USAT Age Group National Championships - TriathlonOlympic

I have only had two other in-water wave starts in my racing career and neither was as packed and aggressive as this at the start. Everyone (and I literally mean EVERYONE) wanted to be at the front. My normal race strategy is to start in the front, rocket out ahead of the group and then settle in to a good hard pace for the rest of the swim. I was an All-American swimmer in college and this strategy is an important part of my race. Unfortunately everyone kept squeezing each other out of the front line and I ended up in the middle of a large pack and was relegated to everyone else's slow pace for the entire first quarter of the swim. I am too nice of a guy to grab people and push them out of the way or swim over them so I had to go with it. As it was going on I was thinking it was fine because I would just pull away when things opened up, but that never happened. I don't really know what the problem was but when I was in the last quarter of the race I realized that I just wasn't putting in the effort that I normally do on the swim and I was in the mix with everyone else instead of out front. I think that getting out so slow at the beginning just killed my mojo. I am normally right around 20 minutes on an OLY with a wetsuit and was expecting to be pretty close to 19:30 today based on my recent swim fitness. My only saving grace for the rest of the race was that I didn't wear a watch in the swim and didn't know how disappointing my swim split was until I finished the race.

Start on the end of the line at the start. I would have had to swim significantly further, but I still would have been able to get to the first Buoy ahead of 99% of the group.

It was a big transition area with so many bikes that you really had to know where yours was or you would get lost (some friends of mine had that problem). I planned ahead really well and, after watching the endurance films video of the bike course, I knew this would be a problem so I scoped it out beforehand and used the flags on the edge of transition to get me close to my bike, and then used a bright orange towel laid on the ground in front of my bike to make it really easy to find. This was also my first race since I cut the bottom of my wetsuit off, it now goes down to about mid-calf and is WAY easier to take off.

Nothing, I nailed it for my race plan.

I thought I had a good plan going in based on the bike course and expected weather conditions... The weatherman was completely wrong. I expected a mild headwind for the first half of the ride with a course profile that trended upwards, then a mild tailwind for the return trip with a downhill trend. Expecting this I concluded that most people would be very fast on the way home and the best way to get an advantage would be to push the first half. I pushed it more like a 15 mile race than a 25 miler. The wind ended up being a different direction and a bit stronger than predicted so we had crosswinds the entire way, and the downhill trend on the way home was much exaggerated in my opinion. I didn't realize this until after I had already pushed hard at the beginning, but that alone wouldn't have been too much of a problem for me, I would have just been a little less aggressive on the second half to compensate.. if I wasn't blinded by fury at the draft pack formed off my rear wheel! By itself the pack didn't bother me, I was out there to push myself and test myself against the course, if people beat me (however they accomplish it) I don't care too much as long as I put together a great race and finish well. The problem that enraged me was that the draft pack WAS affecting my individual effort. They (about 6 riders) would hang off my rear wheel in full draft mode until a motorbike would approach (which happened fairly often, the officials made a good effort). To avoid a drafting penalty for being in my zone, they would pass me instead of falling back. Once in front of me and not getting the advantage of my 190 pound frame blocking the wind they would then slow down. I have no interest in drafting and would feel as though I wasted the past several months of training if I used someone else's draft to gain an advantage, so I would literally have to hit the brakes to fall out of the draft zone quickly enough to avoid a penalty (since the refs were always there at this point, hence the pass). It would have been bad enough have to do that for a single rider, but I had to slow down long enough for the full pack to pass me and get over 4 bike-lengths ahead before I could resume my race. Then I would have to continue going slower than I wanted to until the right opportunity arose and I had enough energy to pass the entire group again. I couldn't go one bike at a time because they were too close together. Then after I passed I kept thinking that if I pushed the pace for a mile or two I would drop them and I could be free of the group, but they would always be there, hanging off my wheel. This happened at least 8 or more times, and all on the second half of the ride when the group formed back there. The repeated surges really took it out of me and I paid for it later.

All my friends said I should have just ridden my own pace and not hit the brakes for those guys, but then I would have had several drafting penalties since the refs were always there, and I really wanted to see what I was capable of doing on my own without being diluted by someone else's effort. I have never had this problem before because I have always been way ahead after the swim and stayed for enough ahead that I didn't have to worry about it, but combine a poor swim by me with a strong field and it is a recipe for disaster. I guess I need to emphasize swimming a little more next year and try to get out front early because I can't see any other solution other than slowing down for good and having a sub-optimal bike split. That is really not an option for me though because I am a weaker runner and need every second I can get on the bike.

Smooth and fast again, tried to keep it relaxed because I knew the big hill was coming immediately and I didn't want to spike my HR before I even got there. The only problem is that the run out of T2 was so long that I don't know where the run course actually started. I finally started my Garmin at the bottom of the hill but I was obviously wrong because my watch time and race time were off. I need to scope that out better next time.

Go through the "Run Out" at least once before the race.

The splits are my mile splits not including the first .2 or so (I didn't know where the run actually started, don't think it was marked). I tried to relax up the first hill but I was suffering even over 10 minute pace. The first 3 miles I was just trying to settle into some type of rhythm, it quickly became obvious that I over-worked the bike. I normally work really hard on the bike but feel pretty decent on the run (I kinda suck at running anyway), but today I was hurting and having trouble breathing from the start. At mile 3 I finally stopped to walk for about 30 seconds to let my HR settle down and try to catch my breath, it had been painful to breathe for the past mile and I knew I couldn't continue at that pace. The last few miles were just about gritting my teeth and pushing as hard as I possibly could to salvage my race. I knew the run would be when people started passing me, but I had hoped the proverbial flood gates wouldn't open up like this! I dropped from 14th overall after the bike to 81st overall at the finish. A goal of mine was to finish top 18 in my AG because that is how you qualify for the National Team. By the finish I had seen enough calves to realize that I was probably cutting it REALLY close, and I was right. I got a little kick as I ran the last .25 and almost caught an AG competitor who had passed me earlier, but the real excitement came on the last 100 yards or so when I heard someone sprinting up behind me. I had been in this exact same position in 2 other races this year and knew I had the kick to beat almost anyone if I was willing to suffer that much. I accepted the suffering and sprinted it home, crossing the finish line less than half a second ahead of the challenger. To make it even sweeter I found out later that he was in my AG... and we were racing for 18th place! Just like a Hollywood script, a two hour+ race came down to a sprint finish for the last spot on the National Team. Though the race didn't go as I had hoped, that was a good way to end my Tri season.

Be a better runner, not blow it on the bike.

I jogged back down the course about a quarter mile and cheered along some finishers while I waited for friends who were in later waves.


Lack of experience in championship triathlons (not being prepared for a mass start or drafting on the bike), weakness on the run


My goal going in was to be under 2:06, but I really thought I should be under 2:04 with good execution. I can't be too disappointed with a 2:06:15 with poor execution, but I really wanted to come away feeling like I raced the best I am capable of and I am confident I didn't do that. In fact I think it was one of my worst races all year, only my tapering allowed me to have a best time. A secondary goal of mine was to get a 10K PR on the run because I felt like I improved my run speed significantly since I set that PR (40:48) and I should be able to beat that on a fairly easy course. The 43 minute run, while not too far off my PR, is a major disappointment. I will be spending my offseason exclusively running so I don't have to feel like this again.