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!