USAT Collegiate Nationals - TriathlonOlympic

Very slow swim. Before they would start us everyone had to have one hand on the floating dock. The dock was pretty small which meant the start was extremely cramped. It took me a long time to get a position. My goggles got kicked off early on which wasted time. My sighting on the out portion was right on but on the return portion I went off course many time. The swim seemed crowded the entire way. Poor performance and slow time. Difficult to get out of the water due to the steep muddy slope.

Work for a position early on rather than wait for people to get out of my way.

T1 was relatively quick and painless. I maybe wasted a second turning my Garmin on. Transition was at the bottom of an incline so mounting was crowded with struggling people. I ran up the hill and tried to do a flying mount but one of my shoes caught the ground and stopped me in my tracks. After hitting my junk on my saddle, I managed to get on my bike and get up to speed. Since I was still dizzy from the swim, getting into my shoes was a little difficult.

I have never needed to rubber band my shoes to keep them straight but I have never failed a flying mount until now either. Might be something to think about.

Went out harder on the first loop. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not seeing as I went all out regardless. I ended up passing/being passed by some of the same people the entire ride. Faded a little towards the end. I didn't ride aero for most of the bridge portion because the crosswinds were rather strong for that stretch and was blowing me around a tad.

Lots of team support near the beginning/turn around/end helped me push harder.

I rode with a bottle between my aerobars filled with gatorade and a little bit of water. It seemed to do the job. Felt like puking a couple times but I think that was due just to riding hard.

Get stronger on the bike.

The winding chute into transition was a little difficult to navigate while running with my bike. Everything went rather smoothly. I had people cheering for me on my way in and out which was great.

The start of the run was rough as I was still feeling pukey from the bike. Right calf cramped at the first(largest) hill which caused my foot to go numb as well. Right leg stayed like that the whole way which threw my stride off a little bit. Aid stations every mile provided two cups of water to sip and throw on myself to keep cool. I started to settle into a rhythm and get my legs back and pick up the pace. Some athletes were walking, stretching, or fading so I knew I could capitalize. The heat was oppressive to say the least but I managed to hammer home the last 2 miles. In the last 2 miles, I managed to pass some of the people who caught me on the bike. The headwind did wonders at keeping me cool and I felt confident I could finish strong. As I approached the parking lot of the Amphitheater I could see the finish and hear my teammates cheering for me. I sprinted the finish and managed to catch a few people in the process.

Run was slower than I would have like but still an improvement from last year. I didn't crack under the heat which is what I cared about. Improvements will come in time.

Sat down after the finish. My stomach was irritated from the intensity but I needed food and was dehydrated. I downed some gatorade and hung around for an hour or two. I kept drinking and ate some of the free Moe's and then took a nap under the Moe's tent. Kept drinking and then ate 3 packets of SportBeans(delicious!). Didn't get to eat much until later in the day but I pigged out.


Consistent training in the weeks leading up to the race. That is something I always need to work on.


Compared to last year, the expo, event, and all other aspects were infinitely better. The weather was hot, yet allowed for racing. I think all teams had a great time and many put on a great show. USAT really did a great job this year in my opinion. I was surprised to find out that there was already a complaint thread on ST hours after the race. I've done enough races to know that the start might vary by a few minutes or one leg might be a tad short or long. If people want to blame their performance on logistics, so be it.

In the end, I'm very proud of the Michigan team and I think we had a solid showing. My main goal was have a solid Olympic distance race with no GI issues unlike last year's Nats, and I accomplished it.

My finish time is nothing more than a representation of what I was able to accomplish on race day. My time could have been much better or much worse. Race times are highly susceptible to outside influence, and in my opinion most often represent your abilities to adapt to those influences in a high stress environment. This was was yet another opportunity to see how I've improved in this sport and to see what I still need to improve on to reach my potential.