Getting in Gear

Wow.  With respect to the weather, this winter has seemed abnormally long.  However, on the other hand I feel like I blinked and the off season had come to a screeching halt.  With my first outdoor triathlons of the season coming up this weekend (yes, multiple...), it's high time for a blog update! 

As the title of the post suggests, I've been spending the past few weeks "getting in gear" both figuratively and literally.  A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be able to make it down to Manassas, VA for the annual Team Rev3 summit- along with about 45 of the coolest and most inspiring people I know!  It was a blast to bond with both the new and returning team members before the Rev3 season kicks off in Knoxville next month.  We also received our new kits for the season, and as usual the Pearl Izumi custom department outdid themselves with those.  I'm so excited to rock mine this year!  With the addition of a new team visor, a couple of shirts, a Polar bottle, and a wealth of exciting information about where Rev3 is going as a company, I definitely headed home feeling like a very lucky girl to be back with the Rev3 team this year.

But this coming weekend is all about my other team... the Wisconsin Triathlon Team, which has been more like a family to me over my 6 years as a grad student at UW.  I'm back in Tempe for what will be my final Collegiate National Championships.  And just like last year, I'll be racing "the triple":

Friday, 11 a.m.- Individual Draft-legal Sprint
Saturday, 7:30 a.m.- Individual Olympic distance (non-drafting)
Saturday, 4 p.m.- Draft-legal Mixed Team Relay

Of course, I always want to do well and leave the race course with no regrets, no doubts about whether I could have pushed any harder.  But my primary goal this year is just to enjoy the experience, no matter the outcome.  As I had anticipated late last year, my training this spring has been much less consistent than I would've liked due to work/school priorities.  My practice performances haven't been too bad, just (again) a bit inconsistent. My running has probably been, relatively, the best of the three.  However, it is where I am most likely to suffer due to heat.  The women race first in the Olympic distance this year, so hopefully I will be ok and be able to race to my ability level.  But coming from Madison, where 40F still seems like a warm day right now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. 

To make up for my somewhat shaky confidence in my current fitness, I've been doing the best I can to prepare my equipment well and ready myself for the tactical parts of the races.  I'm absolutely a detail-oriented person, and there are a ton of details involved in executing these races.  Competing in the two draft-legal races requires a road bike and helmet, so I'm traveling with even more equipment than usual.  Taking the time to think through each part of each race, including strategy, possible scenarios I might be in, and each piece of gear I might use is a valuable exercise- I'd recommend a similar process to anyone else who might be facing a bit of pre-race anxiety.  Looking after all of these little details helps to calm me down, help me focus, and help me feel more mentally prepared for the challenge at hand.  Once I'm out on the course, it's time to just be in the moment, enjoy the journey, and let the results follow.

Thanks to a quick tune-up from Pete at Rocket Bicycle Studio, Denali is ready to play!

The Badgers have almost 30 athletes competing this year, and our coach (and my own coach) Bill also made the trip down to help us out.  Since this is a collegiate championship, I'll be racing in Badger red, white, and black all weekend (along with a few Team Rev3 tats and accessories when possible). In addition to on my own social media accounts, you can follow along with our adventures here:

Team twitter: @WisconsinTri
Event twitter: #USATCN14
Team Facebook
USA Triathlon coverage (DL- live blog, Olympic- live stream)

Go Badgers!

Rev3 Dells

The Dells.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time- since the race last year, even more when I was selected onto the Rev3 age group team in December, even more when it was confirmed as a Midwest Collegiate Conference race again in January/February, etc.  The excitement has been building.  For a while, I wasn't sure whether to tackle the epic half course, or compete in the Olympic so I could do the collegiate race.  The exact plan wasn't finalized until a couple of weeks before the race, but all along I had planned for it to be an "A" race, and wanted to be firing on all cylinders.

The quick summary:  I had an okay race.  Not a great one.  But I certainly did put everything I had on the day into it.  And I came out with a great finish- 2nd overall amateur in a race with a pro prize purse of over $20k, which meant that my finish qualified me to apply for a USAT elite license ("pro card").  But I know I am fitter right now than I showed on Sunday, I believe I can be much better than I am right now, and I WILL have to be much better before I will feel comfortable moving up.  There are a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head right now.  So this is less a race report than a reflection about how the race fits into the rest of my life.  Those of you who know me know that I like to be thorough, so this is a particularly long post- feel free to skip around; I tried to make that easy.  Grab a cup of coffee and settle in.

Background

My last tri was the Pewaukee Olympic 4 weeks ago, though it seems like it's been much longer than that.  A lot has happened outside of my triathlon life.  I had an incredibly stressful ~ week-and-a-half long period soon after that race in which I did very little other than work.  I skipped almost all of my workouts, and the couple that I did do were cut very short.  I got just enough sleep to remain functional on large doses of caffeine, and I stress-ate my way through a lot of mint M&Ms, Topperstix, and the like.  Looking back, I'm surprised that I didn't end up very sick.  I got through it, a little worse for the wear and without time to really build fitness for the Dells, but with enough time to get back into the swing of things.  Accordingly, I mentally downgraded the Dells race from an "A" race to a "have fun, go hard, and see what happens" race.

WORTH IT.

One thing that has been in the back of my mind for a while now-- almost since I started the sport, really-- is the possibility of one day racing as a pro triathlete.  I kept this pretty quiet the first few years, afraid to really own it publicly until it seemed more tangible.  It was a dream, not a goal, too far away to seriously consider. I have continued to make steady progress each year, and last year I began to mention the subject to my coach and a few close friends.  Coach B. and I also took it into account as an outside possibility in planning my 2013 season.  I wouldn't be chasing qualification, but I'd put myself into a position to qualify at a few races if things went well.  There are a number of ways to qualify for an elite license through USA Triathlon, but one of the most straightforward was to place within the top 3 amateurs at a race that had a pro race in the same format offering a total prize purse of at least $20k.  I had figured that the Dells would be one of my best chances to qualify, between the timing of the race in the year and USAT's unfortunate placement of the Olympic distance age group national championships in Milwaukee the day before (don't get me started on that).

Pre-race

I caught a ride up to Wisconsin Dells on Friday afternoon with Rev3 teammate Ron and his family, who were coming from the Chicago area.  Up there we met up with teammate Ryan, who proved to be a good buddy since he was also traveling solo (my Wisconsin Tri Team friends wouldn't arrive until Saturday).  Friday night festivities included dinner with the extended team and staff and a trip to the Tommy Bartlett water show, which was pretty cool!

Saturday brought a nice slate of Rev3 activities, including the morning official practice swim, blueseventy "worst wetsuit contest," and swim clinic with super pro Cameron Dye. In the afternoon I met up with Coach Bill and buddy Ansel to check out the run course by bike.  There were some good hills, but on the bike it's easy to underestimate some of the smaller rollers, and I fell victim to this.  Momentum doesn't carry you as far on foot as it does on a bike-- but more on that later.

Game time

Despite a beautiful few days leading up to the race, the morning forecast didn't look promising, and by the time transition closed, it was raining steadily.  I have of course had plenty of practice racing in the rain this year between Rev3 Knoxville, Triple-T, and Rockford, so I thought little of it except that I'd have to corner more cautiously on the bike.

Swim. The swim start was time-trial start by twos, and the age group women were sent off immediately after the age group men.  I love to have people to chase, so I placed myself about 15 women back in the line. I felt pretty strong the first half, and felt like I was swimming fast despite having to weave through the back 2/3 of the age group men.  On the return stretch I could feel my recent lack of swim yardage coming back to bite me a bit, so I just tried to stay focused and maintain turnover the best I could.  I relaxed quite a bit in the last 100m trying to bring my heart rate down before the beast of hill that leads up to transition.  It didn't seem to work.  I took my wetsuit off immediately, like I usually do for long T1s, but as I started "running" up the hill my stomach retched repeatedly, threatening to expel my breakfast.  I kept moving and managed to keep everything down, but I really need to get the situation figured out soon since it seems to happen almost without fail whenever T1 involves a good hill.  From talking with other athletes it seems that swim times included the run uphill to transition, which makes my particularly slow split make more sense.

up the dang hill and getting my bearings back

Bike.  I got my legs back under me pretty quickly, and this turned out to be one of my better rides of the year, power-wise.  However, at the end of the day it's not the numbers on the device that matter- it's how fast you get from point A to point B.  And my split was not as fast as I'd have liked it to be.  So, where did I lose time?  

1. Corners.  I still can't get myself to corner well on wet roads.  Why?  I haven't practiced it in training.  I always end up thinking "I don't want to wipe out on a training ride."  But there's no way to get more comfortable with it other than to practice.

2. First half mile/last half mile.  There were a number of bumps leading between transition and the main road, as well as a few big puddles.  I could've stormed through them quite a bit faster.

Still, I am happy with the ride.  I felt strong, and held my position in the field pretty well. Since the run route out faced the bike route in I got to cheer for a few friends who were up ahead, and that was great!

Riding is fun, rain or no rain.

Run. I felt pretty strong, steady, and under control in the first miles.  There's not a lot of net elevation change until the long hill at about 2.5 miles, but the steep parts of the little rollers each zapped a bit of strength from me.  I haven't done much hill-specific work this season, so that might have been a contributor to the problem.  The long hill near halfway was the only out-and-back section on the new run course, and therefore the best chance to see where everyone was.  The lead female was quite a way in front of me, but the next female behind me wasn't too far.  On the second half of the run, I used that knowledge to keep pushing through the pain as my wheels were coming off.  Each hill took longer and longer for me to recover from, but there's no walking when you're being hunted from behind. 

yep, can tell this was taken in the first 2 miles

The last significant hill on the run course was on Adams St. at 5 miles.  It just about killed me.  Afterward, my whole body felt weak and my brain did everything it could to keep my limbs moving forward along the rollers of Wisconsin Dells Pkwy.  Approaching the last turn onto Lake, someone cheered for us "girls." Uh, oh, plural.  Sure enough, just after the turn the woman I'd spotted earlier charged past me.  I couldn't match her pace, but I picked mine up as much as I could and prayed for the end to come swiftly.  I should've checked out the configuration of the finishing chute beforehand, because it twisted around for what seemed like the longest 100m or so of my life.  Like at Lake Mills, I felt everything start to come up as I ran towards the line, so I don't really want to see my finisher picture.  I didn't quite make it to a trash can.  Oops.  I'm getting pretty good at scaring spectators and volunteers.  Sorry, everyone.

Post-race

I knew a lot of  people at this race, and it was great to catch up with so many of them! If I missed you, I apologize!

It turns out that with the time trial start, I was actually 10 seconds faster than the girl who passed me before in the last quarter mile, so I came in second overall.  I'm so happy I didn't ease off at any point on the run, because it would have been really, really easy to lose those 10 seconds.

As always, Rev3 gave their award winners ridiculous amounts of cool stuff!

I also learned that coach Wild Bill qualified for his elite license as well by taking 3rd OA on the men's side- this has been a long time coming, and I am sooo happy for him!

Thanks to having the generous Mr. Cagle as my ride back to Madison, I was able to stick around to help start cleaning up the expo area and cheer in the final Half Rev finisher.  The final finisher is a big deal at Rev3- this person has worked hard for longer than anyone else out on the course.  At so many races, the back of the pack seem to be forgotten about, left to fend for themselves. People pack up aid stations and finish lines and head out.  Not so with Rev3-- the final finisher is where the party is at! After hearing about it and seeing videos from other races, I'm so glad I was able to participate in this for myself.

Congratulations, Robert!

What's next?

Qualifying for the elite license was a good milestone.  But I don't want to be in the pro field just to finish-- I want to compete.  I want to be in the race, in the mix, not dangling off of the back.  Whenever I move up, I want it to be clear that I belong there.  Do I expect to be winning pro races?  Certainly not.  It's not about winning.  It's about being pushed to new levels, about becoming the best athlete I can be.  Right now, my swim and bike splits pretty consistently put me in the mix with the back third of the pro field.  On my good running days, I am about even with the last pros.  But on my bad running days, I'm WAY off the back.  My running has been better on the whole this year, and good more often than in the past, but frankly it's not yet where it needs to be to race at an elite level.

I think I can get it there, but I'm not sure how soon. One of the nice things about elite qualification is that an athlete has a year from the date of qualification to apply for the elite license.  My current life timeline has me finishing my dissertation and defending my PhD next May, and at this point in my life that has to be the priority over athletics.  Will I continue to train the best I can while working on it?  Yes.  But when time runs short and the two butt heads, I will be choosing academics.  So I'm not sure where I will be able to have my fitness at come next spring, and I will be holding off applying for the elite license for now.  If I'm at the level  I need to be at to move up, I should be able to re-qualify anyway.  I'm still young (relatively :) ).  I've got time!

Thanks

Lastly, I just want to recognize some of the people who have helped me get to this point on the journey.  Be prepared, things are about to get a little bit sappy...

My amazing family, for their unflinching support in whatever crazy endeavor I've been hooked on over the years. I love you more than you could ever know.

My coach, Bill.  We've been through a lot of ups and downs over the past 4+ years, personally and professionally.  The things I think are most valuable in a coaching relationship are 1) trust, and 2) open communication.  You are fantastic at both with all of your athletes, and I have faith that you will keep me moving in the right direction.  To the rest of the SBR coaches: Jessica, Kory, Kitty, Scott; plus Pete at Rocket Bikes: I appreciate all of your help and your feedback. You always make me feel valued and welcome, even when I pepper you with questions.

My newest team, Team Rev3.  I don't know if I can say enough.  Thank you for welcoming me with open arms and letting me be a part of the family.  You are some of the kindest, funniest people I know, and it is an honor to be part of your ranks. The same goes for the Rev3 staff.  I believe in what you do, and you do an incredible job.  The Team Rev3 sponsors: PowerBar, Pearl Izumi, blueseventy, SBR Sports, Biotta Juices,  Compex, NormaTec, Quintana Roo, Reynolds.  Thanks for keeping us happy, healthy, comfortable, and fast!

The Wisconsin Triathlon Team, past ("UW Triathlon Team" :) ) and present.  You keep me motivated, inspired, and having fun, day in and day out.  When I joined, I knew next to nothing about the sport.  Now I get to pass on some of the things I've learned to the people who are just discovering it.  Each of you brings a little something different to the table, and that's what makes us such a strong group.

Last but certainly not least: all of the incredible friends that I've met through this sport-- particularly the collegiate athletes, and those from the Madison tri scene: the folks out at Endurance House, the Race Day Events clan, my friends over at Team BBMC, and more others than I can name.  Training and racing wouldn't be the same without you.

Onward to the rest of 2013.  Let's make it great.

Good Times in the MWCTC

June is coming to a close, and the racing season is now well under way in the Midwest Collegiate Tri Conference!  The Midwest conference is made up of schools in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin.  In all there are between 12 and 20 schools depending on how you count, with official membership reserved for teams that are USA Triathlon member clubs in good standing with their schools.  Collegiate racing and my recently completed term as the conference commissioner have given me the chance to meet some fantastic people from across the region.  It's fun to have an added team element to racing in this mainly individual sport, and to have a network of friends at races throughout the year.  This year the first two conference races were in our neck of the woods earlier in the month, so I took the opportunity to help the Badgers start earning some points!  Since I was racing for Wisconsin as well as Team Rev3 these 2 weekends, I did my best to represent both with some kit mixing and matching :)

Team pre-race cheer. Look at all those sexy BlueSeventy suits!

Elkhart Lake Triathlon
Wisconsin had a pretty big group head up to represent us at this race.  It was my third time there, and this year was by far the coolest (yay).  Our collegiate wave started 3 min behind the elite wave, and the rest of the age groupers began in time-trial fashion after us.  After a fairly rough first few hundred meters, I found some clear water and settled in by myself for pretty much the whole swim, knowing that a few people were way too far up to catch and not really knowing where anyone else was.  I swam a little too far right of the buoy line on the way in, but could tell I was catching the back of the elite wave so things had to be going decently well.  I came out of the water with my teammate David, who had a fantastic swim.  With a very quick wetsuit removal thanks to my Trislide, though, I passed him before transition even though he is a much faster runner.  I did my best to calm my breathing after climbing the steep hill to the racks and had a pretty smooth transition onto the bike.

One of the nice things (for me, anyway) about this "Olympic" distance race is that the bike is slightly longer than normal- 28 miles of rolling hills.  A couple of fast guys including Iowan Jack Parr and super runner Patrick Brady whizzed by me in the first 5 miles, but aside from that it was a pretty lonely ride with just me and my PowerTap.  I felt strong and just focused on holding speed wherever I could without spiking the effort too much on the hills.  The ride flew by quickly, and before I knew it I was back at transition sliding into my new Pearl Izumi Tri N1's.

Thanks to PB's "Paularazzi" for catching me out of T2!

On the way out of transition, a friend yelled that a female was 30 seconds up.  I had no idea whether this person was elite or collegiate, but I got to work and tried to start reeling her in.  My stride actually felt pretty good, and I felt under control on this cool day- a nice change from past races here.  The woman up ahead looked very strong, but to my surprise and delight, she wasn't getting away- I was inching closer.  I knew all of the hard parts of the course were still ahead in miles 2-5, so I tried to keep myself in check instead of getting too excited.  I saw a lot of friends on the out and back section, and cheering for them helped to keep me cheery as well- funny how that works!  On this section it became clear that one woman (Lauren Jensen) had a sizable lead, but the two of us were the next females.  We hit a section with a few short steep uphills that took quite a bit out of my legs, and I fought to hold the margin.  The big hill on this course is at ~ mile 4.5, so I prepared to take that really hard and see where it got me.  It turned out I didn't have quite enough left- my companion slowly slipped farther away.  I've still got some work to do on my hill running.  I ended up turning in the second fastest time of the day, though, after accounting for start times.  Since I had entered the collegiate division instead of elite, I wasn't eligible for prize money and instead won the "age group" race.  But it was nice to be out there representing the Badgers and know that I was right in the mix with some fast women! Congrats to Lauren on the win- she's an inspiration, and a reminder that I have plenty of time to improve.
splits: 23:10/ 1:57/ 1:18:02/ 1:40/ 45:32, total: 2:30:21

As a side note, it's really useful to repeat a race multiple years as a way to track progress.  Conditions are a bit different for every race, obviously, but some comparisons can still be made.  Bike splits tend to be most stable from year to year since swim courses must be re-set every year, and the run is most affected by differences in temperature.  Here is a slice of data from my races at Elkhart:

2011- bike 1:24:05, total 2:42:14
2012- bike 1:20:25, total 2:36:50
2013- bike: 1:18:02, total 2:30:21

The lesson... consistent training pays off!  Sometimes it's hard to see the improvements we are making until we take a step back.  Trust your coach, trust the process, and be patient!

Rockford Triathlon
The drive was only an hour to this one, so I decided to wake up dark and early (3a.m.!) to drive down with a couple teammates and take the opportunity to sleep in my own bed.  It rained for most of the drive, and the forecast didn't look promising, but this year I've gotten quite used to racing in dreary conditions.  The major detrimental effect of the rain on the race seemed to be that it scared away many volunteers, leaving it pretty short-handed.  More on that soon...

The collegiate wave started first.  It was a joint conference race with the Mideast and Midwest conferences, so the wave was pretty large and it was fun to see some different teams represented (Illinois, etc) in addition to the usual suspects (Iowa State and friends).  The swim was 2 loops in a small lake that was very weedy on the back stretch. After 1 loop, each athlete had to run out of the water across a timing mat on the beach before heading back in.  It was nice to see this in place to make sure that everyone did the full course- I'm always of the opinion that the more timing mats on the course, the better!  I felt okay but was excited to get out of the water.

There was a long run up to transition, and part of it wasn't marked so I wasn't sure which path to take.  Fortunately some people at the top of the hill (volunteers? spectators?) spotted me looking around and starting to follow the sidewalk, and yelled to redirect me straight up the hill. At least one speedy runner (my friend Kris, the eventual collegiate winner!) passed me in transition, but in general it went smoothly.

Trying to get my bearings leaving T1, and looking
pretty thrilled with the rain (ha!)

The bike course was a gently rolling out and back with a narrow turnaround in the middle of a 2 lane road. I've improved my cornering confidence a lot lately, but wet roads are still enough to kill it right now.  I lost a good chunk of time unclipping to scoot around the cone safely.  Oops.  Aside from that I seemed to be holding my place in the field well- I passed two very fast swimming Minnesota girls early, and not many guys were coming by me.  I was struggling to get my power up where I wanted it, and after a while just stopped looking at the computer and rode by feel the best I could.  My cycling legs showed up the last week, but they must have stayed in bed today!  It's hard to nail every piece of the puzzle each time. A quick T2 and I was out for the most challenging part of the race.

Unlike the run at Elkhart there were no giant hills on this course, but the small hills were one after the other with barely any flat stretches.  The run was a big loop with a short "stick" to and from the transition/finish area and a short out-and-back at about halfway.  My teammate Jim had passed me late in the bike and was still relatively close at the beginning of the run, so I did my best to keep him in sight as long as possible.  The roads around the lake loop were quiet, and I quickly noticed that there were no directional arrows or signs at the places were other roads split from or crossed the course.  I had looked at the maps the night before, but it was still a bit disconcerting not to have confirmation that I was going the right way.  I relied a large part on which way the guys in the distance turned in front of me.  No mile markers either... I was relieved to reach the out and back section to know how far I was!  The course was pretty, though, my legs felt strong even on the uphills, and I was holding the distance to a Minnesota male a little bit in front of me.  In fact, I saw him glance back periodically throughout the run, which made me think I had a chance at catching him and helped to keep me pushing hard on the lonely stretches.  I held things together well and still never caught him, but it was a good battle!
splits: 23:13/ 2:14/ 1:08:23/ 0:45/ 43:57, total: 2:18:35

Heading into the finish. Another perk of having friends from other teams?
More people to take pictures.  Thanks Matt!

A minute or two after I finished, I was confused to see a couple of Iowa guys who had been a decent bit in front of me halfway through the run just crossing the line.  Huh?  As it turned out, a number of males had overshot an unmarked turn and added about 3/4 mile or so to their runs. As a USAT sanctioned event, it was a race rule that it is the athlete's responsibility to know the course... but this was an unfortunate situation since there were no markings.  A number of athletes wanted times adjusted, which I understand, but there was no fair way to decide how much time to give to particular athletes, even if the USAT rule wasn't in effect.  The bike course had been very well marked, so I'm not sure what happened with the run course.  I felt bad for the race staff, though, who were clearly working hard and doing their best on the day with the very limited help available.  Unfortunately without enough volunteers to help corral the relay racers, too, timing had also gotten very confused due to athletes walking across mats when they shouldn't have.  The end result was that times and splits couldn't be finalized quickly enough to determine placings and awards that morning.  So we finished catching up with our fellow racers, enjoyed some warm post-race sandwiches (welcome on the still fairly chilly morning), packed up, and headed back home. 

As a nice surprise, I was finally able to meet Rev3 teammie Laura, whose husband was racing that morning too.  Pretty cool!

These races wrapped up a big block for me. The next one on the calendar right now is Pewaukee in mid July, then Rev3 Wisconsin Dells in August!  I may not be able to resist sneaking something else in there too, we'll see.  For now it's time to get both some solid training done and some good academic work in.  I'm actually currently visiting at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to work on a project- but I'll have to wait until I get back to Wisconsin to post pics, since I forgot my camera cord and my phone camera pales in comparison.  Something to look forward to!

Collegiate Nationals Wrap-up

The USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships, or Collegiate Nats, is an event that I look forward to every year.  As someone who both 1) didn't find the sport of triathlon until grad school and 2) used up their NCAA eligibility in undergrad (rowing), I have been very lucky and grateful that triathlon is a club sport that allows grad students up to age 28 to participate.  My primary training partners and some of my favorite people in Wisconsin are from the Wisconsin Tri Team.  Team members brought me into the sport and showed me the ropes, and it's a pleasure for me to now be able to do the same for other members of the team.  Any chance to race with them is always a good time, so of course there's no way I would have missed Nats in Tempe, AZ this year.  In addition to the chance to race/bond with my team all weekend, it's also a chance for me to meet up with other friends I've made from around the country through my involvement with the USAT Collegiate Committee and other aspects of the sport.  It's also just a great race to be a spectator at.  Schools are known to dress up in crazy outfits, and the spirit everywhere is unique and really special.

The Badger "scooter gang" at Collegiate Nats in Tuscaloosa, 2012

Collegiate Nats has continued to grow and change every year along with collegiate triathlon in general.  The field of college age triathletes keeps getting larger and deeper in talent.  USAT has identified the college years as a missing piece of the Olympic triathlete development pipeline in the U.S., as many talented young triathletes have typically chosen to swim or run in NCAA programs in college and put triathlon on hold.  Another complication for developing successful Olympic athletes is that most triathlons in the U.S. are a non-drafting format, while the Olympics are a draft-legal, "ITU style" looped format with a different set of rules and required skill set. Women's triathlon is currently looking promising as an NCAA emerging sport, but the implementation of that would still be a few years away.  In the early years of collegiate triathlon competition there was just one national championship race every year, a non-drafting Olympic distance race.  To help bridge the gaps between junior elite triathlon competition (which is ITU style), U-25 (formerly U-23) and pro/elite ITU racing, USAT has increasing been working to incorporate draft-legal racing into collegiate tri.  Last year at Collegiate Nats the first ever draft-legal collegiate race was held- a mixed team relay, to help draw a large number of participants and create interest and excitement among the collegiate athletes.  The race was a success, so USAT kept it plus added another race this year- an individual draft-legal sprint race.  It was decided that the mixed relay would be kept just for fun/bragging rights, but the individual draft-legal race would be scored.  Individuals could then be scored for a combined draft-legal + non-drafting championship, and team scores would be made up of the top 4 non-drafting scores + the top draft-legal score per team per gender.  Game changer!

Suddenly the weekend got a lot more complicated for teams.  The nature of draft-legal (DL) races requires them to have much smaller fields than the non-drafting race, so only a few people per team, at most, would be racing those.  The draft-legal athletes were also required to be on road bikes instead of tri bikes, and some other types of aero gear (helmets and wheels) were allowed for the Olympic race but not for the DL ones.  Between picking which athletes would go in which races, getting all the gear for ~20 people across the country, and then shuffling athletes between races and hotel and meetings and airports all weekend, the team definitely had a logistical challenge, and as one of the lucky few athletes who had chosen/was chosen to do all 3 races, I was flying around all weekend.  As a result I missed catching up with a few people I'd wanted to meet up with, but the weekend was still a blast!

Weekend bonus: getting to hang out with my sister Aeryn, who lives near Tempe.  She even had a sweet little care package waiting for me upon arrival late Wednesday night!

On to the race reports!

Friday a.m.: Individual draft-legal sprint

This was quite a new experience for me, and was honestly the part of the weekend I was most terrified about.  I did the DL mixed relay at last year's Collegiate Nats and have completed a handful of collegiate cycling road races and criteriums, but something about draft-legal tri was very intimidating.  I think my concern was that it is SO tactical that I knew I'd have to do a great job adjust my plan on the fly to put Wisconsin in the best finish position.  My teammate Ellie would be in the same race.  Since only one person per team counted towards the team score, we tried to plan out what each of us would do in a dozen different scenarios to ensure that our first person finished well while our second wouldn't end up too tuckered out for the Olympic distance the next day.  Ellie and I were pretty close in ability on the swim and run, with her having the edge on the swim and myself on the run, so things would depend a lot on where we each ended up on the bike.  The distances for the race were half an Olympic, so 750m swim/20k bike/5k run.

It was fun to show up and see all of our names on our individual spots in the transition area- it felt very "pro."  I'm sorry I forgot to get a picture of mine! After watching our teammate Robbie race in the men's race (he did great!) it was time for us to line up.  Unlike the men's race, we weren't allowed to wear wetsuits-- the water had warmed up half a degree to be just over the cut-off.  We entered the water by number, which had basically been assigned randomly, and chose starting spots along a wall for a push start. The swim course was a strange kind of loop and a half, and it was crowded the whole time.  I got flustered and ended up swimming sloppily, but near the end I spotted a flash of white a few meters ahead and suspected it was Ellie.  I tried to stay with her and ended up chasing her up the metal stairs 4 seconds behind, with the 13th best swim at 12:04.  Transition was fast and furious. I didn't do a flying mount since I hadn't been practicing it, so I hit the bike with my shoes already on and started to hammer to catch the girls in front of me.

working with a few companions on the bike

The bike course consisted of 4 5k laps, with a small hill at the far end of each and a 180 at the end closer to transition.  Less than half a mile in I came by Ellie, who was having some trouble getting her feet in her bike shoes.  I yelled encouragement as I passed, but knew it was in our best interest for me to keep chasing the couple girls I saw just up the road.  As a much stronger swim/biker than I am a runner, and also knowing that a hard bike would hurt my legs less for the rest of the weekend than a hard run, I tried to use the bike to advance as far as I could.  I flew by a few weaker cyclists, and after 2 laps found myself part of a strong group of 5 for a while.  Still a bit gassed from my long chase, I missed the boat when two of them made a move off the front.  In fact, in an in-race first for me, I found myself throwing up off the side of my bike (luckily missing it and my leg) on lap 3.  Oops.  Still not quite sure what that was about, but I felt a little better afterwards.  I stuck with the remaining 2 girls for the remainder of the ride, contributing to the pace-setting when I could (which honestly was not often by that point).  I was trying to save a little bit of energy for the run, and both other girls seemed a little fresher than I was.  I was off the bike in 33:44 (6th best) after a tricky flying dismount around a U turn into transition.  Eesh!
 
The day had grown quite hot by this point, in the high eighties and the sun was shining brightly.  Coming out of transition the Air Force Academy girl (Sam Morrison) took off like she was running a 100m dash, so I was content to just let her go.  Meanwhile, the UCLA girl and I swapped places a couple times over the 2 lap, virtually out-and-back run.  I felt pretty strong considering the heat and the hard bike, and there was a big gap to the next girls behind us.  I made sure to yell to Ellie as I passed so she would know she could bring it in easy.  The course must have been slightly long, because no one ended up breaking 20 and there were definitely a number of very fast girls in that field.  Thankful for the gap behind me, I brought it home in a pretty comfortable tempo pace for the 9th fastest run at 23:06 as well as a 9th place finish at 1:10:08.  After that, the focus changed quickly changed to recovery, and I made sure to spend some quality time in the NormaTec recovery boot tent :) Still on tap for the the rest of the day was a mixed relay briefing, Collegiate Committee meeting, and pasta party with the team at Tempe Marketplace, so I had to spend a bit more time on my feet but tried to stay as loose as possible.

Ellie and I post sprint: Wisco girls showing a little Rev3 love

Saturday a.m.: Olympic distance

The girls were slated to go second again- the men started at 7:30, while the first wave of women was at 10:50.  I enjoyed cheering for my teammates and some other Midwest conference friends at various points on the course: T1 exit, swim exit, bike, run finish.  The day was quickly heating up as the men were finishing, and after our top 4 were in it was time for me to "warm" up. Ha.  Managing heat was, as usual, a major concern for our team at this race.  I opted to wear my white arm coolers, which had helped a lot in some of my more successful hot races in recent years like Vegas in 2011.

I started on the inside of the swim course, a long rectangle, and stayed there throughout.  In fact, I think I was a bit too far to the inside at many points, because the bulk of the field seemed pretty far away.  Needless to say, I didn't find anyone to draft.  My lats felt tired (from the poor swim the day before?) and I never found a groove, so I just tried to keep turning over.  I couldn't wait to get out of the water and onto my bike. After watching countless men slip on the metal swim exit steps earlier in the morning, I was happy to make it out without incident. Time: 23:26.

The transition area was really large and the ends of the bike racks were not numbered, but lucklily I'd taken careful note of the landmarks near mine.  The 40k course was 2 laps with 2 180 degree turns on each.  My bike legs felt pretty good right away, but I kept an eye on my power to avoid going out too hard.  Even riding fairly conservatively I passed quite a few girls in the first 15 minutes of the ride, which was fun. The first 180 was a couple lanes wide and was no problem, especially on the first lap.  The second one bordered on ridiculous: the width of just a car lane + bike lane, bounded on each side by a curb (no room for error!).  We hadn't previewed this part of the course, and I panicked slightly when I saw it on the first lap, unclipping one foot to ensure I could complete it safely.  On the second lap, I started to pass through slower girls on their first lap who started in late waves, so some of the turns got a bit congested.  Luckily I hit the second 180 on my own the second time, and gritted my teeth and made it through with a hard lean, without unclipping.  Whew.  About 45 min into the ride I ran out of water... darn desert.  My legs wanted to push a bit harder, but I decided to play it safe considering the very hot run coming up, and eased off a bit. Time: 1:00:54, 17th best (the course turned out to only be 22.4 miles-of course they shortened my favorite part :/ ).

enjoying the cheers at the end of lap 1

The run course was a single big 10k loop that went across the river for a long stretch.  Through the course of the bike I had moved up into the top 25 and came out of T2 right behind Tess Amer, a Colorado athlete who I knew was very good.  Awesome!  My legs actually felt pretty solid and I focused on my cadence.  We went along at a quick but manageable pace.  My heart rate started to feel like it was climbing, though, as my body heated up.  The first aid station was a mile in, and I yelled ahead for the things I wanted, but the ice arrived a little too late.  I plowed through without it, not wanting to let Tess get away.  Half a mile later, however, I felt my temp spiking and slowed a little to keep things under control.  It was 90* and the run had zero shade.  From then on, my run was damage control.  I'd lost my little baggie of salt tablets somewhere in T2, so I had to wing it.  At every aid station I drank Gatorade for the electrolytes; poured water on my head, jersey, and arm coolers; and grabbed as much ice as I could.  I had to walk a little to pick up everything.  Ice went down the sports bra, under the hat (I'd worn a full cap specifically to carry ice), even some down the shorts.  I held ice in my hands, in my mouth, anything I could think of to try to cool off.  It helped a little bit, and I was able to increase my pace after each aid station, only to begin crashing again a few minutes later.  Girls were starting to stream by me and I was just doing my best to keep it together, both physically and mentally.  Many parts of the run, particularly the part across the river, were quiet and a bit lonely- just us girls and our demons.  On a short out a back section near mile 4 I spotted my friend Alison from Iowa, a speedy runner, a minute or two down from me and made it a goal to try to hold her off.  Finally near mile 5 we hit the last stretch and ran into a few spectators to lift our spirits.  I spotted Kevin, the collegiate committee chair, and made a quick joke as I ran by.  Alison passed me close to the 6 mile mark and I did my best to summon an extra gear into the finish line.  Time: 48:39.  Certainly slow for me, but not as bad a blow-up as the year the girls started second in Tuscaloosa.  Thank goodness for that...

Final result: 2:15:34, 37th out of 406.  In hindsight, I think I should've found a way to carry a third water bottle on the bike, and/or slowed down at the first aid station for ice and more fluids.  Aside from that, I think I managed the heat as best as I knew how.  It's so hard every year to have a national championship in a hot place in April while there is often still snow on the ground in Wisconsin- no time to acclimate.  But we are not the only school in this position, and just have to do the best we can.

I have a history of heat issues at this point, ending up in the med tent both years in Tuscaloosa, in 2011 at Vegas, and last year at Door County.  If I don't end up in medical, does it mean I could/should have gone harder?  I don't know.  Is that an unhealthy criterion to judge by?  Maybe.

Saturday p.m.: Mixed Team Relay

By the time I finished my lengthy stay in the ice bath, got food, and watched a few more teammates finish, it was already time to get ready for the afternoon relay.  This meant scrubbing off race number tattoos and applying new ones, switching my pedals back to the road bike, putting number stickers on my road helmet and a new swim cap, fetching timing straps for myself and my teammates, etc.  Crazy.  I checked to make sure my brakes weren't rubbing, since the bike had been handled several times by a couple different people since the race the day before.  Everything seemed fine.  The race consisted of teams of 4 from each school.  Each person completed a 250m swim, 5k bike, and 1.2k run before tagging the next person on their team.  The order was female/male/female/male, and I would be leading our team off.

Swim: this was the most physical swim I have ever been in.  I was crawling over people and bring clawed at from the minute the horn sounded.  It was a struggle just to breathe in all the splashing.  My being-coordinated streak came to a crashing halt as I slipped not once, but twice climbing out of the water on the metal stairs. Yowtch. I dashed out, grabbed my bike, hopped on and felt a little bit of a shimmy. "Tire pressure must be a little low," I thought as I gently took the left turn onto the road.

Low was an understatement.  As soon as I started to turn I felt the rear wheel slide out from beneath me.  Instinctively I tried to correct it by jamming myself the other way, but the tire wouldn't let me stick it.  Instead, I wobbled briefly before coming down on the pavement on my other side.  GET UP.  Luckily I got out of the way without any of the girls hitting me.  I felt the rear tire: completely flat.  Well, that explained the crash.  Other than that, the bike looked ok.  Some of my teammates ran over as I looked around helplessly.  Was there neutral support?  Can I keep going?  Soon I was handed a wheel.  Everything was a blur.  I must have lost a minute or two; everyone else was long gone.  But I finally hopped back on the bike to some cheers and tore off in an adrenaline-fueled frenzy to the now-familiar 5k loop.  Surprisingly I caught and blew by one girl, but the rest of the field wasn't even in sight.  I felt kind of stupid all by myself but treated it like a crazy TT in my drops.  As I passed by transition at the end of the loop I heard teammates screaming that we were still in- go, go, go!  Coming off the bike I could see a few girls ahead in the distance and set off in hot pursuit.  In a run this short, there was nothing to save- it was full gas the whole way. To my surprise and delight I managed to squeeze by a couple more girls before tagging my teammate Alex.  Hey, at least we weren't last!  I always enjoy having something to chase.  Alex, Mali, and David all did great and brought us past a few more teams by the end. 

I ended up 6th in the individual combined standings (draft-legal + Olympic) and the team ended up  16th overall, with 13th place for the women and 21st for the men.  Not too bad for a Midwest team, but I know we can do even better.  I was recently elected president of the team for next year, and I have some big goals for us :)

Some of the team accepting our award for UW Rec Sports Club of the Year!  A week post Nationals.

The awards ceremony that evening was a good time as always, and our team found a few others to celebrate with (shout out to UW-Eau Claire).  I held my last meeting as Midwest Collegiate Commissioner, a position I will miss despite all the work.  It has allowed me to meet so many amazing people over the past 2 years.  In my final year as a collegiate athlete (I better finish my doctorate next summer!!!) I'm excited to have such a great team and great friends, and to really savor the experience.

On Wisconsin!