My 12th straight Armed Forces Triathlon Championship (AFTC)! Suffice to say, who knew this would happen, but in my training I've just taken it one step at a time as well as try to be as consistent day in/day out as possible.
Preparation:
Going into a race, every athlete needs a motivation that is a little different then the rest of the races. Getting ready for this race all Spring was an easy task, it was a qualifier for the quadrennial World Military Games hosted by Wuhan, China Oct 14-27, 2019. We qualify 12 triathletes to China: top-4 Men's Open (fast guys) and the top-2 Men's Masters (40+ yo old guys) along with the same breakout for Women.
That was the motivation...and the process would be to surround myself with the FASTEST group of athletes I know in each discipline and attempt to get pushed throughout the Spring build. For the swim, FAST Masters with Coach Eric Neilsen has been my go-to now for over 6 years, but to take it one step further, I demanded of myself to be in the fast lane throughout April and May. To get there...I swam the most consistent yardage I've ever done of 40K+/month through 2019. New swim test set of 10 X 1:08/100y on 1:20...Check!
With cycling, it was subjecting myself continuously to David Born, Keith Jackson, James O'sullivan, CSU Triathlon, and the TTH group ride through May and June. That list is the FASTEST cyclists in Northern Colorado. Dropped repeatedly, but just get back up the next day. New FTP of 320s...Check!
Lastly, our run group of Tuesday Night Track (TNT) each week and partnering up with Keith will tap into that run speed quickly. I thank all of you guys for getting me here...and look forward to more punishment rest of the summer. I was confident going into the race I could have one of my best results of the dozen years...at age 44.
Race Recap:
AFTC is a draft-legal (DL) Olympic distance race, unique to age groupers as it's the only amateur DL race of that distance in the US. The swim leg is of the utmost importance, hence the swim emphasis in training. It all kicks off with an out-of-water beach start on the Pacific coast at Naval Air Station Point Mugu. Clean start and we were off. I immediately found myself in no-man's land...but a great location I've never been in this race. Gapped by the top-9 swimmers out front and then everybody else behind...guess I was going to be swimming by myself without a draft, but best position in 12 years. Came out of the water both laps by myself but ahead of the main group of 20+ athletes. 10th out of the water and into transition.
T1 was calm and had Air Force teammate and two Army triathletes right behind. I would casually start the bike and wait for our pack of four to organize. Within 5 mi, we were joined by two Navy athletes to make an organized group of six (2 AF, 2 Army, 2 Navy). Throughout the 24mi ride, we were pushing the pace but nowhere near the efforts of past races when the Canadian team would blitz the field with me in tow. I do believe the highlight of my day was being able to race with these 6...a great AF friend, new Army friends, and even the Collegiate DL National champion of 2018, Dan Lloyd. That stuff excites me...being able to bridge two generations of triathlon in this crazy, small peloton. But I knew it would be a crazy fast run start! Bike split about 1:00 slower than last year, 298W NP and 4% off of last year's power. What I didn't know was the lead group was also slower, could we have caught them with a little extra effort/help?
The run...no I CAN'T keep up with guys literally half my age! Ryan Derrick and Dan LLoyd both just blitzed the run with Johannes. I tried to stay with Ryan and Johannes as long as possible but I knew 5:20 pace wasn't sustainable for long. We dropped my teammate and another Navy guy and then I just settled into a more reasonable 5:55-6:00 pace. It felt smooth, efficient, and placement didn't change after 2mi. Finished with a low 37:00 10K for 12th overall Male and 1st place Masters.
Thank you to Armed Forces Sports and Air Force Sports for making these races happen each year. Funding is tighter and tighter each year, but "friendship through sport" is so important both interservice and international.
Thank you to everyone (especially Dakota and Troy) at Rocky Mountain Multisport! Your support in the Northern Colorado triathlon community is top-notch! Clean bikes are fast bikes. Supported triathletes are fast triathletes.
Thank you to the great Mighty 1-8 Weather Squadron Air Force brethren! I appreciate your support, kind words, and look forward to representing you and the USAF well throughout the remainder of the year.
What's next:
I'm looking forward to USAT Age Group Nationals in Cleveland August 10-11 and then heading out to Lausanne ITU Worlds for both the Olympic and Sprint end of August...wrapping up the season at Military World Games Oct 27th.`More importantly the countless friends, family, and teammates who I get to share these races with. 2019 has already been a blast!
Preparation:
Going into a race, every athlete needs a motivation that is a little different then the rest of the races. Getting ready for this race all Spring was an easy task, it was a qualifier for the quadrennial World Military Games hosted by Wuhan, China Oct 14-27, 2019. We qualify 12 triathletes to China: top-4 Men's Open (fast guys) and the top-2 Men's Masters (40+ yo old guys) along with the same breakout for Women.
That was the motivation...and the process would be to surround myself with the FASTEST group of athletes I know in each discipline and attempt to get pushed throughout the Spring build. For the swim, FAST Masters with Coach Eric Neilsen has been my go-to now for over 6 years, but to take it one step further, I demanded of myself to be in the fast lane throughout April and May. To get there...I swam the most consistent yardage I've ever done of 40K+/month through 2019. New swim test set of 10 X 1:08/100y on 1:20...Check!
With cycling, it was subjecting myself continuously to David Born, Keith Jackson, James O'sullivan, CSU Triathlon, and the TTH group ride through May and June. That list is the FASTEST cyclists in Northern Colorado. Dropped repeatedly, but just get back up the next day. New FTP of 320s...Check!
Lastly, our run group of Tuesday Night Track (TNT) each week and partnering up with Keith will tap into that run speed quickly. I thank all of you guys for getting me here...and look forward to more punishment rest of the summer. I was confident going into the race I could have one of my best results of the dozen years...at age 44.
Race Recap:
AFTC is a draft-legal (DL) Olympic distance race, unique to age groupers as it's the only amateur DL race of that distance in the US. The swim leg is of the utmost importance, hence the swim emphasis in training. It all kicks off with an out-of-water beach start on the Pacific coast at Naval Air Station Point Mugu. Clean start and we were off. I immediately found myself in no-man's land...but a great location I've never been in this race. Gapped by the top-9 swimmers out front and then everybody else behind...guess I was going to be swimming by myself without a draft, but best position in 12 years. Came out of the water both laps by myself but ahead of the main group of 20+ athletes. 10th out of the water and into transition.
T1 was calm and had Air Force teammate and two Army triathletes right behind. I would casually start the bike and wait for our pack of four to organize. Within 5 mi, we were joined by two Navy athletes to make an organized group of six (2 AF, 2 Army, 2 Navy). Throughout the 24mi ride, we were pushing the pace but nowhere near the efforts of past races when the Canadian team would blitz the field with me in tow. I do believe the highlight of my day was being able to race with these 6...a great AF friend, new Army friends, and even the Collegiate DL National champion of 2018, Dan Lloyd. That stuff excites me...being able to bridge two generations of triathlon in this crazy, small peloton. But I knew it would be a crazy fast run start! Bike split about 1:00 slower than last year, 298W NP and 4% off of last year's power. What I didn't know was the lead group was also slower, could we have caught them with a little extra effort/help?
The run...no I CAN'T keep up with guys literally half my age! Ryan Derrick and Dan LLoyd both just blitzed the run with Johannes. I tried to stay with Ryan and Johannes as long as possible but I knew 5:20 pace wasn't sustainable for long. We dropped my teammate and another Navy guy and then I just settled into a more reasonable 5:55-6:00 pace. It felt smooth, efficient, and placement didn't change after 2mi. Finished with a low 37:00 10K for 12th overall Male and 1st place Masters.
Thank you to Armed Forces Sports and Air Force Sports for making these races happen each year. Funding is tighter and tighter each year, but "friendship through sport" is so important both interservice and international.
Thank you to everyone (especially Dakota and Troy) at Rocky Mountain Multisport! Your support in the Northern Colorado triathlon community is top-notch! Clean bikes are fast bikes. Supported triathletes are fast triathletes.
Thank you to the great Mighty 1-8 Weather Squadron Air Force brethren! I appreciate your support, kind words, and look forward to representing you and the USAF well throughout the remainder of the year.
What's next:
I'm looking forward to USAT Age Group Nationals in Cleveland August 10-11 and then heading out to Lausanne ITU Worlds for both the Olympic and Sprint end of August...wrapping up the season at Military World Games Oct 27th.`More importantly the countless friends, family, and teammates who I get to share these races with. 2019 has already been a blast!
RSS Feed