Age Group Nationals

My early season hopes included securing a 70.3 Worlds slot at Boise in June and following that up with Mt. Tremblant in September.  Long story short, the spot in Boise didn't happen and I changed my race focus mid season.  Following Boise, I rode out my fitness for about two weeks until Deuces Wild in Show Low.  I had a decent race there, but suffered on the run.  I decided Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee at the beginning of August would be my next race.  I had six weeks after Deuces to find some short course speed.

I did work; lots of it.

Fast forward to August, we were off to Milwaukee.

This sport requires a lot of crap!

This was the first time I'd ever raced at a national event; I was excited and nervous. I knew the best of the best would be here.  I was impressed with the swag to start.

Compression socks and a nice pullover.

Friday we headed out for a warm up ride/run followed by a nice swim in Lake Michigan. 

Is this silly helmet really necessary? 

Gorgeous swim venue!

Ready to roll.

Bags packed; time to sleep.

We got a simple dinner of chicken, rice, and some veggies and got to bed early.  I woke up race morning and was excited to race; this is always a desired mood.  I had an early breakfast sometime during the ridiculous 4 o'clock hour consisting of almond butter on gluten free bread, a hard boiled egg, a banana, and coffee.

Calming my pre-race nerves with pictures.

I got in a warm up jog, took down a bottle of UCAN, dropped off my bag, and it was GO TIME.  I got lucky being the second wave to start.  I was definitely nervous, I knew these girls were going to be fast from start to finish.  I lined up in the front and off we went.  There was a lot of craziness in the first 200 yards and then it mellowed out; I would say I swam with a pack of 2-3 girls, which was exciting for me.  I bridged a gap to someone around the last buoy and sat on her feet the whole way back.  There was another girl that dropped all of us; I think she had about 45 seconds on us out of the water.  I had a quick and easy transition and was off on the bike.  The bike was fun; there were a couple of short climbs and we got to ride up and over an awesome bridge in downtown Milwaukee.  You head out to a suburban area before turning around and I got to see Brian heading the other way.  I headed back in for another quick transition to the run.  Oh...the run. I had a decent first half and then I lost steam; I still struggle with the back half of that 10K.  I got passed a lot and it was hard to not check out.  I saw Brian when I was at about mile 4.5 which lifted my spirits and I told myself to finish strong.  I finished in 20th, qualifying me for Worlds!  It was a great race and a PR for me, but I was irked by my run.

This short stuff hurts!

Great to see Joan & Bryan at the finish.

We both had great races & PRs.

We headed out for some food and headed back to the hotel to clean up.  We had to get back downtown for the sprint bike check-in that afternoon.  It's weird to rack your bike again right after racing, but it was definitely worth it.  After checking our bikes back in, we headed over so I could sign up for Worlds!!

See you in Chicago!

Helping the legs recover between races!

The day flew by and it was time to sleep.  I woke up feeling pretty good with just a little stiffness.  I got in another early breakfast of almond butter, banana, a hard boiled egg, and coffee.  I was less nervous on Sunday, but I'm not really sure why.  I got in a warm up run, took my UCAN, and was luckily the second wave again.  The swim seemed so short and I pretty much swam with one other girl the whole time and we came out 1-2.  A very quick transition and we were on the bike.  My legs were definitely lacking some spark, but I pushed with what I had.  I came into T2 with three or four other girls and thought maybe two to three more were out in front somewhere.  I racked my bike quickly and ran out with a pack of girls.  One got out in front of me and I worked to bridge the gap and then made the pass.  There's a short out and back and I looked forward to seeing how many girls were ahead of me.  One, two...wait, that's it; I was in third?! I couldn't believe it.  I got really excited and then I made the turn around and saw how many were coming for me.  Around 2.5 miles I could feel yesterday's race and was starting to lose pace a bit.  I started to hear footsteps getting closer behind me, but refused to turn around and see how close she really was.  I put my head down and ran as hard as I could; I wasn't going to give up third that easily.  The finish chute was pretty long and as I ran in a guy yelled, you're third and it's in the bag.  I was too scared to let up, but it definitely put a smile on my face.  They announced me as third for 35-39; yay success!

Great days for both of us!  We both qualified for Worlds!

My first race with these fancy tattoos!

We headed out for some celebratory food before heading to the award ceremony. 

We do NOT mess around with food.  Yes, those are fried pickles and no it wasn't gluten free and I loved it!

The awards ceremony was really neat.  There are some ridiculously fast girls (and guys) in this sport. The overall sprint was won by a 16 year old and my Tri Scottsdale teammate Adrienne, who is 45 & will kick your butt, was 3rd overall.  I love this sport!

The icing on a really great race weekend.

Our loot from the weekend.

2015 USAT Nationals are being held in Milwaukee again and I highly recommend going if you have the opportunity.  The venue is great and the competition is steep.  I can't wait to race at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Chicago next September!


Thank you to Muscle Milk, Tri Scottsdale, Zoot, Tribe Multisport, and Fitletic for the support!