Its been a while but I have had a fair share of traveling and great experiences over the past few months.
After St. Anthony's I put in about a an 8 week training block before my first international ITU race, the Coteau Du Lac ITU Pan American Cup on June 28th. The training was going well although it was starting to get real hot and humid in Florida and I was taking Statistics Class 5 days a week for 6 weeks. The race was the U23 World Championship Qualifier for the US, the critieria was top American U23 finisher at Coteau Du Lac and then top American finisher at another ITU race in San Francisco.
Coteau Du Lac is a small town about 40minutes outside of Montreal, Quebec. French was the first language of the province so it was fun trying to get around with all the french signs and french speaking people. I did have a great time as I stayed with Sean Jefferson, Omar Nour, and Chris Lutz as well as my dad for the trip. We went to this resturant/club called Club Touriste EVERY night for dinner! The food was great and we were lucky to have Omar who was fluent in french which made life alot easier on us.
Back to the race. The swim was in a canal that was a perfect 75 degrees and the bike was an out and back 6 lap course and the run was an out back 4 lap course on a bike trail along the canal. The swim was pretty rough as I expected but I ended up in the second pack which was disappointing, but I had plenty of guys to ride with so we didn't lose alot of time during the bike. The run went alright as I passed a few guys but ran a little slower than I expected about a 37:23. The many turns caused my to cramp a little in my right calf, but it something you have to get used to with ITU racing. I ended up 34th out of 70 guys that started the race, so I was pleased with my result.
After the ITU race in Canada I spent a few days at home before driving to Boston to spend 2 weeks with my uncle and Jarrod Shoemaker to get away from the heat. It was a blast and the weather excellent. I spend the 4th of July with my Uncle and cousins and then went to Jarrod's in Maynard to train for a week before returning to Cape Cod to spend the last week with my Uncle. I loved training in both places and def. want to back next summer to train for a little longer, the weather is just perfect up there during the summer. The only regret is the darn deerflies, they are relentless little beasts that bite so hard and swarm around you during your run. They were especially bad in the trails around Jarrod's house, but at least it wasn't scorching hot out.
I came home for Boston for a week before setting out again to a two week camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I have to say that that was one of the best experiences of my life! I met so many great people that just happen to be fantastic athletes. The food at the Training Center was amazing! There wasn't a day that didn't go by that I didn't absolutely stuff myself, I could have sworn I gained 7 pounds but I didn't which is good. I also did a Developmental ITU race while I was there. It was a sprint distance, and the course was exactly the same as Junior Nationals last year. Overall I had a pretty decent race with a great swim coming out in the top 10 a horrible T1 to destroy my work on the swim a solid bike and a sub-par run to end up about 12th out of about 40 guys. That same day a group of us climbed this mountain called Cheyyenne Canyon on our bikes. This was also the hardest thing I have done on the bike, the average grade was about 10%! It was insane. The next week went by real fast and I left with great memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. I realized that life is more so about the people you meet and experiences you have than all your accomplishments.
I got back home with a confidence in my fitness, but it came down once I realized how hot it was at home. I ran a 5k about the week after I got back and I went about a minute slower that I expected to go, 17:12. It was not a great race at all but I wasn't about to lose sleep over it. I am enjoying racing and training and I know I can have a good race at the next one on the schedule, The Chicago Triathlon on 8/29.
I am racing Amateur Elite at Chicago which is a week after school starts on the 23rd. I am expecting to do well and come home and put in another solid block of low volume high intensity work before my last race of the season, Elite Nationals! I will apply for my pro card after Chicago so that I can race the U23 National Championship that is held in conjunction with Elite Nationals. I have another 5k two weeks before so that will be a good benchmark.
Well until next time!
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