Let me say this: Milwaukee is an awesome city!  Mandy and I were pleasantly surprised. Mandy commented all weekend how nice everyone was (hotel staff, restaurant staff, race volunteers, etc).  I’m sure there were some complaints from the locals with thousands of triathletes riding very expensive bikes on the city roads with funny looking helmets.  But overall, everyone was very welcoming.  Our hotel was 5 or 6 blocks away from the race site and there were plenty of restaurants all within walking distance from our hotel.  I didn’t have one bad meal while I was there.

This past weekend I raced USAT Age Group Nationals – Olympic Distance (0.9 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) in Milwaukee, WI.  To say the race was a success, is an understatement.  This race has been my key race all year and I really wanted to make a statement against some of the top amateur triathletes in the country at one of the biggest Olympic distance races in the country.  After racing a 2:04 at St Anthony’s in 2012, I really wanted to break the 2 hr barrier.  With a big break through in my biking earlier this year, and finally running consistently without injury, I knew this season would be my best yet. Unfortunately, all my Olympic distance races this year have had shortened swims which set up Nationals to be the perfect place to achieve this mark.

Race week started out pretty rough.  After Loggerhead, I was having some pretty bad stomach pains for a few days.  My mind was all over the place for those couple days after Loggerhead. I’ve had stomach issues after races before but they usually only lasted for the rest of the day and I was feeling normal by the next. Why was a sprint race, that only took an hour, causing me all kinds of issues?  Did I push myself that hard during the race?  Was I going to be recovered by Saturday to race?  Fortunately, I started to feel better on Tuesday and things were back to normal.

With the race on a Saturday, Mandy and I decided to fly out Thursday morning in order to have plenty of time to get situated in Milwaukee, put the bike together, familiarize myself with the course, and just relax. Upon getting to PBI, the Delta agents immediately asked me if my Aerus Biospeed bike case had a bike in it. This is one of the few bike cases that doesn’t scream “bike”.  This has helped bypass the airline bike fees before but the Delta agents at PBI have apparently been trained pretty well as this is the 2nd time I’ve flown Delta out of PBI with a bike, and I got stuck paying their outrageous bike fee ($150) both times.  We and the bike made it to Milwaukee with no issues but upon building the bike back up, I stripped one of the screws where my stem fastens to the fork (yes, I even had a torque wrench with me and I didn’t go over the max torque setting).  I took the bike over to bike support at the expo and fortunately they were able to take care of me.  They had to re-tap the the threads and put in a larger screw in order for the screw to engage.  Looks like I may need a new fork as a long term solution (not sure if  I can get one from Trek or not) but needless to say, a trip to Tri Running Sports & Cycle is in the works.  Later on Thursday, I picked up my packet, talked with some vendors at the expo (I really want a computrainer now), and got a quick ride in on the first part of the bike course.

(I stumbled upon this thread on Slowtwitch and now I’m searching for a hard case to travel with my bike. There are just too many risks you take with using a soft case.  Anyone have any suggestions on a hard case?)

Friday was pretty low key with a quick run, bike, and swim in the morning to get the blood flowing. We then drove the bike course to get a feel of what I was up against and eventually dropped off my bike at transition.  We had dinner at Ryan Braun’s Graffito restaurant, where I had what has become my pre-race ritual (out of superstition and it doesn’t seem to cause me any issues), chicken parmesan. Very good food there and a great view of the water if you sit outside.

The course was very straight forward.  We swam in Lake Michigan but we were protected from the “chop” of the lake.  The swim course was narrow and I thought this would cause problems with all the waves going off but fortunately it wasn’t an issue.  Swim exit was interesting as there was a very steep ramp out of the water with volunteers helping you get out. No matter how strong of a swimmer you were, you needed the volunteer to help you out and up the ramp.  I think there was some misconception on the bike course as someone called it flat as a pancake.  It is not flat as a pancake.  I train daily on terrain that is flat as a pancake and this course is not that.  I would define the course as “wavy” more than anything. There are 3 small climbs on the course.  One is right at the beginning, and the other two are the bridge you go across twice on the highway.  The course has two 180 deg turnaround’s and is relatively flat.  The run is flat and fast…. plain and simple.   If you are thinking about racing next year, I highly recommend it.  It’s a great city and a great course.

Last year I did this race and finished a disappointing 9th.  It wasn’t the place that bugged me, it was my bike and run performances weren’t up to my expectations or capabilities.  I lead out of the water and was passed by the first turnaround (~3 miles in) and rode in 2nd all the way to T2.  As soon as I got off the bike, I knew my legs weren’t there.  My calves and hamstrings were cramping and the worst part, my stomach wasn’t cooperating with me.  I got passed by 7 people in the 5k and ran a 5k time I don’t want to repeat.  Nonetheless, this race from 2012 really lit a fire under me and has been one of my biggest motivators.  Coming into the race this year, all that really mattered was that I wanted race well and hit my numbers.  Sure I wanted to win but I learned long time ago from my competitive swimming days, you cannot control what everyone else does…. you can only control what you do.  I’ve lost some swim races years ago when I was so concerned about winning instead of just focusing on my race and what I can control.  I knew if I raced well, I would have shot at winning but if someone beat me, so be it….. they would be the faster guy that day.

The week leading up to the race, my coach Eric Limkemann started to dial my training back after a hard interval workout on the bike on Tuesday in preparation for this weekends race and more importantly, next weekend when I head to Milwaukee for USAT Age Group Nationals.  Friday morning came quick and I got in an easy 2 mile run before heading to work.  After work I headed over to the expo to get my race packet and help out Tri Running Sports who were offering some tremendous bike deals.  Shame on you if you didn’t take advantage of it.   I was planning to get a quick 30 min ride in after the expo but it was raining, getting dark, and I was starving.  I had put on my race wheels (and cork pads) on Thursday but I only rode the bike for 2 min just down the street from my house.  My 30 min ride was going to be my final check on my bike to make sure everything was good to go.  Needless to say, I didn’t get the ride in and my mind was racing all night worrying if everything would be ok on the bike.

On Saturday, I decided to wake up a little earlier and ride to the race to make sure everything was set and luckily nothing out of the ordinary popped up.  I got set up in transition, did a quick jog, and headed to the beach to get in a swim warmup.  As I got on the beach and looked at the buoys, I quickly realized the swim was going to be long which plays in my favor.  I swam from swim exit to start as a warmup as I’ve found I need a good warmup to swim to my capability.  My arms feel like jello if I don’t get a warmup in.  At the swim start, I noticed another competitor who looked like a swimmer.  Swimmers can spot other swimmers from a mile away…… sweedish googles, muscular upper body (which almost all triathletes don’t have) and they have the “swimmer” look.  I also had overheard a few comments that backed up my theory.  I was hoping we could work together to get a big gap on the rest of the field.

Swim (10:08)
The gun went off rather quickly as I barely overheard the countdown, threw on my goggles and started my watch.  Luckily I was still able to get a good jump off the start and got to the first buoy in the lead.  Unfortunately, the middle yellow buoys were not lined up with the orange buoys (the yellow buoys were shallower than the orange buoys) so I ignored the yellow buoys and swim straight for the final orange buoy where we turned in to shore.  I swam the entire time essentially by myself.  As I turned at the last buoy, I looked over my left shoulder and I noticed someone behind me by about 3-5 body lengths.   I was a little surprised at first but this confirmed my earlier theory.  I later found out he swam at Kentucky and after some google searching, we had some pretty similar swim times in college.  I had a good swim exit and not knowing his biking abilities, I wanted to make sure he didn’t catch me on the way to T1.

Bike (28:35)  Power Data
On Friday, Eric had told me attack the second half of the bike.  Heading out on the bike, I got a little too caught up worrying about the guy behind me (and everyone else) and add a lot of adrenaline, I started out way too hard (320+ Watts).  I knew I couldn’t withstand that kind of power throughout the bike and be able to run well, but it felt effortless.  At the first of three turnarounds, I determined I had just under a 2 min lead on a guy riding another Trek Speed Concept and John Reback right behind him.  We had a nice tailwind heading North which got me up to 30+ mph.  Starting the second lap, my gap had grown to a little over 2 min. John was nowhere in site and at first I thought I must of missed him coming by but I later saw him riding slowly and yelled some words of encouragement.  Sucks he got a flat but it is what it is.  On the 2nd loop, I had a few close calls trying to dodge the rest of the field on their 1st loop.  One gentleman pulled out right in front of me as he was trying to pass someone in front of him.  What he didn’t know, was that I was coming up behind both of them about to pass.  Luckily I saw what was about to happen before it was too late and was able to avoid him.  For the final few miles I focused on a smooth and controlled effort, and rode into T2 with a 2+ min lead.

Run (18:52)
As I headed out on the run, my calves and hamstrings were cramping and legs didn’t feel like they were there.  I remained calm, tried to relax and told myself they would come around.  Fortunately, the legs came around and the cramping went away within the first quarter mile.  I had no idea who the guy in 2nd was and for all I knew, he could have be capable of running a 16 min 5k.  Luckily, the volunteers helped me out and told me no one was insight and the race was now mine to lose. At the turnaround, my lead was still at 2+ min and I kept that same pace and ran home to the win.

Loggerhead Tri Results

Thanks to the Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce and all of the volunteers for a great race once again!  Special thanks to my gf Mandy and mom (who came down from Pittsburgh for the weekend).  Lastly thanks to my sponsors Tri Running Sports (best cycling, running, and triathlon store in South Florida) and Blue Seventy for their support.

Next up is AG Nats next Saturday.  I leave early Thursday morning and I’m hoping to break that elusive 2 hr barrier in the Olympic distance.