USAT NATIONAL AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS ----- 2nd by 15 seconds

In looking back at any race effort you usually can find 16 seconds in a 2+ hour race that you could have cut out.  Less fumble in the transitions.  Push the swim/bike/run/you-name-it just a little harder.  At the end of the day, it's all OK, as long as you made the best combination of emotional, physical, and mental effort you could make on that day. I was beaten by 15 seconds in the USAT National Age Group Triathlon Championships held Saturday August 10th in Milwaukee with a time of 2:22:23 on a beautiful day for racing.  I was excited about the result given that I was not where I had planned to be with my run fitness. Optimal fitness, emotional and mental readiness at this level of racing are crucial as finishing places can be separated by narrow margins of just seconds. For example, I've finished second twice (by 24 seconds and now 15 seconds) and won twice (by 12 seconds and 1 minute)  at these National Championships.

FINISHING CHUTE ON RIGHT, I 794 IN BACKGROUND

Just how did I end up in Milwaukee racing at the National Championships? I had originally planned on racing in the ITU World DU Championships representing USA in Ottawa, Canada. It was held on the same weekend as the USAT National Championships, so I could not do both and figured the ITU race was more prestigious.  But, if you have read any of my previous posts, you know I have had my share of running related injuries which limited my run training to weekly averages between zero and 13 miles.  And, those miles were in races.  So, I decided my best chance for a podium finish was not the run oriented DU format of 10Krun/40Kbike/5Krun, but the olympic distance triathlon.

BIKES FOREVER

The venue for the race was pretty awesome.  There were 3,000 entrants in the Olympic distance event on Saturday, and 1,400 in the Sprint distance event held on Sunday.  All were qualifiers, so the level of competition would be the toughest imaginable. The last time I was in Milwaukee was for the half Ironman triathlon I raced in 1987 to qualify for my first Kona Ironman World Championship experience.  I was not sure this race would take place on the same course as I arrived on Friday just in time to register and put my bike in the corral.  No pre-race course preview for me. Normally the day before the race I do a swim/bike/run warmup, not this time.


The swim was in the breakwater protected waters of Lake Michigan, in effect a large lagoon.  I was concerned about the ramp exit as it was very steep, but it was not an issue.  I also was concerned about my decision to use a new wetsuit that arrived on my doorstep Thursday before I drove down on Friday from Minneapolis to Milwaukee.  First time I was going to swim in it was race day.  It was tighter than my no-name antique wetsuit so I wasn't sure how difficult it was going to be to strip it off.  Turned out to not be an issue.  It sure felt faster as I swam a 27:14  split and was only down to 9th place in my age group (out of 50 entrants), a major improvement for my weakest event.

OFF THE DOCK AND INTO THE LAGOON

4,400 TRIATHLETES UP THIS ITTY BITTY RAMP?

The bike definitely was on the same basic course as the 1987 race, as we went over the I794 interstate bridge on the southbound lanes which were closed for the race.  The bike course was flat and the wind mild so the times were fast.  I averaged 23.5 MPH using only 220 watts average.  Split time was 1:03:58, fastest in my age group.

The run was the big question. For the last 5 weeks I have had to choose between trying to run train with my painful knees to maintain run fitness or not run and allow them to recover and lose some of that hard fought run fitness.  Not a set of good choices when you are trying to get ready for the most competitive race of the racing season.  I chose the latter option. In talking with fellow racer Dr. Roger Freeman (a practicing orthopaedic surgeon who finished 3rd) in the bike corral before the start of the race, at any point in time it seems like people in our age group are either exiting from or entering into an injury. The unknown for me on August 10th was how fast can you run without having run for two weeks, and that last run having been the 5K finishing leg of a sprint triathlon? Turn out not as fast as I needed to run!

COOLING OFF IN FOUNTAIN

By the time I was finishing the bike leg I thought I had passed everyone in my age group who exited the swim ahead of me as I had not passed any 65+ person since mile 15.  After all, the bike is my strength, and I had that new fast wetsuit!  I was just as sure that some of these old-guy competitors would come screaming past me on the run due to my injury-reduced run fitness level.  I was wrong on
both counts; there was a competitor ahead of me exiting the bike-to-run transition and nobody passed me from behind on the run.  I found this out in the finishing chute as the announcers congratulated Richard Holloway as the first 65-69 competitor to cross the finish line. My run split was 47:01, second fastest in the age group.

One more big race this year, the World Championship 70.3 in Vegas. Four weeks to get my run mojo back.