I was staying at our Icon One Multisport team house which had been rented by an awesome father on the team who's 11 year old son was competing in the youth 11-12 race. The house was in an awesome spot in Monument, CO but about 35min from the race site which was the only bad part. At the house was Mason(11 year old), 2 youth elites- Daniel and Hunter, and 2 Junior elites- me and Travis. Friday afternoon we went to the Olympic Training Center for our packet pick-up and pre-race meeting. It was a pretty decent goody bag with a nice shirt and a pretty cool hat.
Race morning did not dawn so early as the Junior mens race wasn't until 2pm. However check in was from 8-9:30 for everyone so Hunter, Daniel, Travis and I headed down early to check in. After we checked in we weren't allowed back in transition until during the actual race so we had to make sure everything was right the first time. Travis and I then headed back to the house to relax and watch the Olympics before our race.
In the meantime the youth elite raced and Icon One represented well. We put 2 guys in the top 10 and our next 2 were top 20!
Travis and I arrived back at race site just as the Junior elite females were going off. We had 3 girls representing Icon One and all of them did awesome! Kate won the National Championships with a killer run split, Alex was 6th, and Kailand was 15th. Wat to go girls!
Ok now on to our race. I did a warm up run with Travis and was absolutely shocked at how good my legs felt. They were loose and ready to go! A quick spin on the trainer and then I jumped in the lake for a wim warm up. About 200m into my warm up they called all the athletes out of the water because of lightening. About 1:40 we started lining up for the start in order of our number. I was #36 out of about 50. No sooner were we lined up, primed and ready, set to go, then they notified us that the race was being delayed because of the lightening. Their best guess was 30-45min.
Everyone crowded into the beach house and sat around stretching, listening to music, drinking, eating, or just thinking. I put some sweats on to stay warm and wandered outside where it was a little less crowded. Around 2:45 they told everyone we could get in and get a swim warm-up in and I quickly got my cap and goggles and headed to the water. The water was a bit chillier the second time around but still non-wetsuit legal at about 70 degrees. Lined up again they announced the top 15 in the country by name then quickly called off the rest of us as we ran to grab a spot on the line. I was about in the middle and when the whistle went off ran and dove into the water.
I didn't get beat up too bad and thought my swim was going ok until I came out of the water for the second loop and saw a LOT of people ahead of me. The second lap was pure survival as I was definitely feeling the altitude (6000ft) and lack of swim fitness. I did have a couple guys to draft off of the second lap and that helped. Out of the water I heard people yell that we were 3min down which was not good. T1 was also very empty of bikes which was not a good sign either. Oh well, I knew I wasn't a great swimmer and just had to put my head down and pedal now. Out on the bike I formed a group with 2 other guys and we began to HAUL. There were a few other riders who were with us for a while and most of them didn't know a thing about pacelining. Me and a guy named Stephen, who I knew from Hamburg last year where trying to get people organized and it worked ok. Stephen, me, and this 3rd guy were by far the most experienced cyclists and we were making up some good time on the rest of the field.
The bike course was 4 loops and technical with 10 corners per lap including a 180 degree turn. Our group of 3 was riding through the field, picking up riders, then dropping them when they couldn't hang on. I came off the bike in the top 15 with one of the fastest bike splits of the day.
I blasted through T2 and out onto the run were I began reeling in a few other runners. Some people were definitely feeling the effects of altitude and though I didn't feel stellar I was still running strong. Travis was about 15-20 seconds ahead of me and I was gaining on him a little bit at a time even as we both caught and passed other runners. Going into lap 2 I had moved myself into 7th spot and that was where I was destined to stay. I closed to within about 8 seconds of Travis but couldn't get closer and he pulled away some more on the 2nd lap. I held on strong to cross the line in 7th spot!
All in all I am super happy with my race. I came out of the water in 37th and scratched and clawed my way into 7th! Racing at altitude was tough as I never could kick it into that extra gear both on the swim and run. I was stuck in just trying to hold my pace as I got more and more tired. Though I'm happy with my performance I now am fully resigned to the fact that I HAVE to get my swim down. There's no other option. If I could have been 1-2min faster on the swim I would have been contending for a podium spot. And next year if I want to do any U23 racing I won't be able to bike my way through everyone like I did. It was a great race, I'm super stoked about next year, and now I get to focus all my energy on cross country before going into a hardcore swim block this fall.
Thanks to Talbot for these pictures.
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