Wow…what an experience!! I honestly don’t even know where to
begin. Racing in the Age Group Nationals
is definitely an experience I’ll never forget, and hopefully one I’ll get to
repeat in the future!
This year, AGNC were held in Milwaukee, and my dad and I
arrived 3 days ahead of race day to get adjusted to the time change and
experience the city. Having never been
to Wisconsin, I didn’t really know what to expect. But I have been pleasantly surprised by this
city! The historic buildings, incredibly
friendly people, and the beautiful lake and river have been great to
explore. I’ll definitely post about the
non-triathlon aspects of our trip, but I don’t want to forget the feelings and
experiences of the race!
Friday – Prep Day!!
Although dad and I had been in town since Wednesday, things
didn’t start getting real until Friday.
Throughout the day, I honestly just felt like I wanted to vomit. I don’t remember being as nervous for
anything in my life! Triathletes had
taken over the town, and the perfect calves, expensive bikes, and aero helmets
definitely started to intimidate me! I
know that I qualified to race, but I started to question how I’d measure
up. All I kept thinking was, I hope I
don’t finish last!!!
Friday was a big day of prep. I had shipped my bike to the race via Race
Day Transport, so at 10am, that was the first stop. The guys at the booth were super helpful, put
my pedals back on, and were really encouraging.
After putting all of my goodies on my bike (bike bag, bento box, HC aero
water bottle cage), a ride on the run course was in order. The course was flat, right along the lake on
the Oak Leaf Trail. The road was really
bumpy and had lots of cracks, so I was grateful that wasn’t the actual ride
course.
I’ve been to the great lakes once before, so I knew that
they are basically like oceans, not lakes since they are so huge. But they have beaches too!!! Like with
volleyball courts, cabanas, and a bar!
You pass this section of the lake right before the run turn around…I
knew that would be tough to see on race day.
The weather was beautiful, and I’m surprised to say that the beach was
better than some in Cali (mainly the freezing cold ones in SF, but still).
After the bike, I had a 10 minute transition run on the
docket. My legs felt good, which was a
relief. And I ran into one of Coach
Muddy’s other athletes, Tony, who was doing his own ride of the run
course. Definitely a small world…I was
glad to see a familiar face in the thousands of athletes.
Next, the swim course was open from 11-1 for a practice
session. The water was 69.5* according
to the race officials…perfect temperature
in my long sleeve Xterra Vector wetsuit.
Before I left home, I contemplated renting a sleeveless wetsuit, but I’m
actually glad that Sports Basement was out of my size! I took my time getting accustomed to the
water and getting my sight lines. The swim
exit was a bit nerve racking, though. It
was a steep, wet ramp that was super narrow.
There were race volunteers lining the sides to grab your hand and help
you out because it was so steep. It
seemed like there might be a few issues on race day if a swarm of athletes got
there at the same time (luckily that wasn’t the case).
Next up was the Rules Briefing with the head USAT
official. He was a very crabby man, but
it was nice to just get a review of all the rules so there wouldn’t be any
issues during the race. I checked my
bike back in with Race Day Transport until transition opened, then we headed
back to the hotel to relax and get off my feet.
I half napped, half watched the Monk marathon, ate my leftover turkey
wrap, and rested my legs in my new compression socks.
Around 5pm, we walked back over to the race venue to rack my
bike in transition. We had assigned
spots, and mine was pretty easy to find, second to last row and a straight shot
to the bike and run exit. I got my bike
racked, then headed back to the hotel for some pasta, salad, and a trigger
point session. Since I didn’t bring my
block, I improvised with the pots and pans in our hotel room. I watched some more of the Monk marathon,
went through my whole race from swim to finish in my head, tossed and turned
for a tiny bit, then drifted off to dreamland…
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