Team USA, I'm BACK!

 11 years. Lots of changes. Too many to count. My diary here is too spotty but let me catch myself up
here. At the end of last year, I had reached my goals and many stretch goals. For 2023, I alluded to setting my sights on getting back to Team USA. There is nothing easy about triathlons Logistically, effort-wise, organizationally, its all VERY complex. First Gnoce Te Ipsum. I'm not going to train or do any long events. My knees can't keep up. But as I've demonstrated the last couple of years, I am quite capable in the shorter recognized distances. I dug in and learned a ton about the current state of affairs. And you wont be surprised, its super complicated. 

ITU has decided to go draft legal for shorter distances (to be more like the pro's and maybe Olympics?) So Draft Legal is the future. USAT is in the process of transitioning. And its messy. There are now (and I think for now during this transition) 2 separate National Championships. The "Multisport" and the typical Nationals. There are generally 18 slots (used to be 15 back when i did this in 2010-2011) per age group. But since the ITU is going Draft legal, they've decided to allot 10 slots for the Sprint World games via the "Multisport" or draft legal sprint and only 8 slots for the traditional Nationals (in Milwaukee in 2023). I decided 10>8 and decided to target the Multisport in Irving, Texas. 

Second, there is a new race length known as "Super Sprint". Its like a 18-20 minute race. I decided to sign up for that during the Multisport nationals just to have another race to do and frankly to diversify my ability to make the team. 

A couple of things happened:

1. ITU cancelled the 2024 Super sprint.

2. USAT decided to allot 5 (JUST 5) slots in the 2023 Multisport nationals for Super Sprint to go (in 2023) to the World games in Pontevedra. This means there are NOT 18 slots (easy) but rather ONLY 5 (VERY HARD). I decided to do it anyway. Secondly, I want to take a vacation to a Spanish speaking country (for wife and toddler reasons) so it could be perfect if I could only kill it and get top 5.

So I went to Irving this week with a VERY difficult task. Not get top 15 or 18 but rather get top 10 in the Sprint and top 5 in Super Sprint.

To put this into perspective, I got 9th place in the 2011 National Championships for Long course. Back then, I was a upper 70's, low 80's scoring triathlete. I devoted my entire life to doing it, I did it, it was a major thrill. BUT now, I'd be going up against triathletes ranging from low 90's to mid 110's. The competition is 20-30 points better and intense. 45-50 at the national level is intense. 

I didn't really realize it, but I was feeling a lot of pressure to do well. I couldn't take the idea of leaving my family for the better part of the week without achieving anything. I did some scouting and it was going to be tight. I would have to have maximum effort and career days to pull it off. It was NOT a situation I could just show up and qualify. It turns out the very best triathletes still show up for Nationals and the competition was SIGNIFICANTLY better than what I faced in 2010 or 2011 to qualify. Luckily, I'm a lot better too.

Since 2010, my USAT ranking has improved nearly every year slowly but steadily. The idea of beating someone ranked with a score in the mid 90's was once impossible. Now it is possible and would be necessary to qualify.

Super Sprint

First up, Super Sprint. I originally signed up as an afterthought. After finding out it would be in Spain, it took on a major importance to me personally. I wanted to take my family to Spain and enjoy the slow pace of a Spanish town. Spanish is my family's first language (other than me) so it would be a real cultural experience. To get there, I would need to beat some very good triathletes from around the country. I had a near perfect swim, my bike didn't hurt me, and I ran the fastest pace I've run in probably 23 years. I left it all on the field and squeaked by and got 4th in my age group. 

Sprint

I really thought the Super Sprint would be the hardest of the two. After I qualified with the Super Sprint, I thought I may be able to take a breath and just relax. But the pressure of achieving my original goal was very intense. My swim didn't go great. It was very choppy, felt long and I never got comfortable. Luckily though, I've hit the swim SO hard in the off season, that I was able to essentially PR in the 750 meter. I reduced my times in the offseason to a pace I never thought I'd reach. It wasn't comfortable or fun but it was fast. Then came the bike.

I never had done a draft legal race. I didn't know what to expect. As soon as I got out on the course, I got behind a couple of bikers. This became a huge peloton that I stayed with the whole time. I think I was very lucky to get in with these folks. But it also took a HUGE effort to stay with. That effort was rewarded though. I average over 25 miles per hour (previous best on the bike was in the mid 22's). When I got off the bike, I all but knew that I had qualified. I didn't model myself going that fast on the bike. I was actually 3rd fastest in my AG on the bike leg (traditionally my worst leg). I was conservative on the run. I knew roughly where I was based on some names I knew. I figured I was somewhere in 6-8th place (I was in 7 then 8th in turns out). So I kept some in reserve and read the field. Truth be told though, my legs were tired and I'm not sure how much better I could have done (ended up with a 6:36 pace).

When I finished and checked my phone, I got 8th place. I had qualified for Team USA 2024 (location TBD). I had hit both my goals!

I'll have some more posts soon but still processing how much stress this was, how difficult this goal was to achieve, how it compares to 2011. From what I can tell the difference is:

1. In 2023, I had smaller margin for error. It was 15 slots in 2011, I was hoping for 18 slots, I ended up having to deal with 5 and 10 slot races (which is very low for other distances). 

2. The caliber of competition is substantially better. Maybe 20-30 points in the USAT scoring system.

3. My current age group is very competitive and lots of folks who are very capable show up in outstanding shape with outstanding equipment. 

Next up will be a nice full season of triathlons getting ready for and culminating in a trip to Spain in September!