Saturday, April 12, 2014

2014 Collegiate Triathlon (regular) Season: Highlights of the Highlights


 I’ll start by saying I had a fantastic collegiate season with many stellar performances. These performances were made possible by all the support I had from friends, family, coaches, and sponsors Xterra wetsuits, Spy Optics, Powerbar.  And the occasional hard workout.  I went undefeated in regular collegiate season play and finished the season with second overall in the playoffs (Collegiate Nationals). Most importantly for me, I made a huge stride in my run (pun intended).   Here are my 'highlights of the highlights' of the regular collegiate triathlon season. They are not full race reports (or comics). If I did full race reports for each race, they’d probably start to sound (or look) the same.  Enjoy!

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Race website: http://www.ucitriathlon.org/zot-trot/
Results: http://www.geminitiming.com/posts/zot-trot-triathlon/


 Race website with results: http://ucsdtriathlon.org/tritonman/about/
Tritonman is the most awesomest triathlon in Southern California (and probably the universe).  I could list 100 reasons why, but here are a few:  its well run, a great venue, great prizes, and it has the smallest carbon foot print of ANY triathlon.

 The Jellyfish came and conquered. There were thousands of them in Mission Bay.  The Jellyfish slowed me down in the water. I swear.  On Day 1 (draft legal), I didn’t make the front bike pack.  On Day 2 (non-draft), I again wasn’t with the leaders out of the water.  I blame the jellies. 
Rachel will lie to you and say that the moon jellies  do not sting.  To all those doubters, put one of those jellyfish in your mouth. You will feel their stings.  Proof to back me up: 
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Moon-Jellyfish-Jellies-Invade-San-Diego-Mission-Bay-Coast-254554531.html
This is exactly what happened to me during the non-draft sprint race. I nearly swallowed a jellyfish during the swim. No joke. It stung my mouth, lips, and tongue.  I had a slight burning sensation for the rest of the day.  Disclaimer: it was never actually very painful.  
 Numb feet suck. I stubbed my toe exiting T1 and didn't even feel it. But I sure felt it later. Sorry for the graphic content. 


 Lets take a moment and laugh at everyone's 'swim exit face':







Did you get a good laugh?  

















If not, try this:


 Women of UCSD Triathlon, you're lucky I didn't do this to you.


That’s all I have for the WCCTC Conference Championships and the regular collegiate season.  The WCCTC Championship race went pretty much as I had hoped it would. I took the lead shortly into the bike and finished strong to the line.  I did not rest much for it because the main focus was nationals. Therefore, I’ll focus more energy into my next race report post, which will be about collegiate national.

MTS Website: http://marchtriathlonseries.com/

 ...

I want to add one more highlight.  I was inspired by the 'swim exit face' to take a look back at the 'super sprint bike face'.  It is almost as epic.  Theses are from the Fearless F1 Super Sprint Pro race I competed in back in October of 2013.  Again, the faces say it all.  Sometimes they say Pros make it look easy. Not today. It was not an easy day for me especially - I was lapped out in the race (along with half the field).  I also need to improve my bike skills.



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