Earlier in the year I came across this race online and liked the idea of being able to race an ITU style event early in the year. With Armed Forces Tri being draft legal I thought it would be a good idea to have another draft legal race on my application for the AF Tri Team. Applications are due 15 April, so most of the races on there come from the year prior, so having some current races can give the coach a good idea of what kind of shape you are in. They only select 10 males and 6 females, so it is pretty competitive.
I know you are wondering how I am able to race a collegiate race. Well the only requirement was to be under 29 and be a full time student. Embry Riddle considers someone full time if they are taking 2 online classes at once and since they are in a 9 week period, let me tell you it is a lot of work. I also contacted one of my AF teammates and told her about the race. Erin is currently in a program for Physical Therapy that is ran by the Army and Baylor University. So she is in full time student status as well. In her words, we were the "Old kids crashing the college Tri".
The race was on Sunday and they held a race brief on Saturday. They decided earlier in the week to cancel the swim due to the water being in the high 40's and replaced it with a 1.5 mile run. They also opened up the race to the public and not just college kids, and with that a local pro from San Antonio showed up with his wife who was a college student. The womens field only had 8 girls and the men had 25, so they decided to combine the field. They wanted to move the start time up of the mens race but I asked to keep it the same so that it would be a little warmer and the winds would hopefully be a bit stronger. I had found out that the two other "fast" guys were superb runners, which meant I would have to have a heck of a bike to try and get a win. We pre rode the course with a few others after the brief and that is where I got the intel on the other two guys. I talked with both of them and they both said the other guy was the one to beat.
Run 1- 1.5 miles-
They started us outside of the transition area about 200m down the road from the park trail. Most of the run was on single paved trail through the park, so getting a good start was crucial. I got out front and then about 1/4 mile in was passed by the two strong runners. I didn't go with them and stayed back with a few other guys. I came into T1 19 seconds back on the two leaders and was fine with that.
Bike 20K-
I did not strap into my shoes for about 5 minutes. I worked on bridging to 3rd place and had already dropped the 5th place guy that came into T1 with me. Once I got strapped into my shoes I attacked the 3rd place guy and it took me about a lap to bridge to the first two guys. I was going to wait till 2 laps to go to attack them and try to get a gap but at the start of the 2nd lap we went to pass a lapped rider and I looked back and already had a decent gap coming out of the corner. At that point I thought it was a good opportunity to attack and I kept the gap and kept building it over the remaining laps. I came into T2 12 seconds up on 2nd and 1 minute 32 seconds on 3rd.
Run 5K-
I was quickly passed by 2nd place and just stayed focus on running a solid 5K. I didn't know how big my gap was on 3rd kept checking over my shoulder. I did not see him when I looked back during the first lap so did not know what happened. On the second lap there were more people on the course and I couldn't find him. With a little over half mile to go all I heard was some heavy feet stomping behind me and someone panting heavily. I was under control but did not know where he came from. We ran side by side for the last half mile and I out kicked him in the last 100m to end up 2nd on the day.
Run 1-1.5mi - 8:41 (4th) (http://app.strava.com/activities/43978053)
T1- 0:26 (2nd)
Bike 20K- 32:09 (1st) (http://app.strava.com/activities/43976128)
T2- 0:29 (5th)
Run 5K- 18:09 (4th) (http://app.strava.com/activities/43979109)
Total 59:55 (2nd)
Overall I was really happy with how the day went. I thought I played my cards right and did what I had to do to try and win. I just wasn't the best athlete out there, and I got beat by a great college kid Scott Wilkinson. I think he will have a great race a collegiate nats and has a bright future in triathlon ahead of him. I also realized that I cannot get complacent on the run and have to stay focused, I almost lost 2nd place by not focusing on the task at hand and just settling for 2nd. I should have continued to push hard knowing that the 3rd place guy, Mark Saroni was charging hard.
Training is going well and looking forward to the upcoming races!
Thanks again for all of the support from my family and friends and from my sponsors/supporters! HED Cycling, FRS, Honey Stinger, ISM Saddles, Clever Training, FW Cycling and Fitness, and of course TEAM RWB!
The top 5 men and women!
In Erins words "We crashed the college Tri Du and cleaned up" Congrats on taking 3rd Erin, on a bummed knee and all!
No comments:
Post a Comment