USAT Age Group Nationals!

Below is the report I am sending to the super-talented members of my tri team, Philly Pro Tri:

Most of you guys don’t know me, or if you do, know me well.  A bit about me.  I did nothing athletic growing up.  I was the chubby awkward kid who was hopeless in gym class, and was always picked last for every sport.  My biggest sports accomplishment through high school was helping the water polo team pass math.  I started running in my early 30s and did a bunch of road races, including marathons.  I did not start getting serious about getting faster until about 2008-2009, and then after that I slowly stumbled on to a couple of age-group podiums in small 5ks.  Podiums are a super nice bonus for me, because they would have been unthinkable to my young self, but I mostly race against myself, aiming for improvement and PRs.  I work hard, and I’ve been fortunate to get a lot of both in the past few years. 

 

I picked up triathlons starting in 2011.  I was terrified of the swim, because I was never good in the water and I’m afraid of fish and drowning.  I do, however, love riding my bike, and that is definitely my strength.  Since I started, I’ve had steady improvement in the sport, thanks to great coaching, a support system of awesome tri friends and stupid amounts of money spent on equipment. 

 

Qualifying for Nationals was a really big deal for me, especially since I’ve been struggling a lot with my running this past year (injuries and lots of new female-over-45 issues).  I was really excited to go and thrilled to be able to share the experience with my friends Ashley, Mark and Denise.  The race organization was spectacular and the venue was perfect (except for the water temp).  I have a bunch of thoughts on both the trip (I drove with Denise and met Ashley and Mark in set spots along the way) and race, listed below in no particular order.

 

Most Memorable:

 

Touring Ashley’s Aunt Sharon’s absolutely beautiful historic home in Illinois, and then promptly dumping a cranberry iced tea all over the impeccable dining room table on which she was serving us a lovely brunch.

 

Cheese.  Cheese!  Visting Mars Cheese Castle.  Delicious cheese giveaways at the Wisconsin welcome center rest stop (and bunnies to pet!). 

 

Watching two 78-year-old men in Team USA kits battle each other to the finish in the sprint tri for a chance to go to next year’s world race. 

 

Getting chicked on the bike.  I am not used to this.  I can live with guys passing me (well, the right guys), but I am no longer accustomed to girls passing unless they are clearly elite/pros.  I had to remind myself that this was a different crowd. I am using this experience as inspiration to up my bike game and see how close I can get to hanging with these top women. 

 

Luanne.  Luanne was a triathlete in the 60-64 female age group in the sprint tri.  The course for the sprint swim was just under a half mile in cold water (65 degrees), and the swimmers had to go under an overpass about a third of the way into it.  There was a current at the overpass pushing the swimmers back toward the start, but that current would break in the swimmers favor as soon as they made it through.  Luanne was struggling, and got seriously stuck in the current.  She was getting pushed from side to side and backwards at certain points, and she wasn’t making progress.   And then as she was struggling, she got swum over by the wave of men behind her.  The lifeguard on the kayak was poised to pull her at any moment, but she wasn’t giving up.  Everyone on the bridge joined together in shouting encouragement to Luanne to fight to the other side.  Finally, she found a backstroke and starting making progress.  She went under the bridge and all the spectators ran over to the other side to see her pass through.  We all broke into massive cheers and got to see a huge smile on her face before she flipped over into a freestyle stroke and made her way forward.  We found out later that she did finish the triathlon, earning lots of people in her corner along the way. 

 

One of the best Italian dinners I’ve had in my life, and I spent a summer in Italy and live in South Philly. 

 

Ashley, standing at the board looking at the results, “Denise knows Lori Beck.”  Woman standing next to Ashley, “I am Lori Beck.”

 

Swag!  So much good stuff.  We got a USAT AGNT half-zip jacket, tech hat, compression sleeves and a shoe bag. 

 

Not finishing in the bottom 10% of my age group.  When I first started triathlon a few years ago, I was consistently bottom 10% of my group in every event, even the little local newbie-friendly tris.  2015 was the first year I managed a triathlon podium in any event, and while I had placed in running events, I never had a first-place finish in anything.  I was ecstatic when I won my age group at the Hammonton Sprint Tri in May – both my first “first” and my first tri podium.  The email inviting me to Nationals was a shock and something I never would have believed I could accomplish before.  Just being at Nationals is amazing for me, so I would have been ok even if I was dead last, especially when I saw that all of the race participants looked like they should be auditioning for a super hero movie.  My previous Olympic PR put me in the bottom 5% of finishers in the 2014 field for my age group.  That clearing the bottom 10% goal may seem arbitrary, but it was my hope going into this race.  I also wanted very much to be in the top half of my age group on bike, which is my strong leg and how I qualified for the race.   Of the 151 women in my age group, I finished at 124, and was number 57 on the bike, so I met both goals easily.  Might have even been top third on the bike if I could get on and off of the thing in less than 4 years (a recently identified weak spot in dire need of practice). 

 

Sub-3 hours.  My Olympic PR before this race, achieved at Philly Tri last year, was 3:06:19.   I wanted to break 3 hours on that race, but fell apart on the run in the heat.  I also wanted to break 3 hours at Rock Hall earlier this year, but swimming off course so badly that I ended up doing 1.3 miles instead of .9, and then walking the run in the blistering un-shaded heat turned that wish to dust.  The course conditions in Milwaukee were favorable.  Swim was cold, which definitely slowed me down in the beginning, but easy to sight and wetsuit legal.  Bike was flat and fast, with roads closed to traffic making passing a lot easier.  Run was in cool temps for August (70s) on flat roads with overcast conditions.  Transitions were long (my transition spot was not in a good location, and the run from swim to bike was not short).  I was doing well through the bike, but then fell apart on the run (pretty sure it was a nutrition screw-up on my part).  I was only holding an average pace of about 10:20.  At the six mile marker, I looked at my watch and realized I had less than 2 minutes to cover the last .2 or I wouldn’t get my sub-3.  So I started my sprint.  I saw Ashley and Denise right before the line, but only growl-yelled rather than nicely acknowledge my friends and charged across the line.  Final time was 2:59:37, which means I was going at a good clip for that last .2 and I got both my sub-3 and a nice PR.

 

Mark confidently walking into one of the diciest beer stores I have ever seen for some Miller High Life (yes, really). 

 

Touchdown Jesus.  This was after the brick ride on a trail so narrow that I thought Ashley might have to dive into the drink alongside the trail to rescue me.   Brick and bike handling clinic all in one. 

 

Finally, and most important of all, having the opportunity and ability be part of such an incredible event in a great venue with friends I love.  It was so great to relax and hang out with Denise, Ashley and Mark, and then each of us had great race experiences.  This is a reminder that I am truly blessed to be able to do this and to have such fantastic people in my life to do it with.