Nationals race recap

We had to rack our bikes and check them in the night before the race so we were able to sleep in a little longer on Saturday morning. We were on the road by 5am after getting up at 4:45 am. The race site was 35 minutes away and we were pretty quiet as a group the whole drive to the parking lot. We jumped on the bus and were off to the race site. Setting up transition was very smooth and I was off to see the start of Barry and others before I went off with my wave. The National Anthem was great and the first few waves were off in 4 minute delays. I then headed up to the tent were I had stashed my transition bag and stuff for the day. I went on a trail run for warm up and was pretty sweaty when I came back to put on my wet suit. I took my time and walked down the ramp to the water which was really low this year and staged myself with the rest of the blue swim caps.

We were ushered out on to the boat doc and lined up with someone yelling 90 seconds. At 1 minute we were allowed to jump in the water and hang on to the edge. The blow horn went off and the race was on. We only had 45 guys in our wave and so not much water fighting was going on for position. I started out strong with a medium build to race pace. I found some feet to follow for a while until my pace increased and I made a pass. I did have someone on my feet the whole race, he even let me know by slapping my toes about 50 times. I have never had someone draft off of me so I thought it was kind of cool. The swim was fast for me I came out of the water in 23:54 which was a PR. I felt good running up the swim ramp to T1 and had a smooth transition. I was on my bike and settled in for the 2 loop course that has very little flat areas. I fought hard to get up to pace and effort as soon as I could. I had a few guy from my age group pass me and I found one to jump onto and hang with the whole time. I was a better climber and he was a little stronger and pushed pass me on the flats before the next climb. I think we played cat and mouse a little too much and if you pull my results you will see a 2:00 penalty. The guy I was racing with was also hit with a 2min penalty. I am pretty sure that we worked it a little too much. I was able to see Sonja, Jenna, and a few other on the bike course and it was fun to yell some words of encouragement. The guys that I was racing with at this invite only race were great, I was moving at a good pace both up and down on my bike and I was getting passed by others often. I was impressed because I turned in a good bike time and still I was getting rocked. I finished the 2 laps not remembering to pull my feet out of my shoes. I had a very short window to pull them out and get ready for T2 and was glad that I made it. My bike time ended up a 1:08:51 which was 21.7 MPH. Again the course was not flat and so I would say that my bike was a huge PR. T2 was slow for me, I decided to open a water bottle and take a swig before I headed out onto the run.

We had a climb right at the start of the run and so I took it pretty slow. The run course was an out and back with 4 good hills to climb each way. At mile one I was feeling good and by mile 2 I pushed my pace up. I was strong on the climb up the hills and was sitting forward on the downhills. At the turn around I had not been passed by anyone in my age group for awhile and I was feeling really good. I climbed to the top of the hill which was mile 4 and then turned it up a notch again. I was really proud that I was able to push a little faster and just past mile 5 Sonja passed me. She was flying and so I settled down and jumped on to her pace. It took me a while to get the speed up but I was able to keep her in sight most of the last mile. The last 800 meters was a turn back to the Transition and the finish shoot. We had a pretty good downhill and as I make another turn at 600 meters I was passed by someone in my age group really flying. I did not want to be passed by him so I jumped on and held stride with him 3 steps back. We had to make a right turn to the finish shoot which was 200 meters to the finish line. I decided that I would make my move at that last turn and kick it all the way to the finish line. He heard me coming and by the time I passed him he was in a full kick with me. We crossed the line right at the same time and the results show us at a tie if I did not get my penalty. I blew up the last 50 feet and just about passed out at the end. I was able to get to a chair and calm down and a few minutes later I was able to get up and go and cheer the rest of the group in. I finished my run in 47:02 and was very pleased with the race. My official time was 2:24:23 and if you take the 2min penalty off I was a 2:22:23 which is a huge PR for me. I was really pleased with the day and left everything I had on the course. I could have not given any more and really felt happy.

Thanks so much Steve and Andrea from PC and the rest of the group for helping me make my first Nationals such a great race. I really love the sport and can even say I am looking forward to next year. I am thankful to my family for letting me go and I hope some day we can afford to have you all come watch. For those that qualified for Worlds great job I am proud to say that I train with you.
I look forward to the off season and the opportunity to build a better, faster Tyler. Now on to the off season where we build strength, make changes and spend much needed time with the family. I am looking forward to this time and wish everyone good luck.

Love you Anne,

T

Pics have been provided by the best in the business Eric Willis. Thanks for making the weekend one we will remember forever.