2015 Collegiate Nationals Race Report

This last weekend marked the end of my collegiate triathlon experience at the 2015 USAT Collegiate National Championships in, Clemson SC. A lot of training and preparation went into this race, as it was my "A" race for the spring.
My team and I flew into Atlanta on Wednesday, where we spent the night. The next morning we made the drive to Clemson. However, on the way there we encountered a literal road block. Just a half a mile ahead of us, a box truck had flipped over on the highway blocking the road entirely. We sat there for around three hours, and I did a short run to pass the time. Once we were on the move again we made it to Clemson without a problem, and we were able to check in.
The next couple of days before the race we did our normal pre-race workouts, and just tried to relax as much as possible. The weather was beautiful the days leading up to the race, but race day turned out to be a very different story.

Race Day:
When we got to the race venue on race day we knew we were in for a very wet race. It was only drizzling for check in and the swim, but it was pouring once I was on the bike.

Swim:
The swim always is the toughest part of a triathlon for me. It's all about limiting my losses, and getting on my bike as quickly as possible. I ended up having an ok swim, with a time of 24:05 for the 1500m. I was hoping for a time under 23 minutes, but I put that behind me and I set to work on the bike.

Bike:
By this time it was absolutely pouring. T1 was all muddy, and when I put my helmet on I was surprised with the amount of water the had accumulated in the helmet, which ended up splashing me in the face. The bike course was a pretty good match for me with a 3 lap rolling hills course. I knew I had time to make up so I put the hammer down, and began to pass a lot of people. I have never biked so hard in a triathlon before, and it resulted in a time of 58:37 for the 40k, which was the 38th best time. I was very happy with my bike split, and I was looking forward to the run.

Run:
The run course was one of the most difficult run courses I have ever done. We basically had to climb and descend this pretty steep hill four times. On the first lap I was still feeling good and was running around my goal pace of 6min/mi. The next and final lap is where those hills really began to hurt. My pace started dropping to around 6:20/mi and I was able to hold that until the finish. My quads and hamstrings were so sore on the last lap, and I felt like I was barely moving. Coming into the finishing shoot I crossed the finish line with a run time of 38:10 and an overall time of 2:04:25, a PR. When I crossed the finish line I was greeted by my girlfriend, and I was so relieved that the run was over.

This race was a great finale for my time competing in collegiate triathlon. I would like to thank everyone that has supported me through this time. Specifically my dad, who always helped me no matter the cost. Valdora Cycles, who gave me a super fast bike to race on, and all the other ONE Elite Sponsors:
ONE Multisport
Lifetime Fitness
Destination Kona
Fuel to the Finish
Lush Burger
Endurance Rehab
Pei Wei
My Oatmeal
Biotec Wellness
Integrated Orthopedics
Scottsdale Health Magazine.

All of this wouldn't have been possible without all the help I've received. Thank you so much.

The next big race I want to do is Leadville 100 mountain bike race. I need to qualify for Leadville at a qualify race over the summer. I can either do Fire Road 100k mtb or Silver Rush 50.
I am the strongest I have ever been, and I'm really excited to see how the rest of my season progresses.