2018 Sprint Triathlon Age Group National Championship Race Report

This past weekend, was my "A" race. To put it in a different way, this was my big race for the year. The funny thing is, when this year started, I had no clue about this race, and it wasn't even on the radar. The back story is that due to my performance in the Hammer Sprint Triathlon in Lenoir City this year, that I received an email stating that I had qualified for this event. Originally, the plan was not to go to this due to financial reasons and such, but after I let coach know about this, then she told me I HAD to do this as not many people have qualified even in their rookie season. So, at the urging of  her, I made a go fund me page. After doing that, it took about all of 2 hours, and thanks to some VERY GENEROUS FRIENDS, I was able to get the trip funded and was set to go.
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Thursday was travel day. I was driving to Ohio for this event. After a final Chiropractic adjustment, picking up the rental car, and getting my stuff loaded. I headed out. This was going to be a full weekend and I planned to make the most of it. The trip was very uneventful. It took what seemed like forever to get there.   The original plan was to stay in a fellow "Idiots" apartment and make home there for the week. However, sometimes things happen, and you have to deviate. That's just what happend here, but in the grand scheme of things it was all water under the bridge. I wound up in a hotel room for the weekend, which honestly , worked out just as well. Again, just a minor blip on the radar. It wasn't till after 2 am that I finally calmed down enough to go to sleep , after a long day of traveling.




Friday was packet pick- up day and pre- race swim day. When I rolled up to Edgewater , site of the race , and saw just how extravagant that this was, instantly, for the first time, the sheer enormity hit me. I was in awe. How was I, a rookie, good enough to be standing here. It was just beyond me. I had a conversation with my coach, and several folks on my team that are my friends, and they were like just soak this in and enjoy every moment of this. I only intended to stay for a short time, but then I remembered, I need to take this in , and also to get my racewheels put on for race day. Plus it was swim practice day in lake Erie. Erie had experienced sewer runoff earlier that week, so we weren't sure if we were looking at a Duathlon or a full on Tri. However, things cleared up during the week and on Thursday so we were looking good for the Tri. (more on this later on ) .  

After packet pickup , I then dropped off my bike to get race wheels put on , and then got dressed, and walked down to the beach for swim practice  to get a feel for the water and what was going on . I knew right away this was gonna be fun because there were foot tall swells, and massive current. Today, the water was NOT wetsuit legal, so based off that, I went without. Once in, I realized the current was massive and it was a struggle to swim. I only stayed out about 20 min or so, long enough to get some work in , and get out. I wound up meeting some people and we discussed best strategy for the swim. We all knew this was going to be tough.

After getting out of the water at the conclusion of the swim, I then went to pick up my bike and give it a test spin. Everything looked good and felt good. I had to tweak the brakes a little bit due to the size of the wheels as these were rental race wheels. I was more than excited to have these for the race. 

        

After all of this, I still had a little shopping to do. I also noticed the normatec boots were being demoed. I had spoken with several of my local TRI CLUB members and even some of my teammates, and they said these were the best things. So I decided to go give it a try.

What insued was 20 min of relaxation. I love these things. Once I finally got through here, It was 4 pm. I had about a 2 hour drive ahead of me 1 way and needed to also clean the bike and get the #'s attached to it as tomorrow I had to drop it off for racing on Sunday. 

I think If I remember correctly, I stopped at applebees and ate. Then I went on back to the room , and took care of cleaning up my bike in the HOTEL TUB ! 

Saturday- This was a day that I had REALLY looked forward too for a while now. Today was the day that I was getting to go to the rock n roll hall of fame. That's right. Music. I actually started off the morning by taking the chance to sleep in , because I knew that I wasn't going to get much rest, if any , tonight. So, I wanted to sleep in. Once I woke up, I then went down for a light breakfast , and then headed out to The museum after packing up "The eagle" to take down to the park tonight to check in . 

Once I got there, I noticed I am right next to the Browns Stadium. So , I had promised some friends to make good on shooting the stadium a bird. Tennessee and the owner of the Browns, the Haslams, have 0 love loss. So, this was my payback for all the years of torture that Tennessee has been subjected to due to the haslams. BAHAHA!

The next stop was the massive Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When I walked into this place, I can't begin to describe the sheer enormity of it all. It was almost indescribable. 6 floors of stuff to look at. Here are a couple of pictures of things I found interesting: 

Again, the sheer size of this place is 6 floors just covered in stuff like this. I took as many pictures as possible . If interested in seeing them all , there are 3 albums of rock and roll hall of fame pictures on my facebook page. Feel free to look through them.


During that afternoon, I had a pre-race chat with coach. We talked about just going and having fun and racing hard and strong. I stated i wanted to go so hard that I hurt after multisport, which is so hard to do . We agreed this was how to proceed. 

After the chat, I then spent another couple hours in the museum. Then , I got to really have a treat. 

I am part of a dumb little club called "Idiots Running Club" (IRC) . One of the gals in this club, Amie, happens to be from just up the road in Menton, Ohio. Since I was within a hours drive at the RNR , I decided , heck, I am just gonna pop in and see her for a bit and see the new studio. Once I got there, I then got to meet Amie. We sat and talked , and I got to meet her son, tank, and then see her little quaint shop that she has. Shes super talented and super smart, and it was so much fun to get to finally meet her. 

From there, it was off to transition to finally get to put "The Eagle" in its place and get ready for race day. 

Once I got to transition, I found out I was in Row A, right in the middle. I took time  to hang my bike gently, and then I walked down swim finish up to transition and through bike out and then back in .

Once I was done with this, which took about an hour total, I then headed to Applebees for grilled chicken, veggies, and then also a small bite of desert. Then I noticed across the street, the biggest Home Depot I have ever seen. 

Once this was done, I had to stop at Walmart. I needed bay shampoo to keep my swim goggles from fogging and then food for Sunday am as wakeup was 2:30 am. I then got home , and got a shower, got my bag carefully packed as I am supersticious about that, and then laid down. Tomorrow we RACE!!!
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RACEDAY: 

The first alarm was set for 230 am. I had basically a 90 min drive to Cleveland and I wanted to double check my gear that I packed and have time to eat and get ready. I had to get my race #'s affixed to each shoulder and each leg as well. Once I had this done and was dressed, it was breakfast time . 

For breakfast was simply a chicken club sandwich from Walmart . It was the closest thing I could get to what works for me so that was what it was. To drink was a bottle of my lucky KONA flavored Nuun . A little caffeine to get me woke up and alert . Since it was still super early.

While I was eating, there was zilch on tv, so I decided on some music. What else but the one thing that gets me amped up ?! Turned on the Pride of the Southland playing rocky top. No kidding I probably listened to that AT LEAST 10 times. 

By the time I got ready to head down, I was fired up and ready to roll. Today was it. It was time to let it all hang out and go as hard as I could and see what happened. 

It took me till about 5:15 to get to Edgewater and then to get parked. My plan was to get transition setup and then lay back down in the car for a half hour. However, I was so jacked up , it was pointless. 

I actually met the guys who were racked right next to me, and talked to them. About 6ish, I decided to do a final bike check and adjust the air pressures on my tires. We couldn't go out for a warmup, so this was the final check. 

It had been announced at 6:15 we were wetsuit legal. Whoohoo. With the water, I would need all the advantages I could get, so I was super excited for this. I then took a little more time to final organize everything, and drop my bag at bag check. It was business time now. 

I stopped and used the restroom and then headed twoard the beach to get ready as I am in wave # 1. 

However, I quickly noticed something not right. The water was rough, and although the Buoys were set, no one was in the water at 6:45 warming up in wave 1. I kinda shrugged it off, and got ready to step into my wetsuit to start getting ready. My brain knows , as soon as I step in there, it goes into anti-social mode and into war mode. 

7:00 am- The supposed start of Wave 1- Just about the time we were thinking about getting loose, an announcement is made that  due to water conditions, the swim had been cancelled and this would now be a duathlon. We were instructed to head back to transition and await further instructions at a 7:15 conference.

7:15- Were advised that due to water conditions, specifically very strong riptides, to the point that they couldn't get the boat in for rescue, that we would be running a duathlon. However, this would still be considered a Triathlon and National Titles would still be desided as well as Team USA spots. 

After this announcement I knew I had to make a mindset change. Instantly, I decided that it was time to make this hurt and make it count. If it hurt, deal with it. This is approx 2 hours of pain and your done. You have suffered for 7+ before for marathons, so you can do this. 

While I am getting ready for the first run, I am also topping off the fuel. I quickly eat my 3rd cliff bar I have in transition as a backup . Just to make sure I am ready. 

At 7:20 I head over to the start area. The start was a seed yourself, lines of 4, time trial. So you don't know who your racing. Your racing the clock. Quickest overall wins. I made the decision to start 4th row. Was I starting with the big boys, you bet you . But , it was what I had to do . 

Before I realized it, we were off. I came out hard and digging. I realized pretty quick, your off to quick, but what is done is done. I settled down into a more comftorable pace for myself and kept breathing deeply and it was going nicely. I felt SUPER STRONG and was just focused.

Pretty soon, I was back into transition. I snuck a peak at my watch as I hit the timing mat, and I was shocked. I had like a 10:15 average, which is fantastic for me. It was now time for my favorite part, and honestly what had drawn me into multi-sport in the first place, the bike! 

I soon was in my bike gear and out of transition on the road. Immediately I heard something that bothered me. I looked down and saw my shoes undone. I tried to refasten them as I rode, but kept trying to bobble the bike. I finally said F it, and just let it go. Wasn't worth stopping. The course was very punchy in bike terms , so it rolled quite a bit. I was glad I had ridden those hills with my friends in the last few weeks. as I got through about 1/2 of the ride, I was making sure to keep hydrated every few moments, and I knew I needed to eat on the bike to have a good supply of fuel for the sprint to the finish. 

As I was coming through the return on the bike, I let my mind wander a moment. I realized how fast this was going, and thought for a moment about slowing way down to enjoy the last little while of the race. But then I snapped too and was like, you made the deal, no pain no gain. So get with it. At that moment, I put more fuel in the fire. As I rounded the corner back into edgewater, I went ahead and unclipped but kept peddling since I was storming twoards transition 2 . 

Once off the bike, my hands were totally numb. I tried to take my helment off, but couldn't get it. Fine. I got ready to go and grabbed my hat. and glasses. I had 2.1 k's of this race left and it was time to go. I finally ripped my helment off, snapped my race belt back on , and took off. One lap to finish. 

I was hot by this point and hurting, but it didn't matter. I had to finish strong here. Period. For my team, for me, for coach, for everyone. I had to go. I walked up the first big hill, and grabbed some water and splashed on me. That got me re-juvinated and it was show time. I put the pedal down and ran . 

At each additional water stop,I would get water and toss on me. I had my fluids in my hand so I was in good shape. I could tell I was tiring, but it was almost done.

Shortly, I came over the bridge,and down the carpet. It was here for the first time the whole race, I let my emotions show. I started grinning and waving as I was sprinting down the finish area with what I had in me. I heard my name and then came across the line. It was finished. I had done it. I had just completed my A race, and smoked it. 

As I came across the line, I was out of breath, out of energy. And flat exhausted. However, I got over to get my medal, my cold towel, and a bottle of fluids. I took a sip and knew it was loaded with sugar, and then ditched it for more plain water.

Once I managed to re-gain myself, I ventured to get my bag. I wanted my phone to talk to coach. I sent her a text. We were both so pleased with how this all turned out. It was beyond anything . To do what I did, with what I had been through , was fantastic. As we were talking, I turned to a ball of tears for a few moments. The sheer emotion finally came out. 

I then went over to the normatec booth . I wanted those boots to start recovery immediately. I then got some food but really wasn't that hungry. I never am till a few hours after my races.Call me crazy, but its what works. If I am, I munch on a cliff bar or some fruit. Its normally all I want.

I then waited to get my bike out of transition at the end of the event and to pack up . Once I had it all packed, I had to get my wheels changed back over to my stock wheels. Once that was done, it was snack time, and I knew just where i wanted to go. BREWNUTS! So I got loaded up and headed for doughnuts. I had decided I was going to awards to fully soke this in, so getting doughnuts would be a great way to reward myself.

Once I got my dougnuts , they were HUGE! And so tasty. Amie set me up with this, and goodness gracious. I had peanut butter crunch and strawberry cheescake and inhaled them. 

By this time, I am speechless, I have no words to describe things. So, I head over to awards. This is super inspiring to me and leaves me wondering what it would take to get to this point. So i message coach and we decide we would talk mid week.One of the ladies who won the national title was the Iron Nun! 88 years old and still doing this . so inspiring. 

 Once awards were over, I was starving, and had a 2 hour drive to the room and needed food. It was time to eat. I stopped at buffalo wild wings to watch some of the nascar race and to fully let this start to sync in . What an experience. After lunch, I drove back to the room, and got out of my race outfitt, and got a shower. It was now 6 pm and I was starving and was tired. Having been up since 230 am. I got a quick shower , and then decided on Chilli's for dinner. I had a huge burger and a cookie for desert then headed to the room. 

After getting home from dinner, it was time to load up the room. I got most of the stuff packed , and staged, and took a phone call from my friend Miriam. It was a treat to speak to her, and to re-live the days events. After our call, and watching tv for a bit, the last time i saw the clock was 10 pm, I fell asleep.

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Monday- Today I was gonna try to make it home, to save money, and frankly because I missed my hills of East TN. It's flat in Ohio,and this boy loves his mountains. But , first we had one more trip . I got up about 9 am and then ate some breakfast. I then got the vehicle loaded and got checked out of the room. While a tad sad, I was relishing the memories and the thoughts of " Who does this in their rookie year"? Yep, I do ! Thats who! 

I made the 4 hour drive back to Louisville, Kentucky and stopped for some lunch. Destination: Churchill downs , home of the KENTUCKY DERBY! 

Once I arrived , this is what greeted me:

As I walked in, even before the front door, I was able to see the late Barbaro's grave. It brought back a flood of memories of watching this giant run. Although a brief life and career, he captured the heart of many many fans. 

I got to take a tour of the track and see things such as the paddock and make the walk from the paddock up the tunnel to the tracks, the same exact steps the horses take coming out for the derby. As I walked, I could hear my old kentucky home in my head. Funny thing, I haven't quit hearing that since then. Lol! I got to spend time and walk through the museum and see several different artificats and such. 

There are tons more pictures in a Kentucky Derby Album on my facebook page if you are interested.

Once I left here, I made 2 stops: one to get gas, and the other at Dairy queen for a burger and Ice cream. I then headed home to east TN to hang out with a friend of mine. 

After hanging out with him,at 11:30 at night on Monday night I pulled back in. I had made it and was so glad to be home. 

So, there you have it. That's it. 2018 Age group National Championships are history for this year. This will not be my last time competing at this event. Nope. I plan to be back , and even better in years to come. I had the conversation I alluded to with coach about what It would take to qualify for Team USA in the future. It's definitely got me excited, but I have some other goals next year to pursue , along with a few more races this season, and then we will talk about it again in earnest at the end of next season. 

Before I conclude, even though I have done it once already publicly, I want to do it again here. There were a group of people who came together to really make this all possible, through financial support, self care support, coaching, etc. In no uncertain order, here are the names of these people: 

Beqi Majors
LeAnne Taylor
Neil Richard
Jeff Kase
Miriam Cutelis
Terry Yates
Cindy Rausin & Facebookless Everett
David Murphy for being Murphy and helping out any way possible
Becky Baumer for the housing this weekend while i am away.

The IDIOTS RUNNING CLUB (IRC)

COACH KRISTIE CRANFORD 

The Rocky Top Multisports Club

Dr. Chris Talley at Healthsource Chiropratic , Knoxville Tennessee.

KRENDURANCE - My fantastic team, and support group.

Without this list and the thousands of others who supported me with good thoughts, NONE of this would have been possible nor occurred.

So, coming back off nationals, Ill continue to race . I have races booked through the end of the year. More immidate though will be the Redskin Romp Sprint Tri at home, The north Knox sprint tri, and then to wrap up tri season, My first OLYMPIC distance Tri, the Tennessee Tough man. So, thats kind of where were headed. My year concludes with 4 5k's after that.

So, that's it. Nationals in the book. Time to work twoards the Olympic distance race now. Another first this year.

So , until we chat again, like I always say: 

From One "Idiot" to another: 

-John 

-IRC#2148

EARTH DAY DUATHLON 2018

So, this was it . After a full weekend of Triathlon camp, this was the big show. It was showtime. I was after AG glory. A rare chance and I was coiled up like a viper and I wasn't going to be denied. Period. 

I got up early that morning and then got packed up. Luckily it was going to be a beautiful morning for this so I lucked out. I had about a 50 min drive , so I got my protien shake breakfast, and got on the road pretty quickly. 

I would be racing in my aero helment today. Today was the right situation to christen it. Once I got there, I grabbed the spot closest to BIKE OUT where I would be able to roll. I was going to go for it. 

I warmed up by taking the bike out for a lap around the parking lot before go time just to cycle through the gears and set the starting point. I was ready to go . 


Once I re-racked the bike, and got everything situated, it was time to line up. The first leg of this was a one mile run around the mall. I got amped and it was time to roll. 

I settled in next to one of my RTMSC teammates. I looked at the watch, and knew a half mile in I was going to hard, but i was rocking and rolling. I was like the match is already burnt, so I just went with it all the way into transition. a 1.1 mile run in a 11 min or so. Fastest I have run in a long time, and I was feeling great. 

Then I took my time, got myself organized in transition, and mounted the bike and off we went for the 2nd leg, a 11 mile or so ride. This was an up and down ride . I felt good . I had some food in my mouth as I headed out. I also had my sunglasses on . But, this was a change I made quickly. They fogged up , I couldn't see shit through them. So I pitched them as I rolled away. Time to make some good time. 

The bike ride was good. I felt really strong and was loving it. I made a couple of gearing mistakes I thought would cost me, but I kept fighting. Around the 6 mile mark, I caught site of the girl in front of me. My mission instantly, catch her, and then drop her and not look back. It took me about 2 more miles, and I finally got her. Once I got to her, around I went pretty quickly. I was on . Around mile 10 my hands started to cramp. I looked at my body position and realized why this had been an issue. I was tense. So I relaxed. Before I knew it , I was back into transition. As I went to pull my bike shoes off I realized I had rode with my shin splint wraps on, so that was one less step. 

Grabbed the bottle off my bike and my handheald, along with food, and headed out for the run. 

The run was a lap and a half in one direction, you flip around, and go a full lap in the oposite direction. Then come into the finish. As I headed out, I saw my glasses where they landed. I grabbed some water, picked them up and then headed on. My plan for the run was to let my legs come too me. I would take my time and just go with it. I was eating as they came to me, so this was working. I managed to pick up the pace quicker than I thought I would. When I saw the first mile come and go, I was like thats solid. I might can neg split this run and really have a good day. Before I knew it, mile 2 and the turn around was behind me. I was even quicker mile 2. So now it was not can I it was I WAS going to neg split the run and pr the run off the bike. 

When I made the turn into home, I felt great. Everyone was cheering us in, so I let it go. Everything I had left, I poured out on the dash for home. When I came across the line , I had nothing left to give , so I knew I had done it right. I tossed my timing chip away and that was that. 

I had just Negative split the run, and Pr'd the run off the bike by 5 min so I was a happy man. I now had to wait out the kids dua and then awards. I was curious what awards would be. 

I went ahead and got my stuff out of transition and enjoyed the kids race. So much potential in those kids! It was acutally cool to watch. 

Then awards! Finally I was gonna know. Like I said , a small race, so I REALLY wanted this. I saw people asking, and I couldn't stand it any more, so I asked Muna. I had done it ! 2nd AG! I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. I HAD DONE IT! 

Our awards were a tote bag that would be perfect for transition, and FOOD! FREE BREAKFAST ! Which hit the spot, because damn, I was hungry. LOL!

After we got done, I stayed around to hangout again with the guys, and just shoot the breeze. Afterall, had to celebrate this , right? 

As the old saying goes, no rest for the weary. It's time for a fast build, and then another taper before my FIRST O.W.S. (Open water swim) Triathlon. Time to go racing again! Can't wait for this one. Should be outstanding. 


So, until we talk after the race-


From one "Idiot" to another- 

John
-IRC # 2148-

TRIATHLON CAMP 2018

Triathlon Camp 2018 

I was fortunate enough to join a local multi-sport club, Rocky Top Multi-Sport. I first found these folks at the Knoxville Marathon Expo booth and knew this is what I needed to help me accomplish my Triathlon Goals and dreams. As it would turn out, they put together a really nice spring training camp for us before the season started that would conclude with a duathlon on Sunday. To say I was super excited for this would be an understatement. 

On Friday, we had a get together at cyclebar for a private spin class. Knowing how much I love spin, I was all up for this. This was a top notch facility that even provided shoes for us. However, due to comfort and knowing how mine fit, I went ahead and took mine as I use the same clips that most spin bikes do. 

After class was over, and we had our butts thoroughly kicked, we all hung out for a informal party. I mixed and mingled with folks and was one of the last to head out just taking time to get to know people. I was really ready for this weekend and was looking forward to it. 

Saturday Morning I got up and drove up to the YMCA in north Knoxville. We started the morning off with an hour swim. We drilled and drilled and drilled. We had a couple coaches from the Knoxville Masters swim class come and teach us. I personally discovered that my big issue is breathing. So, coming out of the pool I knew I had to get better at breathing. I was given some drills to help me work on that , which I greatly appreciated. 

Once we were through the swim, we took time to change and then moved into a classroom setting for the next while for class. The first thing we talked about was cycling. Of course , I really got into this. We went through the gearing, and do's and don'ts. Talked about the importance of using the bike as a tool. I had a couple big realizations about this. #1 was I was a king at cross chaining. Understanding the bike gearing now, I really understood how bad cross chaining was and what it was. Immediatley I knew how to fix that. The other part of my realization was that I needed to RELAX on the bike. I had a bad habbit of tensing on the bike when I get tired to gain more control. Actually , its doing me the opposite and wearing me down faster. So, I realized that  I needed to RELAX yo! Bike class was REALLY informative . I learned so much. 

After Bike Class, we had lunch, and had a nutritionist come in and talk to us. I found this information REALLY USEFUL ! I had some light bulbs go off as well about why I would crave this or that and really understood some nutrition things even better than I did before.

After Lunch, we had an informal chat with the RD , Muna , who was in charge of tomorrow dua. It was nice to get to hear things from a rd point of view. Very eye opening. 

Then, it was time to head outside and discuss the 4th discipline of triathlons, the transition. Where you can make up time or loose time. I again found this EXTREMELY helpful. I had done some research before my first TRI, but really found some nice takeaways about organization and such. So, again, really beneficial for me. 

The last activity of the day was Running. So , naturally we all suited up in our running gear not knowing what to expect. This was probably the most benifical thing in terms of running for me. We went over injury prevention and then went through some stretches and drills for warmups, and discussed about form and doing self checks during runs. I realized right then why I have had some of the best runs of my life and some that I couldn't get anything to go right for me. Its all about the form. When you get tired, your body starts to slip. You have to pay attention and check these things periodically. When you do that, you have great days. When you don't you don't. That's just the facts of it all. 

After the day had concluded, I was talking bikes and the N+1 rule with some friends from the club and about the race. I curiously asked Muna how many people would be there tomorrow . She said maybe 30. Almost immediatley my eyes lit up . I knew right then, that the plan had just changed. 

See, the plan was to NOT race this as this was after my first tri and treat it as a recovery brick. But, when the moment presents itself, you have to go. I called coach on the road. Appologized in advance but said, the time is right , I gotta race this here is the situation. She was like YES you do ! GO! 

Once I got home, I got out the bike and then rode down through town. Immediatley, the things that I learned in class were put to use, and I was over in the BCR steaming along with ease. It was then I for sure knew, I was set on kill. It was time to shine . 

After I got home and got the bike cleaned up , I packed up the gear and relaxed. Because , tomorrow ...... ITS SHOWTIME!!! 

So, in a nutshell, that was camp. Tomorrow we go RACING for AG GLORY at the Earth Day Dua. 

So until then- 

From one "Idiot" to another- 

John

-IRC #2148-