USA Triathlon Age Group National Champion!!

This race report is coming a few days late as I have spent the past few days doing some final studying for the Registered Dietitian exam which I just took, and can thankfully say I passed! Rewinding to a week ago, I was doing some final race preparations and getting ready for the trip up to Milwaukee, WI for the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships. When I found out this race was going to be in Milwaukee this year, I knew I wanted to be there as it would be within driving distance of Cincinnati or Chicago.

Thursday, Amanda and I headed to Chicago after she got off work to stay with my mom for the night. Friday morning came and I got in my usual pre-race bike/run workout before heading up to Milwaukee. We went straight to the race site to get in a short swim in the lake. The water felt great, nice and cold, but not too cold. I tried out my new Orca 3.8 wetsuit for the 1st time and it felt great! We went and got our race packets, went back to the car to get the bikes, and took them back over to transition before heading back to the hotel for a little downtime before dinner.

Amanda and I the day before the race

We went to Carrabbas for dinner where we met up with my family. I had a good whole wheat spaghetti  dish with marinara sauce that had some spinach, mushrooms, and artichokes in it too. This capped off my usual 3 day carbohydrate load which I have found to be quite successful over the past few years. Back at the hotel, we got things together for the race, went down to the pool hotel to watch my almost 4 year old niece play in the water, and called it a night shortly thereafter.

Race morning rolled around with a wake-up call around 5:15 am. The first wave was going off at 7:30 but my wave wasn't scheduled to go off until 9:08 am. This meant we had plenty of time before the race but also meant that I needed to adjust my usual nutrition plan as I wouldn't be getting done until after 11. So I had my usual banana, then had a Oatmeal Raisin Harvest PowerBar during the car ride over to the race site. The harvest bars have about 5 grams of fiber in them which was just enough to hold me over for the morning. We found a good place to park not too far away from the transition area and headed over. With the bikes being checked in the night before and not being allowed to be brought out for a morning warm-up before the race, I deeded for the first time, to bring a trainer into transition with me. There's something about getting in a bike warm-up that just seems to help me have a better race, especially when it comes to Olympics (and sprints) where you're going hard right from the get-go. Tommy and I set up the trainer at the end of our rack. He hopped on for 10 minutes and then I got on for 10 minutes, riding mostly easy with a couple short pickups. Transition closed at 7:30, we walked back to the car to put the trainer and a few other odds and ends back in the car, and I grabbed my coffee that I hadn't had a chance to drink before. The race was delayed about 15 minutes which pushed my start time back to about 9:23. Amanda, Tommy, and I found a place to sit in the shade for a while and I drank my coffee and had my usual Cookies N Creme PowerBar.

45 minutes before the start of the race, I went for a short 5 minute run warm-up with Tommy just to get the legs loosened back up after sitting for a while. We checked our bags and got our wetsuits on and headed over to the start area. I ate a pack of PowerBar Cola gel blasts just to get a little something else in during the hour before the start. They sent us down the ramp which meant we had about 10 minutes or so before the start. We were able to get in the water for a short swim warm-up. The time had come and it was ready to race!

My plan going in was to give it everything I had and not leave anything on the course (seems like an obvious strategy, I know). But, with the format of starting with your age group versus going head-to-head with the other age-group elites like most other races I do, you have no idea where you are amongst the other racers so all you can do is go hard and leave it all on the course.

Swim: 19:49 - 67th Overall
The swim went pretty well. I had pretty clean water right out of the start but saw a couple guys from the right and left getting out ahead. I didn't worry about that too much and stayed close to a couple guys most of the way. There was a slight head current coming back but nothing too bad. Overall the swim was pretty uneventful. I exited up the steep ramp and made my way to T1.

T1: 1:46 

Bike: 55:13 - 1st Overall - 27 mph
My bike has been strong lately and I knew that's where I needed to really get to work and go for it. Right out of transition I started riding hard and quickly found a nice rhythm. I made my way up the first little hill and enjoyed the fast descent back down. The bike course was pretty well spread out and only a few times were there ever a group of people near each other. I continued riding strong, going through my aero bottle of Powerbar Perform relatively quickly and glad I had another half bottle on my frame that I ended up going through before the end of the bike. I came down the bridge and got ready to head into T2.

T2: 0:55 - coming up on my bike rack, there was only 1 other bike on my rack so it looked like I was sitting in 2nd place in my age division as I started the run.

Run: 35:09 - 19th Overall - 5:39/mi
I felt pretty good at the start of the run but wasn't sure how I would respond after the bike split. I started getting a slight cramp in my medial quad and decided to take a PowerBar gel before getting to the first aid station, a little before 1 mile into the run. This is something that I have incorporated into my racing this year that seems to really be helping. The run course was gorgeous, right along the lake for the first 1.5 miles before heading up to the main road, which was still right along the water. I found a nice rhythm and kept plugging away. I finally made my way to the final turnaround which was right around mile 4 and knew it was a straight shot all the way in. I wasn't sure if I had passed the guy in my age group or not until I came up on a guy and saw his race number around mile 4.5. At that point, I was pretty sure I was sitting 1st in my age group and started picking up the pace. I hit the 5 mile mark and just told myself to get to the last aid station, and then mile 6 and at that point I was still feeling good and through in another surge. I could finally see the finish and pickup up the pace even more to finish strong.

Finishing Strong! 

Finish: 1:52:54 - 1st Overall! 

All smiles after the race!

When I crossed the line, it appeared I had the fastest time thus far but there were still the 30-34's and 20-24's (along with the 17-19's) that started behind me. There wasn't anything that I could do about them though and I had raced hard and just had to wait and see what happened with them. I talked with my family and Tommy after he finished, and went and cheered on Amanda as she finished to a new PR! The guys that finished 2nd and 3rd OA came from the 20-24 and 17-19 age groups and were just seconds behind me (8 sec and 14 sec, respectively), they both have bright futures ahead of them!

Me and my family after the race!

We went back to the hotel, showered, and relaxed for a bit before heading to the awards ceremony.

1st place overall! 

Thanks Compex, Rudy Project, JayBird, and Body Glide for the SWAG!

After the awards, Amanda and I headed back to Chicago and decided to get a Lou Malnatis Deep Dish Pizza for a post race celebration! 

Thank you so much to my family for being there to support me, to my coach Alex McDonald with Fast Forward Triathlon for helping me get prepared for this season and this race, my individual sponsors PowerBar for keeping me properly fueled all season long during training and on the race course and Brooks for the great running shoes and gear, as well as FFT sponsors Computrainer, Rudy Project, and TrainingPeaks. Also thanks to Bob Duncan's Go Fast Multisport for getting my bike ready to go for the race! Thanks USA Triathlon for putting on a spectacular event. The race course was perfect and the race venue was very well set-up and organized. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone for next year! 

I'm letting my body recover for a few days this week before picking things back up for a week or so before tapering back down for the Hy-Vee Triathlon over Labor Day weekend in Des Moines. It will no doubt be another great test and I'm already looking forward to it! And after that, I'm excited to announce I will be guiding visually impaired triathlete Aaron Scheidies at the Paratriathlon World Championships being held in London in conjunction with the age-group and elite world championships being held there. 

It was great seeing so many of you this past weekend at Age Group Nationals!

Thanks for reading!

Colin Riley, MS, RD (only because I can officially use it effective today!) 

http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2013/8/081013-agnc-olympic-distance-results.aspx

Evergreen Lake Triathlon Race Report

This past Saturday I raced in the Evergreen Lake Triathlon near Bloomington, IL. I decided to do this race last minute (registered on Wednesday night!) after talking with my coach, Alex McDonald. This race is always really competitive for being a relatively small race in the middle of Illinois usually drawing a handful of pros and top age groupers. The race does have a nice $3500 prize purse to the top 3 males and females which makes for an exciting race. I have done this race multiple times before with my best finish coming in 2011 (5th place overall). After a great race at Leon's Triathlon, I felt confident going in and thought I at least had a chance at the podium.

I left Cincinnati Friday after doing my usual swim, bike, run pre-race workout and made it to the race site in good time. I picked up my packet, called Olive Garden to place a to-go order, picked up my order, ran into the grocery store to grab some bananas and a few other snacks for the night, and headed to the hotel. The rest of the night I relaxed and waited for my mom and George to get to the hotel so I could get to bed. It's always nice having my family at races to cheer me on.

Race morning rolled around, I had my typical Banana, Cookies 'n Creme PowerBar, and a cup of coffee and headed to the race site. I got set up in transition, took the bike out for a nice 15 minute warm-up with a few pickups to race pace and made sure everything was good to go in transition. There was apparently a swim warm-up that I missed while out doing my bike warm-up so I did a few arm swings to try and get loose. It was a non-wetsuit swim so I had on my Xterra Speed Suit that I got a few years back.

Just before the start of the swim

Swim: 21:21 - 5th OA

Pros Brian Rhodes, Brooks Cowan, and Thomas Gerlach were racing as well as Adam Zucco and Fast Forward Triathlon teammate Mike Pelechaty. I knew Rhodes, Brooks, and Mike were all good swimmers and Adam and Thomas had similar swim abilities. We were all lined up and took off at the start. I was behind Adam and Thomas initially before making a move to try and swim with the other 3 guys. Unfortunately, they got out too quick and I wasn't able to close the gap and hold on to their feet. This is something that has happened multiple times before. If I can just get my top end speed a little quicker and be able to hold on with these top swimmers, I would be in an even better position coming out of the water! I'm definitely making progress though as I didn't lose too much ground on them compared to previous years. About 1/4th of the way through the swim, I got passed by collegiate champ Michelle Mehnert so I tried hopping on her feet only to get dropper after a few strokes. I held my position the rest of the way and came out of the water in 5th overall (4th male). 

Coming out of the water, headed to T1

T1: 0:52 - Pretty quick transition, had to get my speedsuit off which cost a few seconds but definitely worth wearing it! 

In T1 getting the helmet on

Bike: 55:31 - 1st OA

I knew I was going to need to bike hard to try and close the gap from the swim and maybe even get some time going into the run. I passed Mike and Michelle pretty quickly, and closed in on Thomas. I passed him and could see the other 2 out in the distance. I stayed calm, rode hard, and slowly closed in on them over the course of the next 5-10 miles. I eventually passed Brooks and then Rhodes. Thomas was close behind me and he, Rhodes, and myself went back and forth a few times over the final 5-10 miles and came into T2 all together. Thomas got out of T1 ahead of me so I out split him on the bike by 2 seconds to claim the fastest bike split. 

T2: 0:39 - Quick transition and ready to pop out of T2 in 1st until I dropped my gel and decided to turn around and grab it. 

Run: 35:26 - 3rd OA

I came out of T2 right behind Rhodes and Gerlach and quickly passed both of them. I knew I needed to get going as Brooks and another competitor, Justin Roeder, could likely out run me. I felt good early on and tried to stay relaxed while keeping up a good solid pace. I grabbed a cup of water going through the 1st aid station took a small sip and poured the rest of me. It wasn't overly hot out but it was sunny and beginning to warm up so I knew keeping the water on me would help me stay cool. I took my gel shortly after that, around 1.5 miles in, and shortly after got passed by Brooks. I tried to stay with him but he opened up a nice lead over me. The course features 2 out and backs so you are able to see where you are and where the other guys behind you are. I made the first turn of the 1st out and back and could see Gerlach not too far behind me along with Rhodes, Roeder, and Zucco. It's always hard to tell how much time you have on them and how hard those guys behind you are running. I knew I needed to keep running hard to hold off the attack behind me. I trucked along and started feeling some fatigue around mile 5. I knew I was close so I just kept up the pace, getting water at the aid stations and pouring it on me to keep cool. I was starting to close in on Brooks a little bit but I think he was starting to let up as he had another race the next day and knew he had it wrapped up. I held onto 2nd place and a very solid performance. 

Nearing the finish! 

Finish: 1:53:51 - 2nd OA

Right after the race

Adam Zucco and I chatting after the race

FFT Teammate Mike Pelechaty and Me after the race

Top 3: Thomas Gerlach (3rd), Brooks Cowan (1st), and Myself (2nd)

I've got about 3.5 weeks until USAT age-group nationals which means about 2.5 weeks of good solid training before tapering down the week of the race. I haven't raced nationals for a few years so I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

Thanks for reading and happy training! 

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.