Pumpkinman Triathlon

With not only the collegiate triathlon year being underway, so was school, and neither of them have disappointed me this year. School has been insanely overwhelming at times, but I managed to get all the way to the week of Pumpkinman without having to skip a workout for school work, which I was impressed with. Not being able to do fast group rides on Tuesday (8AM class) was something that initially bothered me, but I quickly learned that riding alone was just as painful and more race-simulation type, which actually seems beneficial for mental fortitude.About 3 weeks out of Pumpkinman, I had already put in some really solid training, across all three disciplines, but I didn't quite feel that I had been doing enough of the 'right stuff' based on my experience from last year. So with three weeks to go, I threw in an extra easy run and ride (~2 hours) per week while really focusing on swim workouts. Last year I had swam 19:56 without a wetsuit (which was terrible), and I came out of the water with my legs cramped making the initial ride out of transition nearly impossible, considered it was ~0.5 mile at roughly 4-5%. I was happy with time then, but this is a new year and I knew based on my strengths, that I was going to have to swim faster if I wanted to stay competitive throughout the race. Those two weeks of training went really well, and I was very happy with the work I put in and how my body was responding. It was a good thing I had this because the week of Pumpkinman, I had to sacrifice two workouts in a row, Tuesday night run and Wednesday morning ride, to prepare for OChem and Fluid Mechanics Exam/Midterms. Even Thursday mornings run had to be cut short and my workouts were highly limited the week of the race. But I didn't let that affect my race plan. I knew in the previous weeks I had trained enough to be ready to go on Saturday.

lake mead!

The drive on Friday to the race was standard with nothing important happening worth mentioning, allowing me to gather some final thoughts about the excruciating week that I had just endured along with preparing myself for what was about to unfold on race day. We got to the race site and did a quick test swim in Lake Mead, which has surprisingly clear water, and went to packet pick-up and T2 to set up our run gear. Since this was a point-to-point race with split transition, race morning we only had to set up our bikes, which was rather nice, considering T2 was already setup from the day before.



Race Morning  

Since last year was my first race at Pumpkinman, I focused on the experience and taking it all in, rather than the finer details about the race. This lead to my biggest pitfall of the morning: forgetting how long transition is and how steep the road transition was on was. It took me a little by surprise when I was doing my pre-transition run but served as a good reminder to start in the little ring on the bike. After racking my bike and getting everything I needed to swim and bike out of my bag, I went back to the car, emptied my bag and went back to transition. I left my empty open bag, right by my bike and began to put on my wetsuit. Pro-tip: use a plastic bag when putting your limbs through your wetsuit, everything slides right on. After the team cheer, it was time to send off the first waves, age group males, where teammates Conrad (EMJ) and David, were starting. After two waves of age group males, it was time for the collegiate wave. It was here that I realized I hadn't warmed up in the water, so, like all triathletes, I peed in my wetsuit to get some last minute warm before the gun sounded. By now I had lined up at the start line, which I deemed to be more important than warming up more. A good starting spot is essential in a competitive wave, especially since I knew I would most likely be going out front during the swim, I wanted the least resistance possible.

team cheer

The gun went off and I quickly got in front of most of the others immediately next to me. I had a surprisingly hard time sighting the first buoy and I was definitely swimming more right and left than I should have. After being sick of swimming more lateral than I should have, I picked my head up for a few strokes and found the buoy. While all this was going on, I saw that I was sitting in 3rd on the wave, which I was happy with, of course. In order to save some energy, I tucked behind the 2nd place swimmer until after the first buoy. Once we made the turn and began to swim through swimmers in the wave before us, I made a move on the opposite side of another swimmer and never looked back. Swimming through a previous wave seems to make sighting both easier and harder. Easier in the sense that more people going in the same relative direction, and harder because you would have to swim around others. In addition to all of this, the wind on Lake Mead was strong enough to create some smalls swells, which seemed to make a big difference. When swimming towards the beach, on the far part of the swim course, and the last part right before the end, actually made it much easier because those were in the same direction as the wind and the swells. Mentally, this allowed me to be a bit more relaxed on those parts of the swim. The rest of the swim was uneventful, and with the rocky bottom and shoreline, my next task was to run/skip/jump as lightly as possible over the rocks until I got to the pavement.

coming out of the water!

I exited the swim 2nd for the collegiate wave, sitting right where I wanted to be. I was able to work the swim well, without expending too much energy, and I felt great, which was a nice mental boost. After exiting the swim and getting to my bike, I stripped the rest of my wetsuit, packed it into my transition bag along with my cap and googles, to be transported to the finish line. I threw on my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my bike and ran up the long, steady incline of T1. I hopped on my bike at the mount line, heard the volunteer say "Hey, nice mount" and I was on my bike!

The ride out of transition is brutal if you are not mentally prepared for it. Everyone's first thought when getting one their bike is to hammer it for a couple of minutes, but with a steady climb coming out of T1, pacing was essential. I waited until I got to the main road, which was also the top of the climb out of T1 to put my feet in my shoes and really get on my way. At the top of the hill was the one and only Ernie Mantell (also EMJ), who gave me a time gap to the leader, which happened to be 30 seconds and he was still putting on his shoes and so was I! Knowing the time gap was super helpful because the whole way out I was able to monitor that based on my effort level, but I knew I was not going to burn unnecessary matches trying to catch him when he was in my sights. Once turning onto the main road I quickly realized that this direction was a headwind (more or less) with the winding, rolling road. With the headwind, I wanted to push a little harder into the headwind and lay off just a tad on the return with the tailwind. This allowed me to save a little extra for the short, punchy rolling hills that were on the first half of this course. The headwind was very strong, but the tailwind was equally as rewarding. My legs didn't feel great, but I pushed on and kept riding according to my plan. Once passing the sprint turn-around, the course became very crowded and this is where the fun began. Soon after, I passed the parking lot with transition was, and just about the last 8 miles were all of climbing, I knew that this was the make or break point in the race, and it was time to separate the big dogs from the puppies. The first half of the bike went by quickly and my legs had finally started to come to me and I finally felt like I had some power, well, more than before at least. I got onto the narrow path where the climb really began and I was excited. With good legs I knew that I could get this done quickly and I would be on the run before I knew it. Downing a gel and taking on some more water was smart as it made sure I was keeping on top of my energy levels and hydration for the rest of the race was mentally helpful for me. It was really encouraging going by teammates on this hill because I would throw them some encouragement and they would give it right back to me, always a plus. I felt a tailwind on the climb and reminded myself that this is what I was training for and it was time to put it on the line. With the tailwind in the wash, I rode in a higher gear than I normally would, but I was able to stay on my aerobars and trudge up the 4% grade. Before I knew it, I made the last turn onto Nevada Way, with a mile at 6% to finish the ride and I was still feeling great and I still had more left in my cycling legs. When merging onto the street, I saw Ernie again, who I had a brief conversation with which actually got me even more pumped for this last hill. The hill began in my aerobars but about halfway up I sat up to use some different muscles, to keep the legs a little fresher (if possible). Near the top of the hill, I  saw some more teammates, and Laura Haley(!!!), and I had to quickly take my feet out because the ride was going to be over in about 20 seconds. Peep my strava files here and here!

very short downhill before T2

I dismounted and ran into transition and racked my bike. Unexpectingly, I had a hard time squeezing my feet into my run shoes, but I got them on, tightened them and placed my helmet on the ground. David ended up passing me back in T2 but that definitely helped me on the run. While exiting T2, I clipped on my race belt and began the 10K in 4th place for the Collegiate division!

Knowing my run fitness was about 100 times better than it was at Tempe, I knew I had a chance at a top 5 finish with an exceptional run. Remembering the 10k was a 5k out and downhill followed by a 5k back uphill, my plan was to build going out and just come back with whatever was left. With David just ahead of me, being able to run with a teammate is extremely helpful. Keeping in mind my race plan and not sprinting up to David just to run next to him was very smart, and I was able to descend the first 5k very well. Around mile 2, I downed my second gel to make sure I had some glucose in me for the finish. I got to the turn-around point with a head full of confidence in 5th place (I was passed by teammate Daniel, go Daniel!). At this turn-around, one of the most demoralizing things happened. After turning, I looked up the road and just said to myself 'sh*t!'. 3 things when through my head and struck doubt everywhere. First, the downhill that I had just came down was much steeper going up than it looked going down. Second, there was a tailwind that I didn't realize for most of the first 5k, and I realized it when I felt the strong headwind I was going to experience on the return. And third, the line of collegiate men behind me, seemingly lined up and ready to come get me. I took a few steps to gather my thoughts and just told myself 'no, stop' where I gave myself 3 reasons to counter those that had just mentally set me back. First, I was sitting in 5th place, I've got nothing to lose racing hard this early in the year. Second, wind and hills are my friends, as we train with them on the daily down in Tucson. And finally, I can do it! My running legs were definitely there and I knew I could still come back strong and have a fighting chance if anyone caught me. Over each of the top of the small hills, I made sure to punch it right over the top and wait for any 'false-flats' (the whole way back was almost all uphill, whether it looked like it or not). At this point, there was no shying away or easing off the gas, I had raced too hard to get to this point to give anything up now. As I was running back, I saw many teammates and sauced them some positive words to help them if possible. At about mile 5, I saw Ernie and Laura again who told me I was comfortably in 5th, which was a surprising relief because they could see behind me, without me having to turn around and look back. Totally expecting like 4 other collegiate guys to be breathing down my neck (since I'm definitely not the fastest runner), I was kind of excited to hear that. Ernie told me I could continue to go hard or lay off a little since I was 'comfortably' in 5th, but I was already in full-send mode and the only way to come out of that was to cross the finish line. I was able to (well, effort wise) pick it up for the last mile and charged back into town with a 5th place finish in the Collegiate Division! Peep strava here!

squad

For full race results, click here!

Special shoutout to all my UA Tricats fore awesome racing in tough conditions on top of a brutal course, especially all the first-timers!

Until I race again, stay sweet y'all and happy training!

Lifetime Tempe Triathlon

It's not normal for summer to be my 'off-season' but considering my foot (bunion) surgery in early June (the week after the DQ Lavallette Triathlon) it was full-bed rest for me for at least 6 weeks. Sure enough, 6 and a half weeks later (late July), I was cleared to do exercise again! It started off with some easy swimming and short riding, but within a few weeks I was back into a regimented swimming and riding schedule. In early August, Darby and I made a spontaneous decision to enter DQ Events Belmar Tri, which I have been racing since I was 13! My swim and bike totaled out to 33:21 (400m swim & 10 mile bike), which I was happy with considering I had only been cleared for 2 and a half weeks and how crowded the course was (I started in the last wave). We managed to win the overall relay division (results here, strava here), which was a pretty neat boost of confidence to end the summer. I (somehow) managed to hold off on running until early September, where I took it very easy for the week and then decided I would be able to race Lifetime Tempe Tri the next weekend!

absolute pain cave (in Belmar)

Fast forward to race weekend: knowing it was going to be a hot day, that wasn't necessarily something that was going to slow me down, considering I've been racing in the New Jersey summer humidity for 7 years now. Going into the race, I knew that my swim was going to be solid, my bike had potential to be fast, and the run was not going to be pretty, since I had been (easily) running for less than 2 weeks leading into the race, along with not having run a full 10k since before surgery.

On race morning, transition set-up was routine and uneventful. And with the luck of the draw, I had a poor spot in transition, being pretty far down one of the rows, it added considerable time during transitions to rack my bike and such. But that was not going to stop me from having quick transitions.

snapchat saw it first

The water in Tempe Town Lake (ew) was a warm 83 degrees and I didn't even bring my wet-suit which was a good idea. For the in-water start, I positioned myself right in the front line and when the gun went off, I surged right out front before the bridge (about 200m in). After that it was smooth sailing, right into the sun, which did make sighting challenging. At one point, where I couldn't see any further buoys, I picked my head up and asked the stand-up paddle boarders "Do I turn here?" and they replied, "no, just follow us" which made sighting the rest much easier, because I just had to follow them. After cruising to the first turn, I made the turn and made some quick looks back to see the gap I had. After making the second turn to head back to the swim exit, I picked up the tempo a bit and started to shift my focus on the rest of the race after seeing that I had a sizable lead at this point of the swim. The rest of the swim was uneventful and I ran up the stairs out of the water. I heard my name announced along with "a Wildcat getting it done in the shadows of ASU" which was pretty funny to hear.

first our of the water...wheres my right leg?

Transition 1 was fast and quick. I un-racked my bike and as I was running out of T1, I saw the next people behind me into T1! My lead was much larger than I had thought! I mounted my bike and was on my way! The police motorcycle escort was just out in front of me and I was out on the bike!

With the lead I had, I made the game-time decision to hammer the bike and see what I could do on the run when I got to the run. The first lap of the bike was uneventful (except when my water bottle hit my garmin and stopped by ride, check out my strava files here and here) but some of the turns definitely took me by surprise with how sharp they were. Close to the end of the first lap, my gel came off my bike, which was unfortunate, but wasn't enough to make me panic. This made me really focus on making sure I was regularly drinking water throughout the ride. On the run in towards the second lap, I was caught by the overall winner (who went 1:59:53) and another rider, from Air Force Academy. On the second lap, the course began to get much more crowded. With the rest of the international distance athletes and even some of the sprint riders out on the course. Although this was a nice boost of confidence, passing many riders (even those with faster bikes). Having a lap course was nice because on the second lap I knew where I should push and where to slightly relax. Knowing my run fitness was poor, I decided to push the second lap of the bike harder than normal, since I was still sitting comfortably in 2nd place for Collegiate and 3rd overall. Not having any fuel on the bike did not yield well, as it became very easy to lose focus on the latter half of the bike. After hitting a dropped water bottle on the road, I snapped out of it and was able to maintain focus for the rest of the ride, continuing to keep the throttle down.

first lap on the bike, #aero

Riding back into transition was ideal, but the last few riders were exiting the T1 to go out and ride, I had to dodge a few of them, which allowed me free range of all the other space in transition, as there were no other athletes in T2 with me. I racked my bike, threw on my shoes, took off my helmet, and I was on my way to run!

Coming out of the run at the first aid station, I took on a gel, a cup of water on my head, and sipped another half of a cup of water. I threw the gel in my tri-suit, for about a minute, then decided that it was time to take it since I had no fuel on the bike, and I knew my run fitness was not good so I was going to need all the help I could get on the run to maintain a solid position. Through the next aid station, I took on more water, too cool myself off and some to drink. Right around mile 2, Conrad passed me (s/o Every Man Conrad, buy some EMJ) and gave some words of encouragement, which are always helpful. After struggling through the first lap, I composed myself, and came to the realization I was already half way through the run. On the second lap, I took on another gel at the first aid station and did all I could to wash it do along with trying to cool myself off. Pacing myself on the second lap was definitely harder, since there was a mix of Olympic distance racers on their first lap, a few others on their second lap, and many other Sprint(ers) on their run. Nonetheless, I tried to be steady for the first mile on that second lap, then pick it up for miles 4 and 5, and then give it all I've got left. And considering I hadn't run more than 5.5 miles in over 3 months, it definitely was not much.

down the chute!

Anyways, I came off the bridge and made the turn for the chute! Finishing without anyone other athletes near me was nice as I was able to enjoy my run in to the finish and enjoy it, before I had to deal with the post race issues (blisters, cramps, stomach pains, heat rash, etc). I came across the line in a huge sigh of relief, I was able to cruise the swim, push the bike, and I was able to run the full 10K after all of that, let alone for the first time in a long time. Ecstatic to find out that I had finished on the podium in the Collegiate Division, and 8th overall at such a large event, the bar has been set for the rest of the year.

#podium

Thanks to @UATricats for the awesome weekend, Lifetime Tri for the awesome event, and all the support from family, friends, and family friends throughout the summer and my recovery! I'm back!

For full results of the race, click here!

DQ Lavallette Triathlon - 1st Overall!

After a what seemed to be a brief off-season, a trip to Colorado, and some time spent at home, it was time to get back into racing! Without really knowing who the competition would be, I signed up for this event with a familiar race director, Tom Manzi of DQ Events, who never fails to put on a good race! I set my goal to win the race, but knew I would be happy with a top 3 finish as well. Being my first race in 2 months, and in 10 months at this distance, I wasn't expecting too much, but I trusted my unorthodox training over the past month(a lot of swimming and riding, with a little bit of running). Traditionally for races down the shore, driving down the morning of was always the routine, but with class at Rutgers on Friday night, it made sense to drive down and spend the night to give myself an extra hour and half of sleep before (Thanks for letting me sleepover Krysta).

Not really anticipating rain, but knowing there was a chance, I'm glad I packed my raincoat cause guess what! About 6:30AM race morning it started raining! And as I was setting up transition, conditions continued to get worse and worse. It got colder, windier, and rainier. Plus, I was looking forward to swimming in the bay, which is usually flat and warmer than the ocean, but with the weather at the time, the bay was extremely choppy which was going to make for a harder than normal bay swim. Which to be honest, as a strong swimmer, favors me more, so I really shouldn't be complaining. Since the air was in the 50s and the water in the mid-60s, wearing a wetsuit was a no-brainer. After lubing (body glide, lol) up, I slide into my wetsuit and walked down the beach to the swim start for the point-to-point swim. As stated before, the bay was extremely choppy, which made for a slow swim and it didn't help that it was hard to sight 'over' waves. But after navigating the buoys faster than everyone else, making sure to keep them all to my right, I exited the water first and I began to peel the top half of my wetsuit off on the run to transition.

It's a good thing that at transition practice before Josh would always move my helmet, because the wind blew my helmet and sunglasses off my handlebars. But since I had been put in this situation before, I was able to stay relaxed and not panic, locating my helmet while stripping my legs of my wetsuit. After running out of transition, I hopped on my bike and was on my way on the rainy and windy bike course. Given how windy it was, I'm very happy that I don't have deeper wheels than I do (55mm) since the crosswinds came out to play today! On the first lap of the bike course, without following anyone, there were cars on the road and there weren't any police officers after a certain point and I was convinced that I had missed the turnaround. But without panicking, I continued to ride and found the turnaround! I wasn't off course and was still in the lead! It turns out, the way back had more of a head-crosswind, which allowed me to ensure that I put more effort into the returns than the way out (the bike course was 3 laps). The only benefit of having 5 turnarounds on a 10 mile bike course is that it was very easy to establish and monitor time gaps on the rest of the field, since I was getting serious about hunting for the overall win, and with every turnaround, I estimated my gap was shrinking, and I was certianly right. By the time I got to the turnaround on the last lap, where I realized I still had around 30 seconds on 2nd place I decided that it was time to just go for it. With a good surge I rode in hard to try and maintain my sizable lead.

comin off the bike! 

Coming off the bike and out of T2, which was uneventful and routine, I knew that a lead can shrink very quickly on a run, despite it only being a 5K, so it was time to go and take the run 1 mile at a time. This was right around when I realized that winning was truly a possibility. Being in the lead on the run was pretty neat since I essentially got a pacer, with the person riding the bike 'slowly' in front of me as I ran for my life. Well, not really, but you get the point. This is where not knowing the who/what the competition really hurts, because I had no idea who was a good runner. My mindset was that if anyone was going to catch me, I was going to make them really push a lot harder than they wanted to to catch me. Without wearing a watch or mile markers on the course, pushing the pace the entire time is what I had to do. After the first turnaround, I had definitely lost time and that was okay, cause it gave me a little more motivation to pick up the pace a tad more. Once I got to the second turnaround, I had put more time on the field and there was a change in position for 2nd, but that didn't scare me, as I knew I was so close to the finish. I was soon able to see the finish line, and as I came down the finishing chute, I broke the cardinal rule of racing to never look back, but I wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be a sprint finish, which there wasn't! I came across the line in 1st, with probably the biggest smile on my face that I've had in a long time, a wire-to-wire victory!

always repping TriCats

For full results and splits, click here! Thanks again to Tom Manzi for putting on a great race despite the challenging weather conditions!

P.S. about a month ago on the IM Boulder Bike course, I tried HOTSHOT, and 10/10 would NOT recommend. If you don't believe me, ask Alex or Laura.

USAT Collegiate Club Nationals

Well since this is my first post I figure I should introduce myself a bit, but I think most of my audience knows who I am. I am a 19 year old triathlete from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. I am currently attending the University of Arizona studying Biomedical Engineering in Tucson. I am a former competitive swimmer for the Berkeley Aquatic Club. My first triathlon was completed when I was 12 years old, and yes, I raced on a mountain bike, and yes, I cried too. But after that I was hooked and I've been racing ever since, completing about 40 since then. I competed for fun without true training throughout the rest of middle school and high school over the summers in New Jersey but it wasn't until my sophomore year at the U of A, August 2016, where I joined the Triathlon Team, TriCats at the U of A (@UATricats). In case you're wondering why I made a blog, mostly for race reports, it's cause all the fast people do it, so I figured it would make me fast (s/o @Ernie #69livesworldtour). Anyways, now onto Collegiate Nationals!

Thursday night pasta dinner on the Black Warrior River

This was my first time on a training plan for racing triathlon so it was also my first time tapering for a race. I trusted my training and taper but I never quite felt the same as I previously have during swim taper. I didn't let it get to my head and I planned on having a perfect race. But nothing ever goes according to plan, as you probably already knew. I knew going into the race that I would have a solid swim, I would need to work on the bike and just bring it home on the run. I was in the second wave, and with the in water start I positioned myself all the way on the right where I was able to easily get out in front into 'clean' water where I was able to sight for myself and swim at my own pace. After we made the first turn I was sitting comfortably in 3rd, letting two others do all the work and break the current (we swam against it for the longer portion of the course). On that stretch I would occasionally swim out to the side and sight for myself to make sure I was following a good line, which I was. Somewhere about halfway on the swim I realized that this race was going to be a lot tougher mentally than I had originally thought. I came out of the water about 10-15 seconds behind the two leaders in my wave which I was pretty happy about, and with a swim time under 20 mins I really can't complain. I came out of the water without being too winded but I had realized running up the hill in my wetsuit and 400 meters to transition, that my legs were much heavier than they should've been at this point in the race.

 I put that behind me as I unracked my bike and ran out of transition. I hopped on my bike with a perfect flying mount and as I started to pedal I heard Doug say "That was a great mount, Dean." And just like that I was on my way on the bike!

getting ready to throw out some watts

I settled in on the bike a few miles in after some small rollers I started to adjust my race plan based on how the swim went. I quickly realized that today was not my day and it was going to be a tough race, I accepted that fact and was ready to push myself regardless. I used the first lap of the bike to mark points on the course where I should push and where I should conserve on the second lap. This is when I also realized that the majority of the course was uphill going out and downhill coming back. At the far turn-around on across the bridge I was able to establish some time gaps on my teammates, both in front of and behind me which was really positive for me since I was able to use my effort level to encourage myself. After the first lap I was pretty comfortable with my position and my effort level so I decided that it was time to put the hammer down on the second lap. On the way out on the second lap, I worked to constantly build my effort up til the far turn-around. It was mostly downhill on the way back and that's where I really put in a good surge to try and get the whatever was left in my cycling legs, which wasn't much. I came back into town ready to give everything I had left on the run.

s/o mom for the bike pics

aeroaeroaeroaero

After hopping off the bike and making sure to rack it properly, (someone lost a national championship because of this) I was out on the run course. I hit the run course feeling pretty relaxed, trying to gather my thoughts after the bike. This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be with my lady teammates yelling at me (especially Amy, I felt like I was in trouble listening to you scream).

But in all honesty, that all helped a lot. After about a mile I felt like I hit the wall, but I didn't let that creep into my mind since I knew that all my hard work from the year would carry me through this run. Once I felt this I knew I needed some sugar, so I downed a gel, which tasted surprisingly good (CLIF citrus, if anyone was wondering). We hit the first turn around, about 2ish miles in and I saw Doug, who told me to keep my head forwards. Admittedly I was definitely looking around a lot more than I should've been. But after this I assessed some time gaps on other people to see how I was doing at the next turnaround. I hit the next turnaround and was able to maintain most of the gaps I counted at the first turnaround so I was pretty stoked about that. And from there, I knew the rest of the course was 'downhill.' There was a good downhill right after the turnaround and then after that it was less than 2 miles to the finish so it was time to go all in with what I had left. I put my head a little higher and up my cadence a bit. The goal was to finish strong and not let anyone catch me over the last stretch. I accomplished one of those, but I think that only letting one guy catch me was pretty good. I ran back into town and kicked, probably a little early but no regrets. I didn't have anyone on my tail nor was anyone within distance for me to catch so there was no sprint finish for me. :( But it was pretty neat having the carpet to myself when I finished. For full results, click here. Special shoutout to the seniors Joshua Fowler, David Kroeppler, Conrad Sanders, Jeff Gautreau, Aaron Hausman for pushing me all year across all the disciplines. And to the rest of the guys team for fighting to a 3rd place finish in the Mens team division!

about to hit the carpet

After finishing, It was time to cheer on the girls team, which honestly, I have so much respect for y'all, racing in the conditions you guys did, damn. You girls are probably tougher than me and you guys should all have like 5 or 10 mins taken off your time for those conditions. All in all, the week at nationals was surreal and I can't wait to train harder next year and go back.

I want to thank all the TriCats, this year was pretty dope and I'm so glad we all go to race, and train, and volunteer, and eat together. To Jimmy, Doug, and Keith, thank you all for pushing me this year, especially when I didn't want to push anymore, you guys gave me a reason to do so. To my main sponsors, my parents: thank you guys for all you do. Whether it be supporting me with school, or training, or driving 15 hours to watch me exercise, you guys rock and I love you both so much. There will be much more to come, this is only the first.

Stay tuned, train hard, and don't give up!