Bluff Creek Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

The Iowa team got out in front at the start. The water was really shallow
so we ran in for a good 25 yards before even having to dive in. I actually started
laughing about how silly we looked running in like this. Looking back it turns out
that all the other collegiate racers dove in right away while we were still running.
The swim was a straight up mess. I was all over the place using other swimmers
as my sighting. It wasn’t until 200m in that I realized I hadn’t even looked for the
buoys or anything. I finally started trying to settle in from the chop that we had
and get into a rhythm. With such a small wave it was hard to find people my
speed. I rounded the halfway point and nobody had passed me from the wave
behind me yet! I must have been having a good swim.
Once I rounded the second to last buoy I turned and could see the finish.
Remembering that we had to keep the red buoys to our right and that the last
one was further to my right I disregarded it and swam straight home. I figured
this would allow me to cut some distance since I still was keeping the buoy to my
right I wasn’t in any trouble. With about 200m left a kayak started sitting next to
me. He wasn’t doing anything so I was a little confused but he kept with me.
After another 100m of this he finally told me I had to swim around the red buoy.
This confused and frustrated me because I was told I didn’t have to do this and
the fact that he sat with me for so long before telling me. I turned and swam
around the buoy and into the finish. I got up and started making my way to
transition.

Sight based off of the course instead of other swimmers. Get faster, yet still I don't train more swimming......

Transition was pretty quick. I had a little trouble with my ankles getting
caught in my wetsuit but who doesn’t? As I pulled my bike out of transition the
pedals got caught and switched it up so my left leg was forward not my right. I
luckily was able to get right on and go without any problem. I got my shoes on
and was ready to go.

Rubber-bands to hold shoes in right spot.

I ripped apart the bike, simple as that. I got going into the wind and was
pushing a good 21mph. I knew it was going to pick up when I got tailwind so I
knew it was going to be fast. I made my way past the women and turned off on
the new road and the wind got quiet. Suddenly nobody was ahead of me.
Where were all the guys? I couldn’t see anybody for over a mile up; did they all
make a wrong turn? I figured they had a gap and I needed to close it, a goal I
had told myself I needed to improve on. I shifted up and gunned it, something
that happened a lot on the bike during the race. My speed picked up quite fast to
29mph and I started eyeing down Twister Hill.
As I came to the top of the hill there was a sign telling us to descend with
caution. I had told people I wanted to break 50mph down it. I said, “Screw that!”
dropped down a gear and hit the hill and watched my speed go up. At one point I
looked down to see 47mph! The fastest I had ever reached before this was 44.5
so it was a rush. I finally stopped pedaling, tucked in and got as aero as
possible. Later I found out I hit 48.5mph down the hill! When I came around the
bottom I looked up the hill and saw a pack on their way up the hill. This was my
chance, I kept going, settling into a smooth cadence and climbed the hill with
ease. I got to the top and got going again. The only rider that even challenged
me for the day passed me and took off the front. I started going again and made
my turn onto the last road preparing to see the lead pack.
The first person I saw was Kyle up in front. I knew he would be first out of
the water but he still held the lead on the bike. This was good news for me
because I can out bike and outrun him. I started looking for the pack and they
were another minute back. I saw the turnaround but the fact that I was still
behind the chase group by about a minute or so meant I needed to push. When
we hit the turnaround the wind got us and I gunned it. I kept a strong gear and
dug down and worked my way up the group. I hit the turnaround in 10th and the
second half was going to be more about strength than speed.
I made my way past a few riders so that when I got to the hill on the way
back up the main chasers were right in front of me. I again kept a good cadence
up it and got right back up to speed at the top. I was riding at the chase groups
pace at this point which wasn’t going to work; I needed to pass them. I shifted up
a gear and told myself this was time for strength not speed. I pushed passed
them and got into fifth place on the way back into transition. Each time that I
picked up the pace I would hit a corner and look back to see how I did. I left
people in the dust! Nobody was even contending what I was doing on the bike!
This was probably the most powerful ride I’ve done and the most I’ve enjoyed the
ride because things were working.

Honestly? Nothing. It went awesome!

I had trouble in transition putting on my sock upside down. I got it on right
and got heading out on the run; time for some fun!

Put sock on right side up first off!

Most of the races I’ve done I go out too fast on the run and blow up after a
mile. I started a little reserved on this and told myself I had 6.2 miles to do this.
My legs never felt like they could kick but I was settled and comfortable. Each
mile I was gaining on everybody other than one guy in yellow who kept pulling
away. Even the leader wasn’t gaining much ground on me. I kept seeing Kyle
and telling myself that I could catch him because I was feeling pretty good.
When I hit the last turnaround I picked it up a little. I needed a strong finish and I
had two miles to do it. With a little less than a mile left I kicked it up a little more.
I was tired but it felt good to lay it out there. I could see myself catching one of
the runners but not enough. This is the first run I’ve ever done where I didn’t
catch or get caught by anybody. I sat in fifth place the whole time, even though
the runners behind me were falling back and the runners in front were getting
slower. I finished up and was pretty exhausted.

Challenge more of a kick on second lap. For not pushing too hard I had a really good run!

My final time was 2:16:16, which was pretty shocking for me. I really ran
and biked well and couldn’t figure out how I didn’t cut off more time. I got my
splits and realized something was up with the swim. My swim was over 31
minutes; there is no way that can be right for me so the swim must have been
long. Had the swim been the same distance as at nationals and I did a 26-minute
swim I would have finished with a time of 2:11:00!
My bike and run splits were awesome for the course. My bike was
1:05:51 put me in the top ten bike splits for the day for the second time in my
career. This time I had the THIRD fastest bike split of the day; the fastest
collegiate by over two minutes. I really tore it up on the course so it wouldn’t
surprise me on that. I set a goal at the beginning of the year to make more
moves on the bike this year and it really happened at this race. I was dropping
everybody behind me. I also told myself that I needed to break 38:00 on the run
at some point this year. I got off the bike and ran a 37:34! I didn’t even feel like I
had a full effort on the run but I kept it together. I had to remind myself that even
if I’m having a bad day on the run it is still a good run. I was having a decent run
and it turned out to be a great run split! I ended up with the third fastest run of
the day and the fastest collegiate run by almost two minutes. If only I could get
that swim down.
I finished with 2nd place collegiate and I believe 5th overall. I was quite
impressed with this finish when I feared I would only break top 20. For now it is
back to resting my knee and improving the swim.


Swimming......


Love the Bluff Creek race! Just wish more people would come and do it. Has a really good location and they do a great job of organizing it.