A flat tire, a thief chase, and World Championships Qualifying - Funtimes at USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships

The dust has settled, my swelling has gone down, and my mind is rested.  So it is time to look back at my fun racing vacation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships.

We traveled to Milwaukee on Thursday for, in many ways, the amateur USAT event of the year as the weekend included both Olympic and Sprint National Championships.  I had earned entry into the qualifying Olympic event a few times over the past year and decided to make the trip, and for the fun of it, I decided to race two times in as many days.  We arrived in the humid and warm Lake Michigan city and took our chance off the bat to get ourselves a famous local beer and some Wisconsin cheese. Cheese is good everywhere, of course, but the cheese curds at Lakefront Brewing on this trip are especially worth the trip.

Olympic Race Recap:

I had a distinct plan for the Olympic race, it was simple, just don't mess up the swim so bad that you can't bike and run yourself back into some contention!  While I can't say it went perfectly to plan as I came out of the water 6 minutes behind the leader, I did PR by a massive 4 minutes for the 1500 meter distance on the year and heightened my chances to put out a good time if I could manage on the bike and on my feet.  Catching the feet of other competitors throughout the swim undoubtedly assisted my time and I was ready to rock as I ran to transition stripping off my wetsuit.

I went out HARD on the bike, maybe too hard in retrospect, but this is a national championship and I would be damned if I didn't at least try for it.  Well, because of my aggressiveness early I continued to find a fast rhythm as my power jumped up and down as I sought out more people to pass.  The course was surprisingly difficult with the crosswinds on the bridges which were the de facto hills on this course.  After the final turn, to head for home, I began being passed by a few cyclists who I had powered by earlier in the course.  I realized my speed wasn't quite where I wanted it to be but thought I must be struggling more than expected.  We approached the final "climb" and I was really laboring and the road was awfully rough.  It was at the crest of the hill, when I thought I had my chance to fly downhill into T2 that I realized what had been wrong the whole time.  I was smashing out watts on the descent and unable to breach 30 miles per hour, low and behold, my rear tire was flat and my poor carbon wheel rim was doing all the rolling while the floppy, deflated rubber attached to it did it's best to drain my chances.  I came in on the bike about 4.5 minutes slower than desired and averaged 24.6 mph on the 24.8 mile course.  I was happy to get off my disable 2 wheeled vehicle and onto my own feet, and that's where the fun began.

Now, I can't say I was in the shape I wanted to be for a 10k entering this race as I don't think I was near my running only PR, but I knew that running was my both physical and mental strength in a triathlon.  I took off at a steady pace and did my best to hold off the rib/chest spasming I have continued to experience after T2 in races this year, luckily, I had my amazing wife to adjust my spine at 4:30 in the morning, which greatly reduce the level of the tightness.  I exited T2 in 25th place, and over the next 6.2 miles ran myself into the last spot on the podium moving up 15 spots to 10th.  

A very happy 10th place finisher crossed the line.

A Thief Chase:

To many this is their favorite story of my weekend.  To Jess, she calls this my 2nd of 3 races.

I used Race Day Transport, so between the races I checked my bike back into Race Day to hold until I could check it into the Sprint Race Transition.  It was an hour or so after my finish of the Olympic race and I sat on the grass next to my bike rack to replace the flat from the race.  It was peaceful as Jess and I chatted about the race and my parents waited outside transition for our much needed trip to lunch (and famous Milwaukee beer - gotta get that from the source PBR).  Suddenly, one man was yelling at another - it was the head of Race Day Transport following a young man out of Race Day's personal trailer.  The arguing escalated and as Jess and I sat on the grass we thought nothing of it in general despite the obvious oddness of the situation.  Then, as I fed my tube into the tire, "Stop HIM", "SOMEBODY STOP HIM" echoed under the trees.  Jess and I look up to see the young man running through the fenced in area of Race Day with multiple smart phones in his hand.  He sees that the front entrance is blocked - and shoots up a side path - the exact one where Jess and I are sitting.  Jess is between him and I and goes to grab him.  He shruggs her off, accelerates and uses his free "non-cellphone" hand to launch himself over the chest height fence.  Now I am not sure why that "SOMEBODY" had to be me, but before I knew any better I run past Jess and jump the fence in pursuit.  Unfortunately, my tired legs didn't respond well to what was on the other side.  Race Day had all of their rain tarps laid out outside of the fence and as I landed and attempted to accelerate they grabbed my ankles like Devil's Snare (I know you know the reference).  Now you can picture a guy launching into a chase only to immediately face plant.  I usually take pride in my athleticism, but maybe that is why I needed the ego check.  I quickly push to get up, and guess what?... that's right, the Devil's Snare struck again.  Now I'm mad, and in a blink I was up and moving with determination.  I'll give the beer-gutted asshole thief credit (notice how before he was a young man), he had an good burst of speed and got away from me to start as I weaved behind him through a row of tractor trailers over the grass.  Then we hit open field and the folly of stealing from a group of endurance athletes must have become apparent to him.  I closed the ground on him shouting "stop him, stop him!" to the oncoming pedestrians.  I mostly received confused and noncommittal looks from the first few groups, but the next group of good samaritan guys stood in front of him and we blocked him in.  No one, including myself, committed to violence or physical altercation as I wasn't about to risk getting stabbed.  Instead, I paced with him, ready to finish the pursuit if needed.  Soon, a group of guys rode their bikes down from Race Day and helped keep him from attempting another run as he panted "I just need to catch my breath".  He was constantly calculating his escape but made one last attempt too late.  The final group to arrive was a group of 4 police officers who put him on his stomach in handcuffs and boy was I happy to get that part of my day over with!  I came out of it with a nice cut on my left leg, an opening of my recent bike wreck hand and arm wounds, and a little anger it took me that long to run down the jerk.  He's lucky I fell twice I keep telling myself.  Haha, anyways, it was a story I will remember and the swelling has gone down/the cuts are scabbed over, so the physical memories will soon be distant.  

Hope you enjoyed the story! Onto the Sunday Sprint...

Sunday Sprint Recap

I was a little sore/swollen/tired entering Sunday.  Saturday had been a good day and I was thinking "Why the heck did I sign up for the Sprint?"  I was happy to see the smaller crowd and it reduced my stress to have a much smaller swim wave.  The gun went off and *smack*pull*punch*grab*push* ... this small, supposedly less competitive group of athletes had a bunch of purposely violent swimmers!  I struggled to find a rhythm and find fast feet like the day before.  I came in from the swim at a much slower pace than the twice as long Olympic and had a lot of work to do if I was going to get myself onto the top-5 podium of the Sprint Race.

I felt that I could push the bike, especially with a newly inflated back tire, to get back into the competition.  Boy, did I struggle.  I pushed and pushed and pushed but struggled to hit the times I thought I was capable of when coming to Milwaukee.  My bike legs were by far the most disappointing of the weekend, but I did continue to move up on the bike to get myself into the top 10 to enter the run

Today was a good run day.  I had none of the pain and spasms that had limited me in my previous 3 races and I knew I had to take full advantage.  I began to turn the screws during the run and continued to feel stronger throughout the race as I ran down 4 athletes for ... 6th place and 7 seconds too slow for the podium.  What a fun weekend.  I really think I did earn my recovery week of diet cheating and sleep.

Downtown Milwaukee is a beautiful place with the river walk and contains world class amenities including museums, art centers, and breweries!

Boulder Peak Triathlon Race Report

We were back in Boulder, Colorado for another race this past weekend finalizing my 5 races in 5 weeks streak and firmly earning a nap.  As always, I had the best support in the world from Jess which makes the early mornings easy.  This week the Life Time Fitness/Ironman event - Boulder Peak Triathlon - went off without a hitch.  The course support was excellent and the climb up Olde Stage Road left many legs screaming after only 6 miles into the bike course.

It was a nice sunny warm day and the competition was fast including one of my past teammates Tyler Evans who finished 3rd in the Pro race.  He showed up strong a couple weeks after an unfortunate bike wreck and really earned it out there - check him out!  For my race, I started about 10 minutes after the pro group in the age group race and, like usual, despite it feeling fine during the swim I had a poor swim time and was surprised with just how behind I was on the start of the bike.  Luckily, I had the legs to crank out the fastest bike split of my age group and come home with the fastest run split as well.  Despite the land sport efforts, with my swim time those two "sport wins" didn't result in the overall three sport win.  I'll be hitting the pool and the upper extremity strengthening hard this next month hoping to make up as much as possible for my long term lack of arm sports!  We will see in Milwaukee how that has all gone.

The reason this race is special is beyond the beautiful venue that Boulder always provides.  The long steady climb including a mile averaging 15% grade up Olde Stage Road added a new element to the triathlon.  A lot of triathletes, like yours truly, can sit in aero position and hammer out a steady flow of watts for hours on end; this race required each athlete to work hard just to keep moving with most athletes spending time around 5-7 mph for a long period of time where aero position won't do you much good!  The first half of the bike course was advantage to the cyclist, the second half was advantage to the time-trialist.  I was hoping to have a shot at the "Reach the Peak Challenge" which was a separate timed portion from T1 to the top of Old Stage Rd.  After the race I found out that the Pros were included in the challenge and that my legs aren't quite up to that level yet.  Instead, I was happy with a respectable 6th in that competition.  If you want a triathlon with fast competition, beautiful scenery, and great support, this top-10 triathlon in the country a must-do.

Splits for those interested:
Swim: 29:04, 17th/47 Age Group
Bike:   1:06:47, 1st/47 Age Group
Run:    37:46, 1st/47 Age Group
Total:  2:16:10, 2nd/47 Age Group

Thanks as always for your support!  Till next time, train hard and enjoy the process!

USA Triathlon National Championships on the Horizon

It's here and it came quick!  We are in the heart of summer and that means that USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships are right around the corner.  Jess and I will be traveling to Milwaukee with a lot of gear to spend the weekend with family in a new city.  I will be racing in both the Olympic and Sprint USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships.  My training has been going well but now is the time to start building the shorter course speed I am lacking coming off of the Boston Marathon in April and Boulder Half Ironman in June.  They both did a good job of beating my aging body up.  Being a physical therapist is certainly helpful in understanding what I need to do to stay healthy but, like all triathletes, the quantity of time spent training can be a difficult undertaking.

Luckily, living in Colorado Springs blesses triathletes in certain ways which is why I am continuing to build confidence in my chances for a great race in Milwaukee.  Pikes Peak Athletics runs the masters program at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center Pool (below) which will be a place I need to pitch a tent at for the next month as I prep for National Championships.  Gaining fitness in the pool is hard for an old runner like me in terms of pacing and speed.  It feels like my heart is fine but my poor arms want to sink to the bottom of the pool like lead.  I imagine the triathletes with pure swimming backgrounds can often feel the same way when running at times.  I have fallen more in love with swimming lately in what it provides, and the people involved in the PPA program are fantastic.  Thank goodness they make it easier for me to show up for a break to my work days, even if it means lunch in my car.

A new piece of my training for the last few months has been an improved indoor cycling experience with Zwift (pictured below).  When it's late in the evening or thunderstorms are rolling in over Pikes Peak, I can simply set up the trainer and plan my workout on a virtual island with a group of similar riders.  Going for the overall lap, mountain, or sprint jerseys is a great way to mix up the type of energy systems you want to tax during a hard ride as they each require very different measured efforts.  While Zwift has been a great tool in increasing my steady state power, we have also been enjoying the great outdoor rides of Colorado this summer despite all the potholes.

A recent ride picture below from the White River National Forest where we found a nice flat bike-way at a comfortable 5,400 feet elevation.  We are hoping the altitude training from Colorado will benefit us greatly as we drop down to a much lower and flatter Milwaukee for the races in August.  Personally, I wouldn't mind a few large hills in the Championships Courses as you can't avoid them for long when riding in Colorado.  

Of course, our original and favorite sport of the triathlon group is running.  Breaking up the triathlons so far this year have been two running races, Sailin' Shoes 10K and Half on the 4th, which have replaced some tempo runs during the week.  We always found running is a great sport to race into shape with as long as we are consistent during the rest of the week.  We also enjoy stopping during our travels to new places (like pictured below at Lake Dillon) where we can explore and break up our drive with a nice 5 miles or so.  It also doesn't hurt to find a few local spots such as Dillon Dam Brewing which we'd highly recommend for the workout re-fueler who loves craft beer that finds themselves out there.

We are looking forward to our trip to Milwaukee and we are excited to meet all of the racers and spectators from across the country who will be convening there.  In the meantime, I promise that I will train hard, and I hope you all do as well.  Let's Race!