Tritonman and UCLA 2013 Race Report

I had a couple of expectations going into Tritonman.  A well-run event with TONS of food and lots of volunteers all over the course.  The UCSD Triathlon team did a pretty good job at delivering both of these and more.  I’m proud of you guys!  Shout out to Brooks, the race director, for the best Tritonman race UCSD has ever organized.  While he hasn’t been able to run because of a hamstring injury, he made up for in it by running an awesome event.  Pun intended.  Minus a few rule misunderstandings for the draft legal race and a not very prominent penalty box (yes, there is a penalty box in draft legal triathlon), the event was well run and I only heard positive feedback.  I anticipate next year the event to be even larger.

I did not know what to expect on the racing side of Tritonman.  After a rough summer and fall, I only started running consistently on the road in January.  I suffered a broken sesamoid bone on my right foot in late spring (2012), which dampened my training through the summer, fall, and winter. I even had to take time off the bike back in October.

Here is a good synopsis of my #triathleteproblems

http://www.nebraskamed.com/health-library/animations/773/sesamoiditis

After a (literally) painful process of trying various shoes and orthodics (and fighting insurance), I finally settled on the Sketchers gorun shoe.  My conditions seem to actually improve using this shoe, which was beyond my expectation.  I had 3 solid weeks of relatively pain-free training (that included running on the road/track) before Tritonman.  While my mileage wasn’t high, I was supplementing my road running with "aqua jogging" or "deep water running".  If aqua jogging was an olympic sport, it would certainly attract only the mentally strong.  It is the most boring physical activity on the face of the planet.  But as Tritonman proved, it was giving me results.  Read on.

First up, the first ever Draft Legal Tritonman Sprint. 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run.

We started fast. And I mean really fast. Outside of collegiate tri nationals, I’m pretty sure the Tritonman DL race was the fastest group of collegiate tri swimmers that will assemble this year.  I think at least 6 had competed in either DI or DIII collegiate swimming (most of which made it to the NCAA level).  Throw in a current collegiate swimmer and a high school swimmer/triathlete all-star turned pro and you have a blistering fast swim.  I ended up running out of the water neck-and-neck with Ben Kanute (pic below) – he has a notoriously fast beach to transition run and transition time – I tried to keep pace.  As we exited transition, we had around 15 seconds on the next few athletes.  Ben and I worked together effectively on the bike and opened our gap to about 45 seconds as we entered T2.  From there, Ben took off and left me in the dust - but we had opened up a large enough gap on the field that I was able to hold on for 2^nd place.  While the run did not feel great, I was actually surprised it didn't feel worse given how few miles I had been running on the roads. Maybe all that aqua jogging was helping?  Perhaps I shouldn’t have been too surprised though because I had turned in a few good track workouts with the 'Fast Freshman Frat' (our fast group of freshman. also known as 'Project 2015' - for the projected time that our coach thinks they will peak). 

The next day was the regular non-draft Tritonman Sprint.  I did not receive a lot of encouragement about racing a second day and perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I felt confident from the DL race and wanted to see how my body would handle two days of racing in a row.  I had grown accustom to 3-4 day swim meets, but two days of triathlon racing is quite a different matter.   It was a test to see if I could handle two days of racing - the new format for collegiate tri nationals.  The swim was more human-paced (i.e., slower) and on the bike, I did not put in as much effort as I did the day before. I was trying to save my legs for the run because I didn't know how much energy I'd have left.  Once we hit the run, I actually felt like a runner for the first time in a triathlon race - it turns out i had a TON of energy left in my legs.  I was actually very surprised.  Ben and I hit the first mile around 5min!  While I wasn’t able to hold that for the rest of the run, I did manage an impressive 15:09 for 2.9mi and another second place finish to Ben.  I’ll take it.  Major confidence boost.

UCLA.
The following weekend, I raced UCLA with ~30 of my fellow teammates.  At this point in the season, the team really has come together.  Practice attendance this late in the season is higher than I've seen since I joined the team and everyone is there working hard.  All of my teammates are what really made this race the most enjoyable for me.  The run course is set up so that about 2/3 of it goes in the opposite direction of the bike course.  This was pretty cool because as I ran, it seemed that all my teammates that I met going the opposite direction on their bike cheered for me.  Of course, I was also trying to cheer for them.  That's one of the best parts of being on the UCSD triathlon team - the support we have for one another.  We are out there competing individually, but it really is a team sport.  At the end of the day, I was satisfied with my race effort - I put in the fastest swim and bike splits and had a top 5 run split - good enough for 1st overall.  After the race, I went back out on the course to cheer for my teammates that had been so eager to cheer for me. 

Up next is the WCCTC Conference Championships hosted by Cal Poly.  It will be our first olympic distance of the season.