USAT Age
Group Nationals (Olympic distance) took place in Milwaukee this year, which was
fortunate for me since it made it fairly easy to drive to. This was a race that competitors needed to
qualify for in order to compete in. In
order to qualify, you had to finish in the top 10% of your age group at a USAT
sanctioned race. This was also a
qualifying race for Team USA, which would compete in the Age Group World
Championships in Chicago in 2015. This
will be the first time that it has been hosted in the US since 2005. Normally the Top 18 in each Age Group
qualifies for Team USA, however, since the US is hosting in 2015, each Age
Group gets an extra 7 slots, meaning the Top 25 from each Age Group would
qualify this year. This all seemed too
good to be true for me, that Nationals would be fairly local, there were more
qualifying slots available, and that the World Championships would not only be
in the US, but within driving distance as well!
Going into Nationals, my goal was to make the Top 25 and qualify for
Team USA and compete in Chicago in 2015.
No pressure, eh?
Fortunately
for me, the week leading into this race was filled with house projects, which
helped to distract me at least a little bit from the upcoming big day. The night before, however, was definitely a
restless, anxious night. We arrived down
in Milwaukee on Friday afternoon to pick up my race packet and check in my
bike. We stayed with some of Andy’s
family down in Racine (thanks Terri and Jerry!) the night before. We put on my race tats and I covered my gear
in their assigned stickers and numbers.
We got downtown in the morning just in time for me to set up my
transition area before it closed at 7:30am.
Andy and I had lots of time to kill then, as my wave did not start until
9:18am! I eventually warmed up and got
my wetsuit on. It was the least rushed
warm-up I may have ever had.
The swim
was in an inlet area of Lake Michigan, so while the water was cool (although up
to 72 degrees, that is definitely not something I would want to be in without a
wetsuit), it at least wasn’t really wavy.
After standing in a black wetsuit in the sun, the water temp actually
felt really good. We were able to warm
up in an area about 15 minutes prior to our start time, then we were herded
over to the in-water start corral area.
My wave consisted of females in my age group (25-29), and there were
close to 130 of us. Finally we started,
and I tried to push my swim pace. It
felt like it was taking forever (the swim was just shy of a mile in length),
but I thought I had decent positioning in my wave (not having a swim background
amongst other former swimmers typically starts me at a deficit with ground to
make up later on). I came out of the
water in 24:41, crushing my swim goal time of 26 minutes.
Going into
this race, Andy said he felt pretty confident in me that I could make Top
25. Then he counted those in my wave
exiting out of the water and counted me at 42, leaving him feeling unsure of
what would happen. We had a long run from
the water to the giant transition area (that hosted thousands of bikes). I stripped off my wetsuit, put on my helmet
and grabbed my bike. This last week I
decided to take cutting down my transition time very seriously and I practiced
doing a flying mount and dismount with my bike shoes pre-clipped in and held in
place with rubber bands. Wise
decision. I skipped socks on the bike
and I was able to fly through transition way faster than I otherwise would
have.
We biked
north along Lake Michigan, past the gorgeous beach, and then did a U-turn and
headed South past transition, over the long 794 bridge (which had been closed
for the race) and beyond before hitting our 2nd U-turn and heading
back to transition. I came in only 39
seconds behind my goal time of 1:05 (22.7mph) for the 24.8 miles. I can’t remember any women ever passing me,
but I knew I had made up some ground on the bike course as I passed quite a few
out there (later found out that I had the 6th fastest bike split in
my AG). Heading out to the 10K run
course though, I had no idea what place I was in. I swam and biked well, and I would just have
to do what I could on the run and hope for the best. After the swim exit, Andy said it was also
too hard to keep straight who was in my wave and who wasn’t, so he didn’t know
where I was at either.
We ran
north along a trail that was next to the Lake, and passed the marina. While out there, I was passed by 6 in my age
group and passed 2. I was nervous. I knew I was losing ground. It was hot and sunny. The surroundings were absolutely gorgeous,
and there were a lot of fans along the course, but I was ready to be done. I REALLY wanted to qualify, and I knew that
my run has not been my strong suit this year.
I picked it up for the last couple of miles and tried to hold my
position. I hit the finish line and
found Andy shortly after. Neither of us
knew how I placed yet, so we headed over to the expo area to get my
results. I got my print out, looked at
my times, and then Andy pointed out that it had my unofficial placement on it:
18th – I did it!!! (I didn’t
even need those extra 7 slots of cushion).
I’m thankful for the smooth race, the beautiful venue, the support of
family and friends (specifically Andy!), and for God giving me this opportunity
and ability to race. Here’s to Team USA
and the 2015 World Championships in Chicago!
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