USAT Age Group Nationals

I'll start at the beginning.

The weeks leading up to Portland were crazy hectic as we prepared everything for Interbike. I'm pretty sure there were days in there where I spent over 14 hours a day in front of the computer. Fortunately, despite doing everything at the last possible minute, it all came together (you'll hear more about Interbike later on). With so much going on for the business it really didn't leave me much time to think about the race, which is exactly how I like it. It wasn't until packet pick-up the day before that I really started thinking about it, and even then I was honestly more concerned with if the promo cards would be printed in time.

The course venue was beautiful, and the swim started with everyone holding onto the dock with one hand. When the horn sounded I went for it as hard as I could. My tactic of swimming the first 100m all out has worked well for me before, but here it wasn't enough. 50m into it everyone was still right there. 100m in they were still there. Eventually it thinned out, but I still wasn't up toward the front. About 1/2 way through I found my rhythm and got going. I felt good and shook off a girl who was along for a free ride and gained some ground on those ahead of me.

Out of the water in 22:53 and up the steep boat ramp to transition. Got on the bike nice and awkwardly and went out hard. I really got after it on the first lap and caught a few girls in my age group. Then on the second lap I fell apart, almost completely. My stomach was all messed up and I couldn't even think of eating a gel, my focus was lost and all I could think of was that I probably wasn't going to make it through the run. DNFing crossed my mind a few times and had a spot to Worlds not been on the line, would've sounded like a sweet option. I knew I was still doing decently enough that even if I had to stop a few times on the run I could probably still finish top-20. For the last 5 miles of the bike people passed in droves. Uh-oh.

Off the bike in 1:13:27 and out of transition with a focus on staying relaxed and trying to push the run as best I could. Two miles in I realized my stomach would hold up and I tried to push the pace. This worked on the downhills, but like usual I suffered on the ups. ...until a mile to go and I picked it up. A lot. Definitely something I need to do sooner from now on because once I get going I always feel way better and I know I can hold on, I just get scared early on (10k is still so far!). A girl came up with about 5 strides left in the race. If there's one thing I hate, it's being outkicked so I quick stepped it in, but have no idea who got the lean, though I guess I could dig up the results if I really wanted.

The run was 41:53 with my final time of 2:20:50. I finished 6th in the 20-24 age group and 47th overall. Since I move up to the 25-29 age group (!) next year my spot for Worlds was dependent on my place in that category as well, where I would've been 10th. So my goal was accomplished and next September I'll be toeing the line in Queensland, Australia! Sweet!