Best of the US Championship/Leon's Triathlon

This past Sunday, June 2nd, I competed in the Best of the US Amateur Championship race which was held in conjunction with Leon's Triathlon in Hammond, IN. I have raced in the Best of the US Championship race three times before, finishing 9th in 2008, 8th in 2009, and 3rd in 2011. I hadn't raced Leon's Triathlon before though so I was excited to race what is dubbed the "Worlds Fastest Triathlon". I was also excited to race coming off of the American Triple-T and not having any other races planned until August.

With the race being in Hammond, IN (right next to Chicago), I was able to stay with my mom. Race morning rolled around and I headed to the race with my mom and sister. The drive into Chicago isn't all that bad on a Sunday morning at 6 am when there isn't any traffic. I had my usual banana and Cookie Dough PowerBar along with about 10 oz of coffee on the drive to the race. We got to the race site in good time and I decided to hop on the bike for a quick warm-up before taking the bike into transition. The forecast called for temps in the low 60's with dropping temps into the 50's. While I was warming up and setting up transition, the temperature was cool but not too bad (low-mid 60's). I ate a few PowerBar Cola Gel Blasts and sipped on some PowerBar Perform drink while setting things up in transition. Shortly after exiting transition, there was a big gust of wind and with it came much colder air, and the temperature had to have dropped 5 degrees almost instantly!

Pre-race photo, right before the temps dropped! 

Sporting the new FFT 2XU Distance Tri-Suit

I headed over to the stage where they were having an opening ceremony with the National Anthem and  a few other things. We headed over to the start of the swim and were able to hop in the water for a short swim warm-up. The swim wave included all of the Best of the US athletes along with all of the Leon's Amateur All-Stars which made for a pretty big swim wave and what would be some competitive head-to-head racing! Luckily we had quite a bit of room for the in-water start so it wasn't too chaotic. 

The gun went off and a few guys got out pretty fast and I wasn't able to hang with them. I ended up leading one of two groups. The water was a little choppy, but I felt good. I came out of the water in 6th or so, which was about what I expected. Toward the end of the swim, I could feel my feet were pretty cold and going a little numb. But that didn't stop me from a quick transition as I exited the water, made my way to T1, and grabbed my bike. 

I passed a few guys pretty quickly and then a few miles in, made my way to 2nd place. Adam Zucco was in 1st place at this point and I knew he was strong on the bike. I tried to keep him in sight and not let him get too far ahead of me. I continued to ride strong throughout the 2 lap bike course. It was a little chilly on the bike but really not too bad. The wind was pretty strong though and at times I would get blown side-to-side. With a few miles to go, I got passed by Matt Payne, who had previously won the Best of the US race in 2011 when I took 3rd. I knew he could bike and run strong so I just tried to stay near him the final couple miles. I entered T2 just behind him. 

Coming in off the bike, headed into T2 - in 3rd place

We came out of T2 together and made the move on Adam who was just a little ahead of us. I sat on Matt for a few strides, I felt good, and decided to make the pass and go for it. I came up on Adam and took the lead of the race. At this point, I was feeling great, but knew there were a handful of guys behind me that could run me down. My medial quads started to cramp a little bit before the 1st mile so when I got to the mile mark and there wasn't an aid station, I decided to take a PowerBar Orange Dreamsicle gel. I washed it down with some water when I got to the first aid station about a half mile later. I was feeling good and kept up the good pace to the turn-around. I made the turn and saw Matt, Adam, and Dan Stubleski all not too far behind. I picked up the effort slightly as I knew they were all trying to run me down. I made it to mile 5 still in the lead and still feeling pretty good. I wasn't really sure how far back the other guys were so I picked up the pace a little more. I made it to the final turn before heading into the park and through in another final surge to finish strong.

Right before the finish - Brooks T7 on the run!

Swim: 18:31 - 10th OA

T1: 1:20

Bike: 57:48 - 4th OA

T2: 0:57

Run: 33:27 - 2nd OA

Finish: 1:52:05 - 1st OA

Breaking the tape at the finish! 

Overall, it was probably the best race I've ever had! I handled the cold and wind to ride strong and run even stronger. Thanks to my coach Alex McDonald with Fast Forward Triathlon! It's great to see all of the hard work I've been putting in over the past several months (and years) come together at this race. Congrats to Matt Payne, Dan Stubleski, Adam Zucco, Mark Harms, and the other guys that were out there racing! 

A few articles from the race:

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/recreation/outdoors/top-leon-s-triathlon-finishers-like-it-cold/article_e7b91f9f-5de9-5170-a40a-f4a37bece0dc.html (video post race interview too!)

http://www.trijuice.com/2013/06/colin_riley_and_kirsten_sass_crowned_as_new_best_of_the_us_amateur_champions_at_leons_triathlon.htm

http://www.bestoftheustriseries.com

There is also going to be a televised broadcast on Comcast Sports Net over the 4th of July weekend. I was interviewed before the race and they were filming the entire race. Should be fun to watch!

The next race I have planned is USA Triathlon Age-group Nationals August 10th in Milwaukee, WI. I may try to hop in a race before then but I'm not 100% sure yet. 

American Triple-T Ohio Race Report

The American Triple-T Ohio is a very unique triathlon experience. The "race" consists of 4 triathlons over 3 days. There is an option to race as a 2 person team, which I did, with Jared Milam.

Race 1: Super Sprint Triathlon - Friday Evening
The first race is a very short 250m swim, 6k bike, 1 mile run. It's a fun little race to kick off the weekend. I like to push the pace a little but not get carried away as there is a lot of racing the rest of the weekend. The splits for all of the races didn't get recorded unfortunately as their was a malfunction with the timing system. This is supposed to be fixed for next year.

Finish: 21:00 - 2nd OA

Race 2: Olympic Triathlon #1 - Saturday morning
The 2nd race is an Olympic distance triathlon with a slightly longer run (6.55 miles verses 6.2 miles). The race features a 2 lap swim, a tough bike course with the famous and dreaded Thompson Hill, and the same challenging rolling hill, rocky, trail course that we run all weekend long.

Finish: 2:08:03 - 3rd OA

Race 3: Olympic Triathlon #2 - Saturday afternoon (about 5 hours after finishing the first Olympic)
This race is unique in that the order is switched up from the traditional swim/bike/run and instead is bike/swim/run. This is the first race where if your doing it as a team, you get to draft on the bike together and have to finish together too.

Finish: 2:13:33 - 1st OA with teammate Jared

Race 4: Half Ironman - Sunday Morning
This is a challenging half ironman course with many hills and 2 loops on the tough run course from Saturday. Jared and I had a pretty good lead going into the male team competition, but anything can happen. I ended up getting a flat somewhere on the 2nd loop. Luckily, it wasn't an entire tire blow-out like I have had happen twice before during this same half-ironman race. I was able to fix it in about 5 or 10 minutes. I had a new Co2 adapter that I had never used before and didn't know how it released the Co2 into the tube. That cost me a few minutes until I finally figured it out (lesson learned).

Finish: 5:04:19 - 11th OA with teammate Jared

We held on for 1st place team, despite the flat on the bike. A great weekend of racing/training. If you are looking for a challenge or just a great weekend of training, I highly recommend the American Triple-T Ohio! Thanks Shannon Kurek and HFP for putting on a great event! Thanks to Bob Duncan for the quick break fix prior to the race and Tom Swallow and Swallow Bike Works for the quick tune-up right before the race!

St. Anthony's Triathlon Race Recap

It's a little late but I wanted to write a brief recap about my first 2 races of the season. After finishing my dietetic internship from Western Kentucky University on Friday April 26th, Amanda and I began the drive down to Florida. We stopped in Atlanta Friday night and stayed with my Aunt Kim. Saturday morning we got up early and met Lauren for some coffee and a local Starbucks before getting back on the road for Florida.

We went right to the race venue, picked up our packets, got in a quick swim, bike, run workout, and headed to our friend John's house who let us stay with him for the weekend. Race morning rolled around, we headed to the race site, and got set up in transition. Bikes had to be in transition the night before which makes for an easy race morning, however, I also prefer getting a bike warm-up in when possible. There's something about spinning the legs on the bike before the race starts that seems to help me have a better race. No bike warm-up though, so I got in an easy 10 min run with some light pick-ups. I headed over to the swim start, got in a short swim warm-up and was ready to go. The pros went off and we were getting ready to start when the race director came up to us and said the swim was going to be shortened. I wasn't totally surprised as it had been really windy all morning and some of the waves were pretty big out in the bay. So the swim was shortened to a 750m swim or so with a long run over to T1 (this is also what happened 2 years ago when I raced St. Anthony's). The swim went well and I came out in probably 5th or 6th. I passed a few guys early in the bike and was able to see that I was sitting in 3rd behind Adam Webber and Jake Ryner, 2 guys I have raced before. A handful of guys came up behind me on the bike around half way through. I came into T2 in 5th and was hoping I could put together a good run. Unfortunately, the run didn't go so well and I came up pretty flat coming off the bike. I got passed by a few guys out of T2 and then a few more along the way. Around mile 2 or 2.5, things started feeling a little better and I thought I was going to be able to close in the handful of guys that were not too far ahead of me. I felt good for about a mile before I things started to unfold again. At that point I was sitting in 10th place or so. I did what I could over the final 2 miles and came across the line, happy to be done. (no pics from the race)

Swim: 9:59 (~750m)

T1: 3:16 (long run to T1 included)

Bike: 58:57

T2: 0:52

Run: 37:30

Finish: 1:50:32 - 11th OA Elite Amateur

This was not where I wanted to be and thought going in I should have been right near the top 3. It was good to get one race under the belt though and move forward on to the rest of the season. 

After the race, Amanda and I got some Starbucks iced coffees and went and walked along the beach and then went to Crabby Bills (Amanda's go to restaurant in St. Pete from when she lived there) for dinner!

American Triple-T Ohio and Leon's Triathlon Race reports to follow soon!

Early Season Update

It's the middle of December and I'm in my 8th week back of training since taking 2 weeks completely off. I ran the Cincinnati Turkey trot after only 3.5 weeks of easy training after the 2 weeks off and managed to run a 35:41 10k (5:46/mi) good for 50th overall. I've been getting in about 10-12 hrs/week of training the past 5 weeks and I'm taking this week a little easier. Swimming has been so-so thus far as I ended up taking almost 4 weeks away from the pool after only one swim during the week of the duathlon and then an extra week off with an ear infection after my 2 weeks off. I'm starting to get some speed back and working on technique and form quite a bit. I'm already starting to feel pretty good on the bike and have really been enjoying the computrainer. It'll be nice to have the computrainer from the beginning of the season this year so I can really dial in all of the training! I've got all of my target wattages and so far things are going well. As for running, I haven't really had too many structured workouts but overall I'm feeling good and looking forward to what's ahead.

As for next year, I am planning to race age group again and hold off on turning pro, for now. As far as races go, here is what I am thinking:

American Triple-T Ohio
Copper Creek Sprint Triathlon
Evergreen Lake Triathlon
Age Group Nationals
Chicago Triathlon
Hy-Vee Triathlon
Dallas US Open

I'm hoping to have something before triple-t, but not sure what yet. I might do a Rev 3 race as well and maybe a running race or two.

That's all for now. Looking forward to the next couple weeks, spending time with my family, girlfriend, and catching up with friends back home in Chicago. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone out there!

My yearly totals for swimming, biking, and running will follow soon!

RJ Corman Duathlon and End of Season Recap

On October 13^th, I competed in my final race of the 2012 season, the RJ Corman Duathlon outside of Lexington, Kentucky. The race consisted of a 5k run, 16 mile bike, and another 5k run. Living in Louisville now, I was able to drive to the race the morning of with Amanda. We got to the race site right around 6:30 when packet pickup was opening. I grabbed my race bag, got body marked, and got everything set up in transition. The actual transition area was probably the smallest transition area I’ve ever seen for a race with less than 100 people racing the duathlon (there was also a 5k). With such a small field, the whole race morning was very low key and easy going. After getting set up, I was able to take my bike out for a quick 15 minute warm up. It was a gorgeous morning, a little on the cool side, but pretty much perfect weather for a duathlon. I headed over to the start area and got in a short 5 minute run warm-up with a couple short pick-ups. It was a pretty small field but there were two pros (Nick Waninger and Mike Hermanson) and another guy, Jeff Buhr, who I met that morning but knew he would be right there as well. 

Pre-race ready to go!

Start of the race!

Run #1: 16:36 – 5:21/mi – 2^nd OA

The race started and the three guys I mentioned took off at what felt like a dead sprint (not literally, but faster than I wanted to get out). I went with them for the most part, staying a little behind them, knowing that I wasn’t going to hold a 4:30-4:45/mi pace for the whole 5k. I came through the mile in 5:12 and was just a few seconds back from Jeff and about 10 seconds back from Nick and Mike. I slowly closed the gap and ran with Jeff and Mike for the next mile and half, and getting just ahead of them coming through the first 5k. Mile 2 was 5:23 and Mile 3 was 5:30. 

 Around 1 mile in

About 3 miles in

T1: 1:26 – 1^st OA – The funny thing about the race was that after we crossed the 5k mark, we had to continue running another ¼ mile or so to get to the actual transition area (so in a way it was the smallest yet longest transition area at the same time). 

Finishing the first 5k

Transition run to the transition area

Bike: 38:25 – 24.99 mph – 1^st OA

I got on the bike quickly and new I was going to have to get to work and hopefully put some time on Nick, knowing that he can out run me. As I was getting situated on the bike, I could see Nick not too far ahead of me. I closed the gap over the first few miles and kept pushing the rest of the way. The course was a nice mix of some up and down hills and an out and back on an airplane landing strip. I could see Nick and Jeff toward the end of the bike and wasn’t exactly sure how much time I had on them. I knew I needed to finish the bike strong and have a good run to hold them off. 

T2: 1:16 – 2^nd OA – Nice quick transition with the same run back to the where we started the race and the official start of the second run. 

Run #2: 16:56 – 5:28/mi – 2^nd OA

I felt great at the start of the run. I was focused and in the zone and started thinking I had a chance to hold off Nick and Jeff. I stayed strong all the way to the finish and came away with the win! 

About to cross the finish line!

Finish: 1:14:41 - I was very pleased to get the win and end the season with a great race. 

The 2012 season has been very successful. It started off with a PR at the Miami Half Marathon in January running a 1:17:32. Then in March I raced the Draft Legal Challenge finishing a disappointing 16th place after getting knocked off my bike coming out of transition and having a rubbing front break the entire first lap of three laps. Then at the end of March I was fortunate enough to spend over a week out in Santa Barbara, California training with my teammates from Fast Forward Triathlon and finished the week with a local sprint tri finishing 4th overall after a long/hard week of training. At my first big race of the year I placed 7^th at USAT collegiate nationals (the top 6 were or are now all now racing professional). Other races included an overall win at the 2^nd race of the American Triple-T Ohio (unfortunately had some mechanical issues during the 4^th race, but was able to finish out the weekend), 2^nd overall at the Copper Creek Sprint Triathlon (behind pro, Daniele Bretscher), an overall win at the Naperville Sprint Triathlon (my hometown race), a 5^th place finish at the 5150 Hy-Vee Age Group Elite race in one of the most competitive age group Olympic distance races in the country, and a win at the RJ Corman Duathlon. 

A HUGE thanks to my family (mom, sisters, brother in law, etc) and girlfriend for their continued support throughout the season. And another HUGE thanks to all of my sponsors. I know I say this a lot, but I truly would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for them. Thank you to Alex McDonald, my coach with Fast Forward Triathlon, who helped me have my most successful season yet. Thank you also to PowerBar for keeping me fueled all season long. Nutrition is truly the fourth part of the sport and having the nutrition to fuel before, during, and after makes all of the difference. Thank you to Brooks for keeping my feet happy with some of the best running shoes (The Ghost as my basic trainer, the PureFlow for tempo and track workouts, and T7 for racing, to name a few) and awesome gear to keep me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And thanks to Computrainer, one of the many sponsors of FFT. This was my first season utilizing the Computrainer and I absoluetly loved it. Having the computrainer, I was able to dial in my bike training and take it to the next level. Most of the races I did this year, I had the fastest or 2^nd fastest bike split of the entire field, and I know that is from the high quality workouts from FFT and having the Computrainer to help push myself well beyond my comfort zone.

I’m currently in the middle of my “mandatory 2 week rest” (coaches orders). I’m enjoying the time off, letting my body and mind recover from a long season. I’m looking forward to starting things back up soon and gearing up for an even better 2013 season. I’m still figuring out what the plan is for 2013...more to come on that later.

2012 Hy-Vee Triathlon: 5150 US Championships

This past weekend I competed in my 7th consecutive Hy-Vee Triathlon. This is hands down one of my favorite races out there. The race is very well put together and draws a ton of incredible competition from all over the country. There's some pretty nice prizes for the top 5 overall as well as Mini Cooper to the overall champion. I drove up to Chicago Friday with Amanda and then on Saturday we drove to Des Moines with my Mom and sister after we got in our pre-race workout.

Race morning rolled around. I had my usual banana, Cookies and Cream Powerbar, and cup of coffee for breakfast right after waking up at about 4:30. We headed to the race site and got everything set up in transition. Bikes had to be in the night before which always affects my normal warm-up routine as I usually prefer to spin out the legs in order to make sure they're ready to go for the bike during the race. Instead, I did a short run warm-up with a few short pickups. There was also no swim warm-up and the swim was wetsuit legal.

Swim: 20:12
The swim was OK. I had an OK starting position and got out alright. I was right there after the first buoy, and stuck on someone's feet for a while. At one point about 1/4th of the way in, the water got really shallow to the point where everyone was standing up and doing dolphin dives. I wasn't expecting that but made the best of it. After that, I slowly began to drop back as my shoulders got a little tight and had a little bit of GI discomfort. I ended up leading the 2nd group the rest of the way in.

T1: 1:28

Bike: 56:45
The bike went really well. I had the 2nd fastest bike averaging 26.2 mph behind the eventual winner, Dan Hedgecock. The course was a little technical during the early stages and then opened up a little more after about 5-10 miles in. At about mile 20, my chain actually dropped, but luckily I was able to get it back on without having to get off the bike. I felt really strong throughout the whole bike and moved up into 3rd place coming into T2. I knew I needed to be in that position coming into transition knowing that there were a lot of fast runners in the field.

T2: 0:49

Run: 35:58
The run was pretty decent. I came out of T2 in 3rd, with Dan Hedgecock and Adam Webber in front of me, and Drew Scott right behind me. Drew passed me right at the start of the run and I tried to hand with him as long as I could but didn't quite have the speed to do so. So at this point I was in 4th and knew I needed to run strong to hold on to a top 5 placing. I held onto 4th until about mile 4 when I got passed by Jake Rhyner. I kept plugging away and made it to the 5 mile mark. At this point, there was an out and back so you had a good chance to see where everyone was at. Once I made the turn of the out and back (about 5.5 miles into the run), I saw a fleet of guys coming for me and knew I had to pick it up if I was going to hold my 5th place spot. I made it to the steep hill right before the final turn to the finish line and was still holding 5th. I picked up one last time down the blue carpet and held onto 5th place!

 Nearing the finish line!

Total: 1:55:10 - 5th place overall
Going into the race, my goal was to finish in the top 5. I thought it was a reasonable goal but knew it wasn't going to be easy given the deep field racing. A huge congrats to Dan for winning and the rest of the field for putting up some great results. Congrats to my fellow FFT teammates Brian Duffy and Jay McCurdy as well. Overall, I was really pleased with the result. I know there's room for improvement in the swim and run (and the bike too). As of now, I don't have any additional races planned but that's still up in the air. I also qualified to race as an Elite/Pro and am contemplating that as well.

A huge thanks to my coach, Alex McDonald, of Fast Forward Triathlon for providing me with high quality workouts that challenge me to become the best triathlete I can be. Thanks also to Brooks and Powerbar for your continued support in my triathlon endeavors. Having the right shoes, gear, and nutrition make the world of a difference. And thanks to the sponsors of FFT including Computrainer. I have been doing a majority of my riding on the computrainer and have learned to push well beyond my comfort zone, taking my biking to the next level!

Me and Amanda after the race

A huge thanks to my Mom and sister, Manda, for transporting us around, cheering us on, and helping out in anyway possible! 

Manda, Me, and Mom

Copper Creek Sprint Triathlon

This past weekend Amanda and I went to Des Moines for the Copper Creek Sprint Triathlon in Pleasant Hill, IA, just outside Des Moines. This is the 3rd time I have competed in this race, the first two times were in 2009 and 2010 where I finished 6th and 5th, respectively. This is a fun and challenging sprint race which also has a nice prize purse for the top 3 which brings out some good competition. We got in late Friday night to my sister's house in Des Moines. On Saturday we went to the race course and got in a short swim and bike and picked up our race packets which included a free pair of CEP compression socks!

Race morning rolled around, I had my usual banana, Cookies N Cream PowerBar, and cup of coffee, along with a few PowerBar Cola gel blasts about 30 minutes before the race started. I got in a good 15 min bike warm-up along with a short 5-10 minute swim warm-up prior to the race.

Swim: 9:35 - 4th OA
The swim was 750 meters and went very well. I got out well and had a person on both sides of me heading toward the first buoy. We rounded the first buoy and then I settled in right on the feet of the one of the guys in front of me. I was able to maintain that position through the whole swim and finished the swim with four others all within a few seconds of each other.

T1: 1:06 - I transitioned well and started the bike right with another guy in first place

Bike: 29:22 - 2nd OA
I went back a forth a couple of times in the first couple miles with eventual race winner Daniel Bretscher but a few miles in, he pulled ahead of me and I wasn't able to pull him back in. I didn't let him get too far ahead though and didn't get passed by anyone else, although there were a handful of guys not far behind.

T2: 0:26 - I entered T2 in 2nd place and headed out on the run

Run: 17:35 - 3rd OA
I knew Daniel was a great runner and also knew there was some good competition behind me. I could see Daniel most of the way and kept trying to close the gap between us but was unable to do so. At the turn-around I was able to see the other guys weren't too far behind. I kept pushing hard the final mile and a half and held onto 2nd place overall!

Finish: 58:04 - 2nd Overall!

Me, Daniel, and Patrick on the podium

Amanda got 2nd in her age-group

Me and Amanda after the race

Overall, a great race, a nice confidence booster heading into some tough training over the next month, and some good family time with my sister Rachel, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew!