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San Juan Continental Cup 2013



Got to get rested up before the race

               The San Juan Continental Cup was going to be my final draft legal race of the 2013 season. After not being able to race to the potential I believed I had the weekend before in Cozumel, I was eager to end my draft legal season on a high note.  Going into San Juan, I had the bonus of my Mom taking a vacation in Miami and deciding to come with me to the race. It’s always great to have some family around and it made the race more of a vacation for me too.

View from our hotel room

               I spent the week between Cozumel and San Juan in Miami. It kept the travel easy and allowed me to stay in the heat. Landing in San Juan I put my bike together for the 3^rd time in less than a week.

Large Russian community in Miami meant I could get some home style foods!

The race course was all in old San Juan, which meant lots of narrow windy streets and some roads that looked like hadn’t been touched since they were first put down however many hundreds of years ago. Cobbles, broken asphalt and tree planters were all going to make this a very interesting race. Add to that two way traffic to make things extra tight.

Just some of the craziness we would be racing through

               The swim course had its own obstacles too. Floating debris and funky sea water could prove to be difficult come race day. Later I would find out that we were swimming in a busy shipping channel and it was a popular place for ships to dump their garbage, this garbage usually attracted large numbers of sharks into a narrow bay. The local guy who was telling me this was bewildered that the race organization couldn’t have found a better place for us to swim. In the 48 years he’s been living in San Juan he would never even dream of touching that water. All good things to find out after the fact.

Beat down roads and cones to keep us going the right direction

               Race morning came a little early for an ITU race. I was down at the race site around 8:00am for a 9:30am start. It was already 83 degrees with 86% humidity. Staying cool before the start was my main goal, I kept the warm up short and tried to maximize the amount of time I spent in the water. Dumping a few bottles of icy cold goodness on myself helped too. Swimming around race morning, it was nice to see/feel that most of the debris had disappeared over night.

Some road debris that got picked up during the course preview the day before the race

               Of the original ~50 starters on the list, ~40 had made it to the start line. By now, I have accrued a few work rankings points, so I finally wasn’t one of the last guys to line up. The start was off a floating pontoon, which was hard to walk down with everyone else shaking things about. Goal for this start was to not have the pontoon shoot out from under me as everyone started, goal was to not belly flop into the water. A quick reaction time has never been my best quality, but as the gun went off I managed to at least be moving forward off the pontoon.

Pretty birds at the hotel

               Things heated up quickly in the cool waters. With the first turn buoy just 200m out it was a mad dash to get into a good position for the first turn. Lots of kicks to the face later, I found some clean water to round the buoy. Glancing up ahead I felt like I was somewhere towards the front half of the group. But in the water it’s always hard to tell what’s going on. Arms flailing everywhere, heads bobbing around and if you keep your head poking out for too long you risk an elbow to the face. Feeling comfortable in the draft I tried to hold my spot and let things get settle before making big moves.

               Finishing the first lap, I was finally having some open space around me to swim. I felt great sitting in the draft but I didn’t have the speed to get around those in front of me. Between sightings I could tell that a front group was pulling away and I needed to move up to remake contact with them. Others had probably noticed this too and combined with a tight exit out of the swim, we began to battle again. Getting boxed in, I just finished the swim where I was and got ready for a Paris-Roubaix style bike race.

               Hoping onto my bike I quickly grabbed onto the wheels of a group in front of me. There were 5 of us and I had strong hopes that we could work together and catch onto the lead group of ~15. On the first lap the bike course was already taking its toll on some of the riders, as they dropped back unable to keep such a high pace over the rough pavement and cobbles. Our small group was able to take advantage of the tight course and even ride the smooth cement gutters avoiding some of the cobbled sections. After a few laps, we began to take time back on leaders.

Tight carpeted roundabout was our last obstacle before going through transition every lap

               Not all were content working together though. Pack riding in a triathlon is a very interesting tactical battle. Everyone wants to catch the front group, but everyone is also very aware of the 10km upcoming run. Mix in a lack of understanding how to form an echelon and a wide range of cycling ability and you’ve got a very chaotic bunch on the road. A couple of the strong riders in the group would continuously attack our bunch instead of pulling through smoothly. I don’t know why so much of this happens in triathlon, it’s like they think they’re helping the group when in reality they’re not. These attacks not only messed up our rotation and slowed us down, but it also meant that someone had to give a burst of speed to close the gap back up. Things were so aggressive that coming out of one of the tight S turns, I stood up on the pedals to maintain contact with the leader only to have one of the guys in our group put his hand on my elbow and shove me over. This from a fellow USA teammate! Somehow I was able to hold my balance, there was a lot of yelling and after that I was riding pissed. When we came through transition and I saw 4 laps to go, I was gutted. We were only halfway through the bike and I was already feeling really gassed.

Cranking through another corner

               The constant rattle and the death grip I had to hold onto my bars was taking its toll on me. Just when I need it most, I got a big boost of motivation, the out and back course made it easy to gauge how the other groups were doing compared to us and on this lap I saw that we had made a huge gain on the lead group. Seeing this, others from the group began to throw down some vicious attacks. Not wanting to be left behind after getting so close, I threw down too and chased hard to maintain contact with our group. This burst of speed got us up to the leaders with 2 laps to go.

               Finally I was done with putting out massive bursts on speed on the bike and could recover and try to get prepped for a hot and hard 10km run. But it’s never that easy, I was all out of fluids on the bike. All the sudden I was incredibly thirsty and desperate to get to the first aid station on the run. The pace stayed pretty easy on the bike and I found myself coming into T2 towards the front of the group. My legs felt like hollow logs, just getting my shoes on was a feat in itself. I fumbled around trying to shove my feet in and get going. Everyone took the first 400m very fast in typical draft legal fashion, very quickly I was gapped off the back by a few seconds. The first aid station was coming up quick and the guys ahead of me cleared it all out. It’d be another 1000m before I’d get a chance to get some fluids.



In and out transition

               Or so I thought, but shortly after we started running, it began raining hard on us. At first this was kind of nice, the rain was warm, but it was cooler than my body and I welcomed it. Then, it just suddenly stopped, the sun came back out and the humidity returned with a vengeance. Reaching the turnaround point on the first lap I was able to hit two aid stations within 200m of each other. The only think better than a cup of icy bliss was several of those cups, dumped all over me.

Trying to hold it together on the death march

               Coming back across the wet cobbles I was caught off guard, it was like running across wet ice. So happy that the rain waited until we were running to start. Part of the cobble section was up a short climb, and once they were wet the only way up was to do short stutter steps. As the death march continued, others were feeling the pain of starting out too fast and slowly I reeled them back in. But I was running out of pavement and crossed the line with 4 guys within 40seconds of me. So close to getting into the top ten! Full results can be found here.

Ryan Bice stoked to have made the podium and get some champagne!

               I ended up across the line in 11^th and there was no ice bath to dive into, what’s up with that!? Lucky for me the sky came to my rescue and shortly after crossing the line a major downpour began. San Juan was an awesome way to finish out my draft legal race season. I managed to gain some more world ranking points, I’m all the way up to 304^th! Now I’ve got something to build from next year and I know exactly what I’ll need to be working on all winter to come out blazing next year.

Cave exploring, counts as a post race cool down right?

               The biggest perk of having my mom come with was that she could look up fun things to do after the race. Due to the government shut down, all the national rainforest parks were closed, but we did manage to find some cave tours that were unaffected. Climbing through caves with 6,000 year old carvings in them and then playing in 10ft surf waves was the an incredible way to unwind for a week of traveling and racing. Now it’s back to Colorado to get prepped for my final race of the year, the Rev3 Half in Venice, FL. It’s going to be my first attempt at the half distance and I’m stoked to be able to cap the year off at such an incredible event. Thanks for reading!

Surreal landscapes around the Arecibo Indio Caves

 

Cozumel World Cup 2013

 

              I had my eye on another Lifetime series race, I even already had my ticket purchased for Dallas. But then I got an email, 2 spots had opened up on the start list for the Cozumel World Cup and guess who was number 2 on the waiting list….so after changing around some tickets I had a fun race trip put together for myself. 12 days, 4 flights, 3 airlines, a ferry trip and 2 hot and humid races, oh yeah!

Hello pretty beaches and soldier patrols

               It all started early Thursday morning with a flight from Colorado Springs to Cancun via Houston. I knew I was in a little bit of trouble when I was feeling the humidity just walking down the jet way in Houston. I had gotten comfortable with Colorado’s 60 degree highs and low humidity. It’s always a great feeling when the temperature starts to drop and suddenly your run times get way faster. Now I was about to go and experience the opposite effect of that.

A little different than your typical deer crossing

               The trip on the bus and ferry to get from Cancun to Cozumel was pretty simple, thanks to the ITU for putting everything together. I decided to go out for a little jog to stretch the legs after traveling. Even though it was late in the evening it was still hot and steamy. I was quickly drenched with sweat and I started to wonder how people were surviving wearing jeans in this jungle.

Grandstand and transition being put together, notice the road surface

               Previewing the race course got me incredibly excited to rock this race. The bike was a simple out and back loop with half of the road surface a decorative polished (e.i. slick) concrete and the other half your typical beat up black asphalt. Getting out of my sweaty bike clothes, I was desperate to swim around and cool off. Turns out the water temp wasn’t much cooler than the air temp, but the water was crystal clear with lots of little fishies swimming around! It was never deeper than 15ft or so and visibility was incredible, no wonder so many people come down here for scuba diving and snorkeling.

Yeah....Cozumel was awesome

               Outside of some course preview action and some shake out workouts, I spend most of the time just lying in the hotel room. Killing time by looking for english channels on the TV and trying to beat Jarrod and the CSI detectives in solving the case first. We kept things simple and ate our meals at the hotel restaurant, trying to minimize time spent in the heat and maximize time spent in A/C.

Pre-race shake out ride, aww yeah!

               Before I knew it, race morning was upon us. A lazy wake up around 7:30am a little shake out jog and then breakfast. I got to the race site in time to see the women exiting the water. Coming out of T1 and off the blue carpet, I could see several girls slipping and sliding as they tried to maneuver on the polished concrete and mount their bicycle. Something to watch out for during my own race. After getting checked in it was time to get a little warm up in. Worried about the extreme heat (air temp 29C 84F, water temp 27C 81F, with 90+ % humidity) I made a makeshift ice vest by soaking my t-shirt in an ice bucket and heading out for a little jog. Being so hot out, it was more important to just get the muscles a little prepped while not raising the core temperature. Although that strategy failed the moment I had to use a port-a-potty. It was worse than a sauna in there and while doing my business I lost a lot of fluid quickly.



Spectators packed the course for both races (photo thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)

               Soon it was time to line up for the swim start. This race was stacked with talent and depth. 71 starters on the list with names like Gomez, Justus, Shoemaker, Polyanskiy, etc. headlining the top of the list. Having a lowly amount of points I was number 61. Having a lowly rank has the perk of not having to worry about where to line up on the start, you just take the last spot available. It was a dive start and I was stoked to get into the beautiful water and smash this swim. Hearing the intense heartbeat music, I took my last breathes trying to blow off the nerves, ‘on your marks.’ Horn blast and we were off!

Diving off to start the race!  (photo thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)

              The first turn buoy was 475m out. Which allowed for plenty of space for things to settle before having to squeeze everyone together. I was positioned well in the middle of the group swimming relatively in the clear. I had a smooth turn and was able to see that I was somewhere in the middle of the race. Although catching a draft from all sides was pretty great it was a constant battle. Elbows to the face, swimming over others, getting swam over and swallowing tasty electrolyte salt water was just normal. With a couple hundred meters left to go, I was starting to really feel the heat and sick of getting elbowed in the face. I could handle one or the other but not both. I pushed on knowing that a good position into T1 would be key for my race.

The final 50m of the swim, I was stoked to be part of the fray  (photo thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)  

               It was such a sweet sight to see several other bikes in transition. Finally I was actually part of the race instead of just playing catch up! I lost a handful of seconds fumbling with my helmet but I would lose more time in a few moments. Leaving the transition area and the blue carpet I remembered what I saw earlier in the day with the women’s race. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me didn’t see any of that. I’m not sure what happened but one second me was up and running and the next second he was sliding around in front of me on top of his bike. I couldn’t tell you how I got around that guy and kept myself upright. But once on the bike I was alone, with a group of five about ten seconds ahead of me. Time to drop the hammer!

               I put in a huge 4minute effort to try and get into that group. At that moment, for me that was the race. Either get into that group or be off the back of another race. I bridged up and realized that our little group was number 3 on the road. With ten seconds to the next group of 15ish, we got to work. No time for me to really recover, I did what I could to help the group close the bridge. We even got a little help by chasing down a media motorbike that was between groups for some reason. He wanted a close up so we gave him one!

Working hard to get to the next group  (photo thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)

               Right when we caught up to the 2^nd group they came together with the front group. And then everyone decided it was hot and no one wanted to pedal. I was eager to get some recovery and finally rinse the salt out of my mouth from the swim. But staying at the back is not a good place to be. Coming around the tight U-turn on the polished concrete the guy in front of me locks up his back wheel mid turn and I T-boned him, causing my chain to fall off. Luckily I got it to catch back on quick, but I had to lay down another big effort to maintain contact with the group. I kept stomping the pedals until I got to the front of the group. We were going slow enough that I was happy to be on the front not in anyone’s draft if it meant I was safe and didn’t have to worry about sprinting out of the turnaround.

Riding through some of the Cozumel scenery  (photo thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)

               The heat was really getting to me, and my hot bottle of water was doing little to make me feel better. For the last two laps I just sat in the group towards the front and tried to relax. This was going to be a furious 5k run. Basically all 70 of us had come together into one big group. So all that work I did earlier on the bike was for no reason, but that’s racing. You just never know what’s going to happen. Getting ready to come into T2 I got my shoes off early, wanting to be able to stay alert and move up as everyone else messed with theirs. I was sitting in the front third of the group towards the middle, watching as everyone kept moving up on the outsides. Boxed in, I kept looking for a way forward. Finally I found a hole to move to the outside and started moving up. Suddenly the guy in front of me darted left as the road narrowed. My only option was going up, I jumped up onto the sidewalk which was thankfully not packed with spectators yet. But my time was limited, and I frantically looked for a place to get back into the group. Unfortunately that place was at the back of the pack. So into T2 I went, at the very back of the group.

               Coming off the bike my legs felt like complete jello. Grabbing my sun baked shoes, I again was fumbling around trying to squeeze my feet in. Starting the run I saw a long line of everyone stretched out ahead of me. A very demoralizing sight, but it may have actually helped me out. Lots of guys went out ridiculously fast considering the extreme conditions. So as some started to drop like flies and walk, I kept building my pace. I was still too far behind though, and not running well. There were 4 aid stations on course and I would take 2-3 bottles from each station. The heat was destroying me and I felt less like I was running and more like I was just stumbling forward. I crossed the line a few minutes behind the winner Gomez in 39^th place. Everything had gone well except for my 17:57 5k split. That just won’t do at the World Cup level. Full results and splits can be found here.

Race Recap Video  (video thanks to ITU media triathlon.org)

               After a long ice bath session, I spent a long time just sitting on the curb trying to put things together. I probably had some kind of heat stroke going on, but I was just replaying things in my mind as I tried to understand what had just happened. Being outside of the top 30 means no WTS points for me. Major bummer because that was the main goal in doing this race. But not all is lost, I gained some more experience racing at a high level in a very large and deep field. There is much more work to be done.

Playing on some local attractions

               Cozumel was a great race venue. The grandstand was packed, the streets were packed and every roof top bar was packed. It was great to have so many people around screaming and putting their energy into us. The locals were out strong and even a large number of tourists had stumbled upon our race to try and give us some encouragement. It’s definitely a race I want to come back to. Maybe the coolest moment for me was walking away from the athlete lounge to go home. I was stopped by some volunteers and a local family who all wanted to get a picture with me. Not sure who they thought I was, but I was happy to oblige. Sometimes it’s the spectators that make the venue, and hopefully I will be coming back to Cozumel next year!

                

Airport lunch on the way home

              

              

Lifetime Chicago Triathlon: My first profitable race!

My babies all buckled up for the trip across Nebraska

First a little recap of what's been happing in my life leading up to this race. After a successful race in Minneapolis, Kelli and I loaded up the van and headed west to Colorado Springs to find a place to live. We settled in a kick ass townhome with lots of windows and open space at the base of Cheyenne Mountain. A couple weeks later we were desperately trying to catch our breath as we hauled stuff upstairs into our new bedroom. I'm sure all of this living at 6,300ft will eventually pay off!

Exploration on a whole new level

So between finding a new place to live, moving out, being homeless for a few days, moving in and adjusting to being in a brand new place, training took a little bit of a backseat. Major life changes do that to everyone and I think it actually worked out in my favor to have a little mid-season break. Sometimes it pays to just take a step back and let your body (but most importantly your mind) replenish itself from the constant beat downs of triathlon training and life in general. Sometimes you just need to let it go and chill.

Although now having to commute more in a car is a pain, the views sure help ease the stress

 As we got settled into Colorado Springs I found myself rejuvenated with motivation to go out and smash it. There were new trails to explore, mountains to climb, group rides to master and I found myself a masters swim group that really crushes it in the pool. The only thing that was really holding me back was the thin air. Seems like training while acclimatizing to the altitude is a roll of the dice, some days I would feel incredible and some days I would barely be able to get moving. Luckily in the final week before heading out to Chicago I had some quality sessions that really boosted my confidence going into the race!

Chicago!!

I had done this race a couple of years ago as an amateur and I remember how incredible it was to zip through downtown Chicago. The feel of doing a major urban race is incredible, this combined with a great homestay with my buddy Justin Metzler and a cheap plane ticket made this race a definite on my calendar. Justin is developing himself into one of the premier elite amateur triathlon racers in the country, so it was great to be able to stay at his place and get all the perks of someone who lives the all tri lifestyle.

Yes it is possible to spend too much time in the Normatec...but it's so awesome

I had a few days of remembering what it's like to be in humidity again before the race. Seemed great because the weather stayed a cool 75ish degrees for all my shake out workouts, and the thick air made me feel like I was flying. The final day before the race I left Justin to stay downtown next to the race site. My Mom was flying home from a business trip in Moscow and it somehow worked out that she could land in Chicago Saturday night before flying home the next day. It's always great to have the family see me race and I was excited to just hang out with my Mom in general.

Any other place but Justin's and this would've just seemed weird

Lifetime Chicago is a major event with 6,500 age group racers competing in two distances. Complicating things this year, were two major production movies being filmed in the area and a planned women's protest, protesting having to wear tops on the beach while men can go topless...meaning this race would require extra focus. The pro wave goes off after most of the racers have already finished, this allows for some really awesome spectator energy to feed off during the race. But with an 11:30ish start time it also means we get to race in the heat of the day, and Sunday didn't disappoint with a high temp just shy of triple digits.



I said right MEOW!



The water was a refreshing 69 degrees which meant it would be a no wetsuit swim for us. The pro wetsuit cut off temp is 68 degrees. Which was awesome because putting on a wetsuit when it's that hot out can only lead to major cramps before the race even starts. The women were started with an equalizer of 11min and 20sec, this would give us guys something to chase and was all part of the Toyota Triple Crown, where the fastest cumulative time, male or female, between 3 Lifetime series races would earn and extra $50,000! Personally I was just happy to have some more rabbits to chase after.

100m into the swim

The men's field had 25ish guys all starting together. This made for a really great draft as I settled into the group. I had an incredibly smooth swim start and was happy to just sit in the draft as my body got used to the race pace. We rounded a U-turn buoy and that's where things got a little unhitched for me. The pack got stretched out into a line and after ~600m of racing I zigged when the group zagged and I became unhitched from the group. Seems like whenever I lose the group I also lose focus, I bled a lot of time over the second half of the swim and came out of the water 2min behind the group. I don't know what happened, but my swim just didn't show up on race day.

Major thanks to discounttrisupply.com for giving me the gear to slice through the wind

There was a long run into T1 where I began to realize just how bad the damage was. My bike wasn't the last one left in T1 but I didn't get any comfort seeing all the empty racks around me. It was time to get to work. The windy city had other ideas though, as I got out onto the road I could feel my skin tight tri suit being blown off me. The wind played around the buildings pushing me forward, left, right and backwards all in the same gust. I gripped the bars hard and smashed down on the pedals trying to bridge to the guys up the road. After a few minutes the heat began to really get to me, and nothing cools you off better than a bottle that's been sitting in the sun for a good hours time. Especially when that bottle is filled with sticky gel water, yummy and refreshing. Half way through the bike I had already pounded down 3/4's of my bottle. I was able to pass some of the other guys on though and this helped build my confidence for the run. Once we got to running this was going to a race of attrition and when it comes to pushing your body way past its limits in the heat, I could get myself into the money, or so I kept convincing myself...

I could've used a lot more of these out on course

I finished off my bottle with about 6 miles left to go on the bike. Lucky for me there was an aid station right outside of transition to start the run and this one still had ice! I sloshed some water into my mouth while dumping the rest of the ice down my suit. Nothing like some ice crotch to get your legs running faster. I was within sight of the next 4 guys ahead of me and was closing the gap down fast, I guess I wasn't the only one to run out of water on the brutal bike slog. With 4 miles left to go on the run I had passed those 4 and as I approached the run turn around I began to wonder how far away was I from the next target. I counted 5 guys run past me the other way with about 4min between me and the 5th place guy. I was shocked to even think that I was in 6th place and I should've known better...but my brain was melting out of my head and I began to just turn myself onto auto pilot. There was no way I was catching 5th place, which was not a good thought to cross my mind. I still gave the run all my energy but there just was no longer a warrior mentality to my race, it was more about survival and a quest for ice that kept me going.

So hot...just so very hot

I crossed the line and was barely conscious enough to find the ice bath. Dunking my body into the blissful frigid water is an incredible feeling. I stayed put for several minutes try to recollect what had just happened and where I was. My body refused to take anything but water down, a few sips of Gatorade and I immediately felt nauseous. After a second ice bath I was finally coherent enough to go chat with my Mom, where I discovered that I had placed 8th overall and the next guy ahead of me was only 30seconds up. Argh!! Lesson learned always stay hungry and always fight for a little more speed. I must've been really losing it around the turnaround area to miss the two guys run right past me the other way on the bike trail. This race was one of the toughest gauntlets I've had to get through in a long time.

Pro Tip: Free stuff can always be had when vendors start to tear down the race site...you've just got to stock up to make waiting around worthwhile!

Overall I was very happy with how this race went for me. I maybe didn't go into it with the best fitness/training but when the conditions get tough like that, it's usually more important to be fresh and eager to hurt rather than in shape but too tired to push through the pain. Full results and time splits can be found here. With 8th place comes a little bit more cash and after race expenses it worked out that I profited $50 for this race!! Next up for me is the Super Sprint Triathlon Grand Prix in Las Vegas on September 19th, it should be wildly different from anything I've ever done and I'm so excited to be a part of it. Until then it's back to Colorado Springs and back to new college for me as I begin to finish my course work to become a registered dietitian.

As always thanks for reading, believing, commenting, supporting and dreaming. Let's all crack on and keep this progress going.

 

Lifetime Minneapolis 2013, first taste of success!

 

          Lifetime Minneapolis has been a high national level triathlon since 2001, and for its twelfth edition I was going to be a part of the professional ranks at this prestigious event. I had done this race two years before as an amateur and I was stoked to be able to compare my times from then and now. I’d have a great chance to really see how much I’ve grown in the last two years.

Minneapolis, I've only ever been in the summer but it's always been awesome

               The men’s race only had 17 competitors but it was a stacked field, four Olympians and some top non-drafting specialist had all shown up to give themselves a shot at winning the Toyota Triple Crown $50,000 prize! The women would start first with the men starting an equalized time behind, so the cash prize would go to whoever had the fastest cumulative time, male or female, between three races from the Lifetime series, beginning with this race. There was a lot on the line for everyone and this was one of the greatest venues to put it all to the test. Lifetime Minneapolis has one of the most technical bike courses around. It’s constantly twisting and winding its way through some very scenic roads, big houses, old trees and massive potholes. This makes for what feels like a really fast bike because you’re always doing something and always need to stay focused.

I used to be on a travel team for hockey as a kid, so seeing the Stanley cup in person really got me ready to crush the race!  

               I had a great time staying in downtown Minneapolis the days before the race. I’ve only been a few times, but it seems like an awesome place and there’s always some fun to be had. Kelli was able to make the five hour drive with me and we stayed in a hotel with some friends. It was great to see some cool stuff and eat some amazing food. But I was here for business, not pleasure. I got some good rest before the race and my only major issue was trying to drive the course the day before the race. Lots of stop signs, traffic and slow speed limits make a technical course more of a headache to drive than ride.

The view from the car...there's people out there somewhere

               I awoke race morning around 3am to the sounds of thunder and pounding rain. Seeing what time it was, I rolled back over convinced that the storm would be gone by the time the race would start. My alarm went off at 4:30 and it was still coming down hard outside, a quick glance at the weather app told me that the storms would be leaving the area around 5:30. So by the time we’d start loading the car, the rain would be done, perfect.

Good thing this baby from Kyle's Bikes was waterproof and eager to rock

But it wasn’t perfect. We walked out of the hotel into a flooded street as the road gutters could no longer handle all the water coming down. Before we even left for the race site, both of us had our shoes and clothes completely soaked through.

Pumping up tires 3 psi at a time....great alternative warm up too

               There isn’t much for parking at this race and everyone just tries to find something in the nearby suburban streets. We found a pretty good spot and could see some athletes braving the elements to get to transition early. Not wanting to get wet again, we both maneuvered around the van to try and get things ready. After lots of struggling we began to see people heading back to their cars with their bicycles...because it turns out transition wouldn’t be open until 6:30am. Which I figured meant that the 7am start time was no longer going to happen.

This was part of my ride to transition, it used to be a nice paved path in the grass

               The rain began to let up some so I made my way to the race site to see what was going on. What used to be a simple ride on the bike path now involved the forging of two raging rivers and navigating the lagoon that had formed at the race expo. I found all the other pros huddled under a little pop up tent trying to stay warm. Some were wrapped in towels and some had donned their wetsuits. We all waited together until around 7:30 and then were allowed to go set up our transition. Afterwards we waited back in the tent for more instruction. It turns out that the Olympic bike course would no longer be possible do to some roads being impassable. So began a long debate on what we should do. An Olympic distance swim and run with a sprint distance bike? A swim and run? Everything at a sprint distance? And what about the triple cup prize? How could they set up a fair equalizer time if there was no previous times to base it from?

For many it was a challenge to just get to the race at all

               After some democratic deliberations, and a full clarification on what impassable really meant, we had all agreed to do the sprint course. But to make up for the short swim planned for the age groupers, we would do two of the 400m laps. So the new race was an 800m swim, a 28k bike and a 5k run. We would have a 9am start, a delay of 2 hours. Finally it was time to get warmed up. During all this time I had been munching on some Clif blocks with caffeine to keep my energy levels up and to not get super hungry before the start. Energy management is key in a situation like this to get the most from yourself. It’s tough both mentally and physically to be able to stay amped for an extra two hours during race morning. So I was really happy with how well I relaxed and saved my energy during the confusion and rain until it was time to unleash at the race start.

Packed beach at the swim start, I'm lined up 6th from the left...right next to Beijing Olympian Jarod Shoemaker!

               The race start area was packed with all the age groupers itching to finally start and spectators eager to actually see something after standing in the rain for hours. Everyone was packed onto a crowded beach with a little fence to hold them back, it made for a great starting atmosphere. Unfortunately I let myself get a little distracted at the start. Right before the horn went off, a remote control drone with a go pro camera floated over us. I looked up and thought ‘How cool is that!?’ BOOM! Horn goes off and I’m the last guy to get across the start line. Everyone dove in early and I was able to keep running, trying to not step on people but at the same time trying to make a move to get out front. I’m still lacking a little top end speed at the start of the swim and the leaders broke away as I was stuck back in the second group.



Crazy to hear such a loud crowd as we run to start the second lap of the swim

               Not content with being stuck behind everyone, I made a huge surge when we ran out onto the beach to pass three guys and start the second lap leading the second group. I knew this was a major moment so I ignored the pounding in my head and refused to thrash and gasp for the air I desperately needed. This was my moment to break away from the group and not let anyone catch my draft. I continued on hard, focusing on my stroke mechanics and it worked! I was the 8^th guy out of the water. I was still 60 seconds down on the leader but only 30 seconds away from my next target. 

Got myself a gap leading the second group out of the water

               I managed to pass one guy in transition because he was busy taking off his swim skin. I got out onto the bike with only thoughts of hammering it going through my head. The wind was strong and complex. It seemed to always be blowing me around the road, never making up its mind on what direction it would come from. The wet road conditions demanded my full attention at all times. I got passed by two guys around the four mile mark of the bike. I tried to push on with them, but simply didn’t have the power. My bike focus has been a little on the back burner as I focused on ITU draft legal racing the last couple of months. I kept the pace high and spent most of the bike going back and forth with another guy. The bike courses ended up a little long at 17 miles, and even though I was conservative in the corners, I was still super happy with being able to push a 25.5mph average. Rubber side down is faster after all!

Trying to hide from the wind and push on

               I tore through T2 and onto the run. With this being only a 5k run I really wanted to push it hard from the start and not care if I ended up blowing up. I ran by someone within the first 800m of the run and then began to lose some motivation as I realized the next closest target was 90+ seconds ahead of me. I was still being pushed some from behind, but I really wish I had someone to race with shoulder to shoulder. I ended up with a 16:04 5k run split, which was super awesome! But I really wish I could’ve found those five extra seconds to break that 16min mark.

The screaming crowd always makes it feel like someone is about to pass you, so just to be safe I kicked hard to the finish and it wasn't pretty

               Overall I had put together a really solid day across the board on my way to a 9^th place finish.  Full results can be found here. I was really happy with my performance and ecstatic to have placed well at such a high level race. What’s even better is that with a smaller pro field, I felt like I got a good chance to talk to everyone. I no longer had that feeling that I was the new kid in class and didn’t know anyone. This race was exactly what I needed, finally some validation that doing the pro thing could work out for me.

Matt's Bar was just down the street from the race site, I just had to get a Jucy Lucy and see what all the fuss was about. So worth it!

 

I still have a long way to go, but it’s always great to get a little reassurance that you’re on the right track. For now Kelli and I are off to Colorado Springs to find a new place to live. Moving is going to be a little crazy but I’m really excited to be in a new area. It’s time to really enjoy this life adventure!

Took a break from looking at places to live to hike Garden of the Gods. After all the searching this hole in the rock seemed good enough for me

Soon it will be back to training as I get myself ready for the next race in the series, Lifetime Chicago. Special thanks to the race coordinators and photographers, or whoever made it possible to download the photos for free. Check our more at www.tr-iag.com using search code MN13 for all the race photos.



We could get used to this....