Bluff Creek MWCTC Qualifier

Race prep:
Last Saturday myself and four of my Trihawk teammates (Kyle, Zach, Duncan, and Farrah) traveled across Iowa to race at Bluff Creek.  We got into Boone, IA during the afternoon and began setting up our campsite.  The race was about 2.5 hours away from home so we all decided that we'd camp there the night before.  Although camping usually isn't the most comfortable sleeping situation ever it sure is fun!

Race day:

Because we camped at the race site we were able to sleep in a little bit...if waking up at 6am is considered sleeping in.  My race as a whole went pretty well but I did learn one thing...and that is the old rule of "you cant win the race on the swim but you sure can lose it".  Although I wasn't expecting to win the race I wanted to lower my PR and my bad swim put me in a hole that I was trying to make up all day.  My swim was 4.5 minutes slower than my swim at Nationals.  I hate making excuses for a bad performance but there was a lot of cloud cover which made the buoys hard to see, the course was set up in a weird way so it was a little bit confusing, and I threw up during the swim.  Yes thats right, about half way through the swim while turning my head to take a breath and I puked.  I didn't feel it coming it just kinda happened.  I've never puked during a race before so it kinda freaked me out...I felt bad for the people behind me who had to swim through it...I'm sorry! But after looking at the results of my teammates it looked like everyones swim was about 3-5 minutes slower than Nationals, so that made me feel a little bit better about my own performance.

Swim start with the Trihawks already out in front

My race struggles continued on the bike.  It was a great course with a couple monster hills but the 20mph wind made it very difficult at times.  I got off the 41.3K bike course in 1:12:27...only :35 seconds slower than my PR and on a slightly longer course with a lot of wind and hills I was happy with that.  When I got off the bike I decided that I'd try as hard as I could to get myself out of the whole that I put myself into on the swim.  I felt great until about the last half mile.  I cut off just under 3 minutes off my run at Nationals.  I went 41:42 (6:43 min/mile) which was a new run PR so I was/still am excited about it.  I also set a PR in transition which added up to be 67 seconds faster than any other race that I've done.  Getting that free time is always a plus. My overall time was 2:23:42...missing my PR but only 10 seconds.  My slow swim really hurt me and I wasn't able to make up the deficit.  As a whole I had a blast at Bluff Creek, I'm already looking forward to racing there again, and I'm looking forward to my upcoming races.

Start of the bike portion

The Collegiate National Championship Triathlon

Race prep:

This past weekend I traveled down to Tuscaloosa, AL with the Trihawks Triathlon Team of the University of Iowa.  The 13 hour drive, each way, was well worth it! We got into town on Thursday, after driving through the night, shortly after noon.  We unpacked and got right on our bikes. We had to stretch our legs out after sitting for 13 hours.  We went for a short ride through the University of Alabama's campus...which is absolutely beautiful! On Friday morning we biked the run course and then went to the expo.  At the expo we got a bunch a sweet swag and checked out the cool amphitheater! After getting our goodie bags we jumped into the river and practice a little bit on the swim course. The water was in the low 60's and felt great in the wetsuit. The rest of the day was all about putting your feet up and relaxing. We had put in the work and now it was time to get mentally prepared.

Race day:

There is no morning like race morning.  Waking up at 4:15 is always hard...but on race morning its the easiest thing you'll do all day.  We packed up our gear and drove to the race site.  Checking in and setting up transition is always a meticulous process.  The girls race started first this year, so at 7:30 the Trihawks guys and I watched the girls start their race.  The first wave of guys then started at 10:30, with 5 minutes in between each wave....I was in the 4th wave so I started at 10:50.

I HATE open water swimming but this years race I was extremely calm...which set up a great race! I got out of the 1.5K swim in 23:02 minutes (1:25/100). That swim was 4 minutes faster than my swim split last year! I continued to drop time off of last years race averaging 20.8 mph on the 40K bike. 1:11 on the bike was 11 minutes faster than the race last year.  My run continued the theme of having a great race and I continued to drop more time. I was starting to feel the hills and was running slower then I would've liked but I was still loving every second...or 44 minutes of it. I dropped 10 minutes off last years race running the 10K at 7:12/mile.  I finished with a total time of 2:23:32...bettering my PR by 24 minutes! I'd call that a pretty successful race.

For my third race ever, and only second Olympic distance, I couldn't have been more happy with my performance!  The hours of sacrifice and preparation was totally worth it! I accomplished all of the goals that I set for this race, so crossing the finish line felt awesome.  This summer I'm looking to continue dropping my PR and qualifying for next years Collegiate National Championship.

Finish line

First Post!

After last weekends Collegiate National Championship Triathlon race I've decided to start this blog to keep people up-to-date about the incredible race I had and the upcoming races I plan on doing this summer too!