Kansas 5150 Triathlon (duathlon)

Finals are over and my brain can officially shut off. Heck to the yeah!

After an extremely hectic couple of weeks following my early season heroics at Collegiate Nationals and St. Anthony’s, I headed down to Lawrence, Kansas for the Olympic distance event at Lake Clinton Park. My coach and I had decided that although this race would present descent competition and a challenging course, it had to be lower on the priority list when considering my race schedule as a whole. So, I went into the race with a sizeable block of training in the legs and planned to take the “play it by ear approach.” Below is the recap of the wet-n’-wild weekend in the great state of Kansas.

After wrapping up my last two exams on Wednesday night, I was finally able to focus on getting organized for the race, preparing a few meals and getting in some high quality, undistracted training sessions (check out Strava!). I spent all of Thursday training some more, cooking more food and trying to distract myself in order to stay up past 9:00 PM in order to pick up my Dad at the Megabus stop at 10:30 who was meeting me in Iowa City and then coming to the race. After a quick jump five in celebration that I didn’t fall asleep on the couch, we were off to bed.

We woke up relatively early on Friday morning to get in a quick run and some hefty breakfast consuming/ Giro d’Italia watching. We loaded up the car and then hit the road for the 5-hour drive to Kansas City, MO where we were staying. Unfortunately, Lawrence is also the home to the University of Kansas who happened to have their graduation the same weekend. So, this left us with the only reasonable hotel option 1 hour away in the portion of Kansas City where you wouldn't want to raise your family.

We checked into our Holiday Inn Express, which was surprisingly spacious and pleasant given the surroundings. I immediately got onto the bike for a 27-mile ride through the many neighborhoods of South Kansas City. Along this out and back route, I saw: a gun lying in a ditch on the side of the road, a car getting robbed and a rabbi in a pimped out Escalade with hydraulics. Despite the distractions, I felt really good and the short efforts I added throughout the ride felt pretty easy considering the power I was putting out. I rolled back into the hotel, stretched, showered and we spent the rest of the night eating my pre-cooked food, foam rolling and watching some Michael Moore documentary about capitalism which got my attention but simultaneously got me somewhat angry about the world.

Hotel food done right 

 

STOP MAKING ME SO IRRITABLE MICAHEL 

We woke up Saturday morning to another delicious hotel-room breakfast spread and then packed up the car with training gear and lunch essentials. We got into Lawrence and after some short course inspecting, we found a small beach were some other athletes were swimming. So, I donned the wetsuit and hopped in the water for a choppy 1-mile swim.

Breakin' the rules all day 

Continued my streak of ripping my wetsuit 2x per swim while putting it on! 

After almost getting reeled in by angry fisherman and run over by speedboats, I changed into my cycling kit and went out for a full loop of the bike course. I had somewhat of a longer workout the day before the race, and really felt that riding the entire course gave me the confidence to tackle each hill and take every corner with a lot more confidence. After the bike, I put on the run shoes and similarly went out for a one 5k loop of the run course (plus a little extra), feeling really confident about how to run the hills and stay out of the wind as best as possible.

Hot, hilly and windy 

I took a quick dip in the cold lake and then we got back into the car for lunch, packet pickup, and a quick stop at the grocery store and then back to the hotel to hang out for the rest of the evening.

After another pre-made hotel dinner and some more foam rolling, Alex arrived around 7:30 PM. He had come to Kansas City from Des Moines and would be tagging along with us for the race and a ride back home. We spent the rest of the night hanging out and relaxing before our 3:40 AM wake up call and drive to Lawrence.

While I researched brunch places for after the race.... 

Steve (successfully) opened a bottle of wine with a coat hanger 

The alarm went off and we all sleepily stumbled around the room making breakfast and packing up the rest of our things. Dad decided it would probably be a good idea to look out the window and grimly announced the forecast- lightning, thunder and torrential downpour. Perfect racing weather! 

Looks wet out there dude. 

As you can see, Alex and I were quite chatty in the morning after having a look outside for ourselves  

We loaded up the car, threw the bikes on the back and hit the road to Lawrence around 4:30 AM. After getting slightly lost, we got to the race site around 5:30 AM just as the rain seemed to slightly back off.

Trying to ensure the wind wouldn't catch our discs and blow the bikes off the back 

I got onto my bike right away, put in a short warm up with a few efforts and then rolled down to the transition area. I set up my things, got marked, picked up my chip and started to mentally prepare for the race. Then, just as we thought we were in the clear… more lightning, thunder and hard, cold rain. The athletes found shelter where possible and anxiously awaited an announcement from the race director as to what was going to be done. I heard everything from “the race will go on as planned” to “we are cancelling it completely.” Either way, around 6:30 AM, Alex and I decided it was now or never to get in a run warm up if the race were to somehow start on time at 7:30. So we jogged around for a bit, essentially running the entire 5k out and back and made our way back to the transition area. I tried to stay warm as best as possible, still waiting on any type of decision.

 

Coming in from the bike warm up,

Almost certain the swim was cancelled, I still put on my wetsuit for warmth 

Finally, around 7:45, the race director came onto the loud speaker and announced that they were in fact cancelling the swim and would be doing a bike-run duathlon instead. Athletes would line up in their bike gear and would be sent off in time-trial fashion every 3 seconds.

 

SO flippin' cold 

Well, this sure put a damper in my plans of racing a triathlon, but I tried to simply focus the factors that I could control. It was time to have a nice, hard training day in good ole’ Lawrence. I grabbed my bike, threw on my helmet and shoes and was lined up as the first elite to be sent off. 3…2…1… GO!

After waiting around so long post-run warm up, I was practically shivering before the start. This made the first 5 miles or so on the bike rather uncomfortable. 4 or 5 guys within that first 5-mile stretch immediately passed me and I simply could not get anything going… the legs were unresponsive! Thankfully, at the first right turn, I started to warm up and locked in on the guys who had recently blown past. I picked off a few right away, battled with another and then set my sights on the last guy ahead. I saw him at the turn around and he was way up on me, I’m talking WAY up! This guy was super strong and instead of turning myself inside out to catch up to him, I focused on my own effort and made the decision that this was not the race that I was going to dig myself into a hole for. Still, I rode right at my threshold level and came in with a strong bike split.

Starting the bike. Hey legs... you don't feel good 

I stumbled through the transition because my shoes were still soaking wet from the morning downpour. At this point, the skies were clearing up and it started to actually get pretty warm. I knew I was in second place at this point and locked in, hoping the guy ahead would fall back on the run. The course is two 5k out and back’s, so it was the perfect course for me to gauge the competition ahead and behind. Around mile 1.25, I saw the guy who was in first place coming back the other direction; this meant he had roughly a .5-mile gap on me within the first mile of the race. The legs started to come around at this point and I proceeded to launch my attack but could never quite settle into that rhythm. I never felt bad, but I never felt good. I was able to see that I had a pretty comfortable hold on second place and that first place was pretty far out of reach. I didn’t let up by any means, but I didn’t push it that extra gear- making the smart move. I came down the final hill and cruised into the finish with a respectable but not overly quick run split. I was happy that I had made my first podium at a 5150 event but was slightly disappointed it was not a true triathlon, especially because by the time I finished, the weather was absolutely perfect. I think that if we had swam, I would have possibly been in closer reach of the first place finisher. I might have been able to hold him off on the bike and take him down on the run but that is all speculation and at the end of the day, I was happy with the performance.

 

Cruising along but still making it hurt 

After the race, I met up with a few friends, did the usual post-race debriefing and then got my water-drenched gear out of transition. I slowly, rode up the hill back to the car, grabbed a snack and then biked around for a little while to cool down. I eventually met up with Alex and we jogged around for a few minutes to make sure I was fully cooled down before getting into the car for the long haul back home. I picked up my prize-cup and we quickly bounced out of there, driving first back to Kansas City for breakfast.

We got properly fueled up on coffee and peanut butter pancakes and then got right back in the car. Long journey short, we went from Kansas City to a random fireworks shop in Missouri, dropped off Alex, drove to Iowa City, had dinner at chipotle, packed up most of my apartment for the summer and then drove back to Chicago, making it back in time for a few meetings my Dad had first thing Monday morning- rounding out a nice 22 hour day!

Jacked up on sugar and coffee  

Although I had to roll with the punches a little bit on this one, it was a really fun weekend and I had a great time pretty much just chillin’ with my Dad. It was also nice to get the free entry to the 5150 US Championship race at HyVee and to lay down a really strong performance on a day where the conditions were rough and my race priority was low. I look forward to putting in another couple of hard training sessions leading up the my next race of the season, the Leon’s World’s Fastest Triathlon in Hammond, Indiana. If you are in the Chicago land area, come check it out!

As always, thanks to my Dad for being a straight up beast race supporter, Craig Strong at Precision for the coaching and support, Nuun for that oh’ so good fizzy deliciousness and Running Away Multisport for the Zipp disc.

Go ride your bike today, I guarantee it will be a good time!

 
Justin

2013 St. Anthony's Triathlon Race Report

This was the third year in a row that I decided to make my way back to the great state of Florida to compete in one of the most prestigious Olympic non-drafting races in the country. Up until about two weeks ago, this race was not even on my calendar and I had written it off as an event that required too much effort, time and money. But when my good friend and first year pro Alex Libin decided to do the race and asked me if I wanted to join, I gave him a big 'ol "YUP!"

After a rather successful weekend at the Collegiate National Championship in Tempe, I was feeling pretty awesome the week before the event. I took a few days to recover and then put in a solid 10 days of hard but controlled work to maintain my fitness and sharpen up. Being a last minute addition to the schedule meant I would be heading down south for a good time, some sun and hopefully a nice hard race without any expectation or pressure. 

Below is my race report from the 2013 St. Anthony's Triathlon in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida. Enjoy! (and sorry for the slight delay- I am still in school for another two weeks people!) 

The trip started off with a Thursday evening flight out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa directly into Tampa/ St. Petersburg.  Making the trek to the race would be Alex, his girlfriend Kelli and myself. One may think I was doing some hard-core third-wheelin' but these guys are two of my really close friends and it was great hanging out together all weekend. The flight was quick and smooth, bag pickup and car rental was easy and we were on the road by about 10:00 PM. After a 1 hour drive, we made it to our final destination, back to Siesta Key where we were staying at Rick and Essie's house! (the same gracious hosts from my trip to Florida for the ITU Sarasota race in March)

Dinner time-flight means full buffet style/ odd looks from my flight companions. Pre-microwaved sweet potato, vegetables and avocado do the trick! Unintentionally super beta-carotene'd on this meal. 

As if Alex and my coach were conversing, we both had a complete day of rest on Friday. So, after getting in pretty late on Thursday night, we slept in as late as possible on Friday morning. After having a quick morning snack and a little bit of coffee, we decided first things first and off to the gluten-free bakery/ grocery store we went! The rest of the day was super relaxed and carefree. We built our bikes, went to the bike shop to get bikes properly reassembled (I'm still learning the in's and out's of completely taking a race bike apart/ putting it back together) and then kicked up the feet for the rest of the afternoon/ evening. We even rented Django Unchained which is a super-bad-ass movie that I would totally recommend to anyone (even though we had to stop it half way and finish it the next day because it was getting late- yep we are lame and yep Kelli let us know that). 

That's my bike! In a much smaller form. 

Saturday was a pretty traditional, hectic pre-race day. We started things off with a morning shakeout brick and a sizeable breakfast. We then got our things together (yes, we broke out a cooler for food) and made the 1 hour drive from Siesta Key to the race site for packet pickup, Alex's pro meeting and bike check-in. After strolling through the disappointing expo, picking up my packet and racking my bike, I headed over to the tent where Alex had to be for the mandatory pro-athlete informational session. Besides awkwardly strolling in about 30:00 after the meeting started, I sat down next to some of the best triathletes ever to walk the face of this planet. I tried to blend in, look cool and keep calm, but all I wanted to do was jump up and down, cry from excitement and sit on Jan Frodeno's lap all the while not involuntarily wetting my pants. I was like a 12 year old girl in a room of 50 Justin Bieber's. 

ME (on the inside)

After that episode, we made our way back to the van and headed back to Siesta Key. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing, foam rolling, eating and watching the rest of Django. I got to bed early and besides being awoken by 1 missed call, 1 voice mail, 1 reminder that I had a voice mail, 1 text message and 1 reminder that I had a text message at 2:00 AM because of a Hawk Alert, I slept pretty well! 

Happy I was nowhere near the stabbing-asian main pumped about being an American but not so happy that it was 2:20 AM. 

The Hawk Alert was pretty much ended up serving as a pre-alarm clock because I had set my alarm for 3:45 AM. I half slept/ laid there for a while before getting up to have my traditional pre-race breakfast, load up the rest of my gear and hit the road for the 1 hour drive back to St. Petersburg.

This is what I mean when I reference the "traditional breakfast" for those wondering. 

Running a little late, we rolled into the race site around 5:40 AM but were lucky enough to have VIP parking due to Alex's pro-status (perks of traveling with this dude- suck it Elite Amateur competitors who had to walk 5 minutes to the race site!) Alex and I stepped out of the car, commented on the VERY strong winds, exchanged good luck's and then headed our separate ways. I found my bike, pumped up my tires, set up my transition area and then went out for a 15:00 warm up jog. I did some dynamic stretching, made sure my transition area was 100% set to go and then spent a few minutes putting on my wetsuit (water temp was 76.5 degrees= HOT). After suiting up, I speed walked/ jogged the 1500m down the beach to the swim entrance. As I was walking up, the pro-race went off at 6:50 AM which meant I had 10:00 until my wave went off. I dipped into the water to fill up my wetsuit and then hopped right back out to jog over to the holding pen. 

Looking out on the swim start

The pro females went off and I got mentally prepared to race as the race director got on the loud speaker. Long story short, they were going to shorten the swim to ~800 meters due to the high winds and bad chop. In his words, "we have to look out for the 20% that shouldn't be out there anyway." I was annoyed but quickly refocused my attention to factors that were under my control- like beating each one of the guys next to me. 

Time to kick some ass. 

After the 15:00 delay, they loaded us in the water for the start around 7:15. As always, the field annoyingly creeped forward before the gun and before I knew it, we were off. Unlike the previous three races of the season, this swim start was like a playful-pillow fight. No violent punches to the face or cage fight kicks to lower regions. All was good as I latched onto the back of the main pack, working hard but in complete control.

The new swim course was a straight shot parallel to shore with a sharp hairpin right turn at the final buoy. As I made my way around the buoy and approached the exit, I noticed some familiar faces of strong athletes and felt confident in my position with a swim time of 10:04.

Another downside to the altered swim was the fact that we now had to run a full 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) from the swim exit to the entrance of the transition area. I exited the water, stripped my wetsuit around my waist and started to haul ass on the pavement. I passed a few guys and saw one very strong runner in particular gap me in this section. I ran up to my bike, pulled my wetsuit completely off and got out of transition as fast and as cleanly as possible. Onto the bike with a total first transition time of 3:29 (including the 1k run).

Right out of transition there is a long section of cobbles that I hammered through like Cancellara. I strapped my shoes on and got to work right away. My legs felt stiff for the first 5 miles or so but I was able to stay positive and build into the effort. By the 10 mile mark, I was hammering along- threading that needle between "okay this is hard but I can keep it up" and "holy crap dude, calm down, we still got more biking and a whole lot of running to go!" My pedal stroke felt smooth and I knew I was in for a fast split. Although I do not wear a watch while I am racing, I was elated to find out that I had set a new 40k bike PR with a time of 0:58:55. BOOM!

Transition two was pretty flawless. Out and onto the run in 0:49.

With temperatures creeping up towards 80 degrees, it was getting rather toasty when we hit the run course. As I started to get my feet under me, I questioned if I had pushed the bike just a little to hard. My legs felt stiff, my cadence was low and I simply could not find a rhythm.... It was going to be a long 5 more miles at this rate!

And then, literally out of nowhere, I started passing a few guys. This put a little pep back up in my step and I started cruising. No accidental Gatorade shower, sharply painful foot blister or side stitches were going to stop me now! My cadence was on point and I was running light, strong and relaxed. I ran as hard as I could sustain for the remainder of the course and crossed the finish line 100% depleted....

WITH A NEW 10K RUN PR! 35:40 meant an average pace of 5:46 min/mi for the 6.2 miles.

One could say that I was rather happy with this performance. Not only did I manage to set a new 40k best bike split AND 10k run split, but I made my way through the field to finish 7th overall. Not a bad day at the office for a race that wasn't even on the schedule two weeks ago. Full race results: here.

After the race, Alex once again used his pro-status to get us into transition nearly an hour early to get our bikes and gear. We headed over to the car, left Kelly with all of our junk and went for a short cool down spin/ race debriefing. We grabbed some snacks and then got right to work on packing up the bikes. We had a flight to catch!

Hen House's all around!

We actually made surprisingly quick work of packing up the bikes and got in the car around 12:00 with 3.5 hours before our flight departed.

Not going anywhere before a shade and snack break in the back of the mini van. That hummus wasn't going to eat itself before getting thrown away at the security line. 

Took down this bad-boy on the plane. Yes, that is a buckwheat banana pancake. Yes, that is self stirred PB2 to put on top. Yes, the incredibly small asian woman sitting next to me was unamused. That's what she gets for sleeping on my shoulder later in the flight! 

I want to first and foremost thank Rick and Essie for letting the three of us stay at your house. It is so nice to be able to feel so comfortable and at home before a race! You guys are the absolute best.

I also want to throw a quick shout out to my #1 sponsors, supports and die hard fans; Mom and Dad. Thanks for allowing this trip to happen at the last minute and being there to support all of my larger than life goals. 

As always, big thanks to Nuun Hydration for that oh-so-good Lemon Lime on the bike, PHL for that Endruox R4 getting that recovery going right after the race and Craig Strong at Precision Multisport for putting the plan together that has allowed me to not only progress in the sport over the years but also have such a successful start to the 2013 season. 

Now here is a teaser for you all... With the success that I have had at my first few races, I may be taking my season racing plans in a slightly different direction. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks! 

Happy training and racing. 

-Justin 

2013 USAT Collegiate National Championship Race Report

Sit down, strap up and get ready… this is going to be a good one!

The USAT Collegiate National Championship event is unlike any race I have ever experienced. The energy and excitement that is created when you put 1000+ triathlon-crazed-college-students in a concentrated area is indescribable. And to add to this years excitement, USAT decided to offer three, count ‘em… three different events that athletes would be eligible to compete in.

1. Friday, April 12^th- USAT Draft Legal Collegiate National Championship
2. Saturday, April 13^th- USAT Non-Drafting Olympic Distance Collegiate National Championship
3. Saturday April 13^t- USAT Draft Legal Mixed Relay Collegiate National Championship

Notice the key phrase in the three race descriptions; National Championship. This is where the absolute best of the best collegiate triathletes convene to lay it on the line, represent their University and prove that they deserve to be recognized as one of the nations top elite triathletes. And I wanted to- scratch that- needed to be part of all of it. 

Below is the run down of the 2013 Collegiate National Championship weekend in Tempe, Arizona. 

Event #1: Sprint Draft Legal Race (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run)

I went into this race having some unfinished business from the Sarasota EDR. I wanted to prove that I could be a contender in the draft legal style and I really wanted to put my name on the ITU map. The fact that I had two more races to go the day after this event was on my mind, but I tried to focus on going as hard as possible, taking one race at a time and remaining present- in each moment, of each sport, of each race. I knew my training was strong and I could handle 4 hours of hard work over the course of 24 hours. Best of all,  I was not afraid to fail trying. I was going to go out there and give each race all that I had. 

After the traveling for 27 hours the previous day, I woke up feeling far from refreshed on Friday morning (reference Part 1 for more details). Luckily, the race did not start until 9:00 AM local time, which felt like 11:00 AM to me. I set my alarm for a manageable 6:00 AM, enjoyed my usual pre-race rice cakes/ peanut butter/ jelly/ coffee combo and got organized to roll out at 7:30 AM. 

Our hotel was less than a mile from the race venue which made it incredibly easy and super professional to ride over on our bikes. This gave me the opportunity to get in a little longer warm up, test out the bike and get comfortable with the dry-Arizona air. 

After ditching our bags at the transition area, Alex and I went out for a loop of the bike course, adding a few tempo efforts and a few really hard/ short efforts to get the engine going before the near-all out race effort that comes along with a sprint distance triathlon. 

I then checked into the transition area, set up my spot and started to get into mental race mode. 

I love how clean and professional ITU style racing is. Not to mention the bad-ass name plate on the rack!

After leaving the transition area, Alex and I ran 1 loop of the course- again adding a few harder efforts to prepare for the intensity. I got back to my bag, got my wetsuit on and was able to hop in the water for a good 10:00-15:00 warm up. I was feeling good, ready to race and focused when I climbed out of the water on the stairs. 

Right before getting in for the swim warm up. 

Talking tactics and trying to figure out the swim course 5 minutes before the start.

They lined us up outside the swim entrance and loaded us into the water. They had us swim over to the edge of the lake which had a 4-foot wall that we hung onto before the gun went off. With a field of nearly 75 guys, I knew this was going to be pretty tight, so I tried to position myself somewhere that I would be able to get out quickly without getting totally beaten up. 

The starter said, "on your mark" and then the horn went off. My attempt to get into a safe position failed miserably and I was swam on top of and violently punched in the head. This continued for the entire swim and was simply unavoidable due to the 6 turns throughout the 750 meter course. 

I had originally missed the front swim pack as the entire field diverged towards a single buoy, causing some initial panic. Luckily, I found some clean space between the corners and was able to bridge the gap on my own when the pack got congested at the turns. I settled in on the back of the pack and exited the water gingerly to avoid falling down on the stairs or on the slick pavement behind it. I finished the swim on the back- but in contact of the main group of guys. 

Right before the swim start/ cage fight 

I had a perfect first transition: wetsuit off, sunglasses and helmet on, perfect flying mount and onto the bike.

I got onto the road and quickly slipped into my shoes. I picked my head up to see a group of 4 or 5 guys already organized and separating themselves up the road. I quickly found myself with two other guys who were both very strong cyclists, but the group up the road was growing and seemed to be working well together. Those few extra seconds I had taken to get out of the water had let these guys get away and I was paying the price for it now. The three of us had to work VERY hard to bridge the gap and it took nearly two laps to do it. We finally made contact with this group and I tried to settle into the pace. 

Working on the bike with friend TJ Gleason (pink bar tape)  

The rest of the bike course was challenging. The course was technical and the effort was extremely high. I did not facilitate any attacks, but I kept myself towards the front and was able to respond to any surge that one of the stronger cyclists attempted to put in. 

I dismounted the bike with the 3rd fastest swim split of the day. 

I quickly ran through the second transition without a hitch. 

Right in front of the pack. Perfect position! 

Immediately, the group I came off the bike (in the picture above) absolutely TOOK OFF. I am not sure if it was my legs that were hurting or if the pace was actually this high, but it felt like a 4:30 min/mi right out of the gate. I quickly realized that there was no way I could sustain this pace and let the group gain on me out of transition. In 400m or so, they had gotten :05 seconds and my mental outlook on the race started to instantly fade. I managed to settle into my 5k pace and simply focus on relaxing- there were still 3 miles on this run... 

It may have been the tough bike ride or it may have been the blazing pace out of transition but about 1/2 mile into the run, I found myself picking off the guys of this group up the road. First a pack of three, then another, and another. By the first turn around point, I had the lead guy of the group in my sights. As I came around the turn for the second loop, I was leading the pack. 

It felt like I was running on air. It was the most painfully effortless run I have ever had. My cadence was high, my form felt perfect and I was gliding through this course- like a true runner. I gritted my teeth and heard the finish line shouting. I sprinted as hard as I could, collapsing at the finish line. 

I had just taken 4th place at the first ever Draft Legal Collegiate National Championship event, outrunning the main group and posting the second fastest run split of the day behind the overall winner- Ben Kanute. 

Huge stepping stone in my career. If only I had longer shorts.... 

This race was huge. I was one of only 4 athletes to break an hour on the course. The three guys that finished ahead of me separated themselves on the swim, swimming 1:00 faster than myself and stayed out in front all day. I was the first of the chase group and the run was my weapon of choice. Maybe I can be successful at this draft-legal style... All I know is I absolutely love it. 

Yeah... I'm not a freshman.... 

After some post-race school-girl jumping up and down with my dad, I got on the bike and spun back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon I tried to relax as much as possible, get in a few high quality meals and was even able to get in an easy spin on the trainer in the hotel room. 

With one race successfully under my belt, it was time to turn my attention to tomorrow. 

Event #2: USAT Non-Drafting Olympic Distance Collegiate National Championship 

I really did not sleep all that great on Friday night. I woke up about every two hours, alternating between excitement from the Draft Legal race and apprehension about the Olympic race. Finally, I woke up about 20 minutes before my 4:30 AM alarm and decided to walk around the hotel. Immediately, I could feel the previous day's race in my legs. My calves were like rocks and my hips were tight- not surprising after running an all out 5k on my toes, in race flats, just hours before. 

I needed some distraction, and luckily, it is two hours ahead in Chicago and my Mom was awake. Even though I don't like to admit it, I relied on Mommy for some last minute words of encouragement. Unsurprisingly, she was able to ease some of my concern- reassuring me that I was prepared and that my best effort would produce a result I would be happy with. And at the end of our conversation, she said,"work as hard as you can." Maybe it is that motherly-charm but this was EXACTLY what I needed to hear and this phrase stuck with me the entire race. 

My pre-race preparation and warm up was pretty much exactly the same as the previous day: 

• Roll down to the race site on our bikes
• Drop the transition bags
• Go back out on the course for a more proper/ extended bike warm up 
• Bike check in and transition set up 
• Run warm up and wet suit-donning 

Mentally focused and ready to race, ignoring a sore physical state

Unfortunately, our timing was not as on point for this race and we missed the swim warm up. As I jogged down to the swim entrance, there was about 10 minutes to the start. Enough time to jump into the water, pee in my wetsuit and get out to line up. 

We were called down into the water and lined up for the in-water start. I treaded for a couple of minutes and put myself in a position I thought was the best line to the first buoy. The gun went off, I took the usual swim-start beating and then settled into the pace. I really did not feel great at the start of the swim, but as I approached the turn around point, I was able to settle in and simply go to work. I found a group of swimmers that I thought was moving quickly and tried to latch onto their feet. I exited the water in the mix of the main group but far off the lead. 

I ran out of the exit and into the first transition. Struggling slightly with my wetsuit, helmet strap and sunglasses. Not a clean T1, but I was out and onto the bike in relatively quick fashion. 

Exiting the swim

And onto the bike

I immediately settled into the pace on the bike; rarely getting passed and passing a number of competitors. I had completely forgotten about racing the day before and I simply settled into a threshold 40k time trial effort- an output that I had replicated hundreds of times in training. I was in control and noticed at the multiple turn around points that I was moving up into the top portion of the field. Although I was feeling strong coming into the second transition, I was informed that I was currently in 31st place.... This meant I would have my work cut out for me to crack the top-20. 

The second transition went smoothly and I actually remembered to grab my number belt (almost forgot after all this draft legal racing!)

I quickly got onto the run course and tried to settle into a rhythm but could not seem to get anything going. My cadence was low, my form was off and my legs felt like metal rods. Although I didn't physically feel that great, I was still mentally focused and determined to work as hard as possible. As I tried to get through those painful first 2 kilometers, I found myself easing into the effort. I approached one guy and was able to pass with ease. Soon after I passed another... and another. I was picking these guys off left and right, moving my way up into the top-20 by the 8k mark, and passing another 3 guys in the final two kilometers to finish 17th overall. 

Finishing strong (and I kept it together just long enough!- reference picture below) 

I will be heading the committee for larger ice-bath-finish-line-kiddy-pools at the 2014 race 

Too exhausted for school-girl-jumping up and down with my dad, we settled for the excited congratulatory man-hug and then stumbled over to the Jamba Juice/ NormaTec station which majorly hit the spot. 

Alex and I debriefed our efforts (he came in THIRD!, with the fastest run split of the day... HELL YEAH!) I was so stoked he went out there and executed such a spot on race performance, especially after unfortunately flatting out in the draft legal race. Congrats dude. 

If I am wearing matching jackets with a pro, warming up with a pro, rooming with a pro and traveling with a pro does that make me a pro by association? SURE FEELS LIKE IT. BOOM! 

I stumble around the race venue and team tent for a while before getting my gear out of transition and heading back to the hotel. I called my crew that was eager to hear about my performance around the country while Alex and I made a celebratory post-race/ pre-race breakfast. 

After scrubbing off my temporary tattoos from the first race, we got organized and back on our bikes to watch the finish of the women's race and get prepared for the final race of the weekend. 

Event #3: USAT Draft Legal Mixed Relay Collegiate National Championship 

Unfortunately, Alex had sprained his ankle on the run course of the Olympic distance race and was unable to compete in the relay. Jack Parr stepped up in his place and we still got ready to compete against the 37 other teams in the field. 

Say hello to Jack everybody! 

The mixed relay is a fast and fun style of racing. Each team member competes a mini-sprint triathlon (250m swim, 5k bike, 1.2k run) and then tags the next member to complete the same course. Each team has two males and two female athletes and the group to cross the finish line in the fastest combined time  wins. 

The dream team. 

At this point in the weekend, my legs were absolutely trashed... As the fourth person to go on our team, I was the anchor and was able to watch the event unfold before it was my turn to complete the course. Because each discipline is so outrageously short, it is literally an all out effort right from the start. I originally planned a good 1 hour warm up before it was my turn to go but that quickly turned into a 5:00 walk/jog at 9:00 min/mi pace and a few run drills. 

I lined myself up on the fence and extended my hand- waiting for the tag from my teammate. She flew through, touched my hand and I was off. I ran down to the dock, dove off the edge of the lake and swam to the first buoy. I passed one guy in the water and made my way towards the transition area, catching another athlete there. 

Once onto the bike, I caught two guys who I briefly worked with- yelling at them to take pulls by riding all out in their biggest gear. This gave me some temporary relief in their draft but also caused them to ride so hard for :15-:30 seconds, they were completely toasted and had to spin easy the rest of the ride. For the remaining 3 kilometers, I road a solo- TT effort, coming into transition with 1 guy glued to my wheel. 

After a quick T2, and a few hamstring cramps while getting on my shoes, I bolted out of transition for the 1200 meter run. I was right behind the guy who drafted me the entire back half of the bike course but was closing in on him inch by inch. 

Get back here! 

With about 400m to go, I was right on his tail. He began to sprint and I attempted to go with him, but the legs were simply not there! I cruised in and finished smiling- wrapping up the weekend of races in gracious fashion. 

After the race, we packed up the trailer and headed over to the awards ceremony. The men's team ended up finishing 5th overall, and we were able to celebrate on stage as a team for the first time in TriHawk's history. 

Overall, I could not be more pleased with my performance this past weekend. It was tough, but I was able to mentally overcome barriers, deal with adversity and execute. I was able to accurately express the fitness that I had developed in the hard months leading up to the race and I was able to do it on a National Championship platform. It's safe to say that I am stoked- this is just the beginning of what I expect to be a long and fruitful career in this sport. 

Quickly, I want to thank a few people who made this weekend possible: 

1. Dad: you are the best. Thank's for coming out to Tempe to cheer, cook, support, run, hike and be there for me. I would NOT have been able to perform as well as I did without you. Also, me having to remind you to eat/ drink every hour helped remind myself to eat/ drink every hour which was crucial in the dry Arizona heat! 
2. Mom: for canceling clients to watch the live blog feed and for the pre-race pump up talk. Again, couldn't have done it without you. 
3. Craig Strong at Precision Multisport. Obviously things are starting to click here! Although it is hard-ass work, my training plan was spot on and I appreciate the detail you put into each session. Interested in the best coaching and training facility in the Chicago area and beyond? Contact the guys at Precision.  
4. The crew who drove all of the bikes/ gear from Iowa to Arizona. I had two bikes, three sets of wheels, a trainer and tons of gear. Flying with all that would have been a NIGHTMARE. So thanks for making it so easy to focus on racing and having fun. 
5. The guys over at Pacific Health Labs. Chocolate Endurox R4 was clutch to help me recover in between races. Not only was it great in post-race shake form, but we also added it to oatmeal and other meal concotions. Click on the link and use promo code METZLER15 for 15% off. 
6. Nuun Hydration: 1 Lemon-Lime tablet in my bottle for all three races worked like a charm. Not to mention the Kona Cola, Lemonade (new favorite flavor) and Orange that I sipped on for the days leading into the warm weather race. Thanks for the support! 
7. And thanks to all of my readers for sticking around! You guys are the best and the support I get from each one of you feels amazing. 

Next up is the St. Anthony's Triathlon in less than two weeks! I look forward to a single-race weekend ;) 

Over and out.

-Justin