can train, and it makes me appreciate those 5:30 AM alarms because you are getting out of bed to do something you love.

Injuries are part of sport (albeit not the best part), so I will try and handle this in the best way I can. Good luck to all those competing this weekend, I am excited because I have heard such good things about the atmosphere, so I can't wait.

Sweet picture from Taylor Knight of the lead bike pack early in the race.

Lake Lure "Race" and Injury

This last weekend in March, I drove down to Lake Lure, NC to race in the first ever all collegiate draft legal triathlon. I originally was not planning on doing this race, but I really liked the idea behind building draft legal racing for athletes in the US. I drove down the Wednesday before the race, but since the previous Sunday had not been able to ride or run due to (I believe) some pre patellar bursitis from crashing the week before in a bike race. I was just hoping the knee would get better through the trip, and I would be able to race. By race morning, it was slightly better, but still compromised. I figured I would just do as much as I could before pulling out. The swim went pretty well, and I was glad I got some wetsuit open water practice in before collegiate nationals. The beach start is not my favorite, but I can always use practice. There was a mad dash at the start, but for the first time in awhile I found myself at the front of the group by the first bouy. The two lap swim put me in second overall in a nice breakaway with another athlete who had draft legal experience as a junior. Below are videos from the start and the beginning of the bike. After 5 or the 10 laps on the bike (each lap was 1.55 mi long with a 600 meter hill at 12% gradient, and a screaming downhill), I had to pull out as I could feel my knee getting progressively worse. I did not want to compromise collegiate nationals in a few weeks where I hope to earn a birth to World University Games. The organization of the race was great considering they had to change location in January, and swiftly changed the race to the sweet mountain town of Lake Lure, NC. The course was a little dangerous for my liking though with such a severe downhill and speed bumps at the bottom. I was very upset to swallow my pride and stop riding while in the lead group, but knew it was for the better. Long term thinking is what I needed.