USATCN Sprint Relay

Collegiate Nationals Sprint Relay

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

April 21st, 2012

250m Swim --- 6k BIKE --- 1.6k RUN

Intro

This was a last minute idea courtesy of Coast Guard stud, Ian King. He came up to me shortly after my upsetting Olympic race and asked if I would be interested in joining his team for the relay because one of their girls had to drop out. I reluctantly agreed because he said I had a bike to borrow and heck, I needed something to make up for the poor performance from earlier. The race was short and painful, but it was an absolute blast, though!!! Thanks for the suggestion, Ian!

Swim = 3:38, 11/152 OA, 5/76 F

Pace = 1:20 (includes run I believe)

T1= 1:13

Bike= 10:07, 95/152 OA, 4/76 F

The thing about this bike split was that I had to borrow a bike from a girl on the coast guard team because it was a road-bikes-only kind of race. It was a bit awkward, but I hung on. Jumping on to that lead pack of girls was thrillllling! Total ITU style and it was bitchin! Such a rush.

Average speed = 22.1

T2= 0:38

Run = 7:17, 95/152, 31/76 F

Run pace = 7:19

Overall time = 22:51

Overall Place = 49/152 OA, 6/76 F

http://www.pigmantri.com/jmsracing/results12/usatcollegiate12f.html

Follow my good friend Ian King here: https://twitter.com/iank90

USAT Collegiate Nationals 2012

USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

April 21st, 2012

1500m Swim --- 40k BIKE --- 10k RUN

I was over-prepared for this race and I under-delivered like no other race I’ve ever done. I wanted to do so well sooooo badly that I psyched myself out and gave myself some serious anxiety. Nothing could calm my nerves. I knew what I was capable of so much so, that the second I got on the bike and started feeling just slightly off my A-game, my world was over. “Why was this happening” is what I kept asking myself during the first loop of the bike course. A few girls passed me, but I held my own until the run started. If I had the run I was hoping for, I would have done well.

I would have nailed the spot I wanted to and maybe even jumped on that podium for the Graduate collegiate athletes if I won the mental game that day. But hey, it wasn’t my day. I don’t know what I did wrong specifically, but cramping and mental issues were my biggest enemies that day.

It was an okay race for the rest of the Stevens Tri team as well. Hah jk we were the number 1 Division 3 school!!!!!!!!

Swim = 20:40, 9/398 F,

Pace = 1:16

T1= 2:55

Bike= 1:11:02, 17/398 F

Average power = 183W

Average speed = 21.0

Bike HR Avg = 178

T2= 1:01

Run = 49:51, 199/398 F

Run pace = 8:02

Run HR Avg = 172 bpm

Elevation = 172 ft

Overall time = 2:25:27

Overall Place = 38/398 F

http://www.pigmantri.com/jmsracing/results12/usatcollegiate12b.html

[ECCC] Week 3

“The 2012 Jersey Devil”

This is the 4th overall weekend for the ECCCseason, but my 3^rd weekend racing as I skipped the weekend before because we were in South Carolina for Spring Break.

I decided to sign up for the Road Race on Saturday and skip the races on Sunday.

The big decision this weekend was for me and Jamie to move up to Women’s A to score some bigger points for the team.

The Road Race was super challenging and very fun.

Truthfully, my legs were still a wreck from spring break training and I wasn’t so sure that this race was going to go as well as the Stevens Circuit. I was pretty close to tears when I did Triggerpoint the night before, so needless to say I was frightened of the monstrous hill that loomed in the distance that morning.

Course Description: A 4.4 mile loop with rolling hills and one large climb. That ‘one large climb’ was in the first mile and a half of the course, and the remainder was an awesome bomb downhill with some flat sections leading into the climb. 310 ft of climbing per lap and my race did 6 laps total.

Click here for the RR Results:

http://velocityresults.com/results/367/eccc-week-4-princeton-rr-skilman-nj

Jamie wound up popping her tire on one of the potholes on the first lap and had to drop out unfortunately. But I stuck with it for the rest of the race even though my legs wanted me to quit. A couple girls went off the front and stayed there the whole time (they’re really strong) while a lead pack formed with me and about 5 other girls after the 2^nd lap. During the climb on the 5^th lap, I could feel my legs starting to itch to cramp and I knew it wasn’t going to be good for the last lap. Luckily I timed it well because I wouldn’t have been able to do that climb a 7^th time. During the last lap, I fell off the back of the pack on the steepest section because I could feel my inner quads seizing and just beginning to cramp every time I stood up. I was still able to catch up during the less steep part just before the downhill and came in with the rest of the group to the sprint finish.

I ended up 6^th in Women’s A! I would’ve gotten 2^nd in Women’s B which would have been 4 less points than what I got, so it’s a good thing I moved up even if it was just for one race!

Here is a link to the ECCC Blog post for the weekend:

http://ecccnews.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/the-jersey-devil/

Next up, the March Madness Duathlon in Central Park tomorrow!

#USATCN12

Today on Twitter, I saw @usatriathlon post an interesting tweet!

https://twitter.com/#!/usatriathlon/status/181789335601950721

First of all, they have come up with a hashtag for USATCollegiate Nationals #USATCN12 and that got me really excited! 

Secondly, they’re calling for collegiate bloggers! Awesome!

I actually started up this blog here in 2010 right after my second attempt at USATCN in Lubbock, TX. Click here for the link to that first post! I had been in Lubbock in 2009 for my first Nationals experience, but I was just a young newcomer to the sport and wasn’t linked into the blogging world quite yet.

My third time racing USATCN was last year in Tuscaloosa and here is the link to that race report. It might also be good to mention that I have a USAT Age Group Nationals race under my belt as well from 2011 and I even qualified for TeamUSA there! I’ve also written about 3 seasons with the North Eastern Collegiate Triathlon Conference (NECTC). I’m a huge advocate of all things USAT!

Needless to say, I’ve got quite the experience when it comes to USATCN and I would love to do some writing about the race! I’ve been blogging about my active lifestyle for almost 2 years now and I am so glad that I have a repository of all the big events in my life to share with friends and family.

I’m very happy that I happened to see @usatriathlon post about this opportunity today and I really do hope they take the time to read this : )

Remember to follow USATriathlon on Twitter @usatriathlon and me! @_amanda_panda_

Thanks!

[ECCC] Week 2

Second ECCC weekend!!!
“Grants Tomb Criterium” and the “Duck Country Circuit Race”

Jamie and I moved up to Women’s B this weekend!! Big move!

We both did really well the first weekend, so we decided to move up and take on the big guns for more points and longer races!

The Crit was soooooo much fun!!! It’s truly an awesome location in NYC and I’m glad I got to race it for the first time. I got 2^nd place by just a hair!

Instagram photo at the race: amanda_panda_

Click here for the Crit Results:

http://velocityresults.com/results/362/eccc-week-2-grants-tomb-criterium-new-york-ny

The Circuit race was in Mountainside, NJ and it was a full on blast. I loved every second of it. I stayed with the lead group for the first 2 laps and then I broke away with a girl at the top of the steep hill on the 3^rd lap. On the 4^th lap, the A rider girl ahead of me just took off and I couldn’t stick with her, but I ended up holding off the other girls and snagging 2^nd female in the wave and 1^st place for the Women’s B riders!!!

Click here for the CR Results:

http://velocityresults.com/results/363/eccc-week-2-stevens-duck-country-circuit-race-mountainside-nj

Moving up to B was a fantastic idea and I loved the higher level of racing! Can’t wait til the next one!

Here is a link to the ECCC Blog post for the weekend: http://ecccnews.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/grants-tomb-and-stevens-circuit/

Instagram photo from the westsidehighway: amanda_panda_ 

[ECCC] Week 1

First ECCC weekend!!!
“The Frozen Toed Season Opener”

I decided to sign up for the ITT and the Road Race on Saturday and skip the crit on Sunday.
I raced in Women’s C for both races and did pretty well!

The ITT was VERY short and fast. I didn’t even have time to think. It was just pedal to the metal and go as hard as possible! 2.2 miles all out.

Click here for the ITT Results:
http://velocityresults.com/results/358/eccc-week-1-rutgers-itt-somerset-nj

The Road Race was a grueling journey unlike the ITT. It was 26 long and arduous miles in Hillsborough, NJ!

Click here for the RR Results:
http://velocityresults.com/results/359/eccc-week-1-rutgers-road-race-hillsborough-nj

Here is a link to the ECCC Blog post for the weekend: http://ecccnews.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/rutgers-race-report-2012/

Toughmudder Tri-State 2011

Toughmudder Tri-State 2011

This was quite an adventure!

One year ago, my compadre and good friend, David Quirk, completed his first ever Toughmudder and in my opinion it was quite a life-changing experience for him. He came back from the event a more motivated individual who had discovered a new-found passion for completing challenges and new fun activities of the sort.

Obviously this sort of enthusiasm got me excited and I wanted to get in on the action. .

David invited me to the first annual NYC Toughmudder Training Run back in early May of this year located in Central Park.  I was a bit apprehensive at first, but I caught on to the nice idea of doing a 6 mile run in one of the most unique places to go for a jog in this country. David’s friend, Nick Fania, also came along as he was actually the guy who got David to sign up on his team for their first Toughmudder. I had no idea what to expect from that facebook invitation, but I was in for one hell of a ride when we got there. It wasn’t just an hour-long run with a bunch of people in orange headbands like I thought it was going to be! Instead, we got yelled to do pushups, dips, crunches, run through streams, jump over rocks, and climb treacherous rocky cliffs that I didn’t even know existed in Central Park. It was quite the adventure and eventually lead me to want to sign up for my first real TM because I was so stoked on the experience.

A few months after that, it actually took some persuading on David’s part to eventually get me to sign up for the race… mostly because of the entry fee, but ultimately I caved and dished out the money for the Tri-state Toughmudder on November 12, 2011.

I had been doing a ton of triathlon training at the tail end of summer all the way to my last race on October 1^st. After that I had taken a few weeks off for some much needed R&R, and then eased back into some solid running training with a few swims sprinkled in here and there. I figured I would be in pretty good shape by November 12^th to run 12 miles and tackle obstacle courses.

Luckily, that conjecture was correct and on the morning of November 12, I was so ready to go!

Click here for the official Toughmudder website.

The team was named Team Fania Mudding Co. as a play on NickFania’s dad’s family business name. Pretty awesome if you ask me! Especially because David probably wouldn’t be doing this without Nick, and in turn I probably wouldn’t be either haha.

Sarah had also been convinced to sign up for this adventure with me, and the other team mates included David’s brother, Patrick, and two of Nick’s friends, (another) Amanda and Kyle.

David drove us to IHOP that morning for a full and hearty breakfast. Nick’s family was there as well and his father so graciously paid for the food, which was so kind but so unnecessary.

After that, we made our way to the Englishtown Raceway Park and became witnesses to a massive congregation of what looked liked a bunch of crazies about to turn into mindless zombies… and that may be a somewhat true statement if  you saw what everyone looked like post-race haha

Come to think of it, if anyone wanted to capitalize on the opportunity for a bunch of starving, freezing, delusional, mud-covered extras to play zombies, they just need to show up to the Finish Line of a Toughmudder!

But in all seriousness, the race challenge was a blast!!!!!

Behold the pledge recited before every race wave:

As a Tough Mudder I pledge that…

I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.

I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.

I do not whine – kids whine.

I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.

I overcome all fears.

Yelling this word for word with a crowd of strangers about to tackle the same course as you was so thrilling and, coupled with a bunch of super macho HOORAH’s, the perfect kick-off to get pumped for the grueling challenge that lay ahead!

Below are a series of photos that can somewhat describe what we went through.

By far the most fun moment was jumping off this platform into the freezing waters below, then swimming to shore!  This pretty much captures the essence of that moment for me and Sarah hahaha.

The most challenging obstacle that made me gain a ton of respect for what TM stands for was the Mount Everest Challenge. It was the half-pipe obstacle where you had to run up and grab either the ledge or an arm of a total stranger and get hoisted up by a combination of your own will power and the strength of total strangers that are helping out. Paying it forward in its most beautiful form! I loved that.

Here is a link to the TM official photos of the event.

I’ll just make a quick comment about how damn COLD it was after the race. Sure the free post-race beer was satisfying to say the least, but I think I was too cold to enjoy any of it and all it did was make us have to pee so very badly while stuck in traffic leaving the raceway park haha. So frustrating. But yeah, just ask David and Sarah how much physical pain I was from the coldness. It was brutal. I don’t do well in such discomforts (goes along with my theory of bad blood circulation and crappy metabolism). I made the decision right then and there that if I was going to do another TM, it would be in a warmer climate, that’s for sure.

All-in-all, it was a total kick-ass event. I can see how people get hooked on it and want to sign up for all the ones in the area. There is an innate instinct within human beings to run around, get dirty, and feel like you’re fighting for your life. TM totally capitalizes on this basic human need and charges quite a hefty sum for all those people driven by their intrinsic impulses.

HOORAH!

[NECTC] Mightyman Sprint 2011

[NECTC] Mightyman Sprint 2011
Montauk, NY
October 1, 2011

Final race of the NECTC 2011 season!

750M SWIM --- 17Mi BIKE --- 5km RUN

Intro
We took the drive to Montauk early on Friday because it takes so long to get to the tip of Long Island! After a couple years experience with this race and traveling there, I’m so glad I was able to get there early in Nick’s car with Matt.
Last year the drive up was horrible and I was angry the whole time because I forgot my Powertap computer and I had been swimming all week. I wasn’t a happy camper. This year I was rested and ready to go!

We got there a little after noon and went for a bike ride as soon as we got our stuff into the rooms. We did the bike course loop since it’s so short and it was interesting to ride it on a nice beautiful sunny day! Haha because the only other two times I’ve ridden it, it was cold and dark and rainy. It was super windy, but we pace lined it with the people there: Nicole, Jamie, Evan, Nick, Matt, and myself. Fun stuff.
When we got back, a few people wanted to plunge into the ocean for a swim. I, however, wanted to just lay out on the beach, in the sun, with my two piece on. And I did just that! It was so beautiful and warm out.

After we cleaned up, we picked up our packets from the race site and headed over to Luigi’s for some more pre-race Italian food!

Prerace
The transition area this year was no longer in the grass field, much to everyone’s delight. No more nasty, muddy transition areas. We got up super early and biked to the race site in the pitch black darkness with our stuff. After we dropped that off, a few of us took the bike up and down the hill on the main road a few times (there were street lights on the main road) and went for a short jog to get the legs moving. This race is so short and fast that warm-up was crucial!

I got SUPER nervous before the race and couldn’t wait to just sprint and be done with in an hour!!!!

Swim= 10:32 – 1st fastest female swim split in NECTC

Last year’s swim time was a terrible 13:31 due to the little off-course racing we did in the lead pack. So the 3 minute time difference was probably mostly due to that. However, one of the biggest differences about this race compared to the previous 2 years was that they split the NECTC wave into a men and women wave. There’s some USAT rule that limits the number of people in a wave, so they had to split it up and it was a huuuuuuuuuge benefit for the girls. Every time we have an NECTC mass swim start, the girls get pummeled by the guys and have to fight their way to start the swim. It was totally an advantage for me because I got out ahead right at the start and started passing some guys at the 2nd buoy even. I didn’t get lost this year and I had a great transition to my stuff.

T1= 1:25

Bike=0:28:20– 1st fastest female bike split in NECTC
Average power = 197
Average speed = 22.37
Bike HR Avg = 185

Last year I went a 29:52, so I had a minute and a half improvement! It was a pretty tough ride with the blowing winds and wet roads. I had some extra motivation kick in during the one big hill because I saw Joe off to the side fixing a flat and I saw Evan at the bottom walking his bike after a flat. I was so disheartened for them, but it made me want to push it harder and fight for the points that we were going to struggle losing without them. I saw Luke, Nick, and Matt at the turnaround and I eventually passed Matt like he was standing still and I yelled at him to go faster… little did I know that he was going so slow because he had gotten a flat and was vicariously riding on his rear wheel rim for 70% of the race! Crazy!!!! But when we looked at the points later, we realized that had he not done that, the guys might not have finished in such good standing!

I killed the hill on the way back to transition and had perfect timing getting my shoes off at the end.
First ever flying dismount!!! Haha I wish I had a photo to prove it. Good thing we all practice the day before during our warm-up ride!

T2= 1:02

Run = 20:23
Run pace = 6:34 min/mile
Run HR Avg = 189

This race totally was not a true 5K. It never is, never was. This was the first time I ran this course with a watch, and Mr. Garmin said it was 2.86 from the first water station right out of transition to the Finish line. I missed about 20 seconds of the race because that 2.86 miles took me 20:05 on the watch. My HR average was ridiculous and I can’t believe I kept it that high for 20 straight minutes.
Run split from last year was a 21:14, so I had quite a significant improvement for such a short race!
Very fun, very fast, and very nerve-wracking! I had some lady come around on a mountain bike when we turned down the home stretch of the run to jump in front and lead me. I hadn’t looked behind me the whole time yet, so I asked her if she could see any girls behind me and she said no! I was so stoked that I sprinted as fast as I could to that finish line and I was absolutely bewildered that I was going to win!!!

Overall time = 1:01:40
1st overall female in NECTC and the entire race of age group women

After all the hard work, it all paid off. I was so happy!!!!!!!!!
I’m delighted to announce that I walked away with the Overall Female Point Leader for the season and Jamie came in third!!! Domination!!!! Even with only 1 race scoring, Nicole finished 22nd! Our top 3 guys were Joe in 8th, Nick in 11th, and Luke in 12th for the overall Male Scores. Fantastic finishes amongst all those fast Army and UVM guys!

http://nectc.net/results11/omnium.php

2nd PLACE FOR OUR TINY TECH SCHOOL!! YEAHH!!!!!

I was also so proud of the fact that we were able to score all the swimmers and runners and that we were able to dominate again this year. All the work we did petitioning to the NCAA and pushing the legislation really paid off and we were able to come back to the NECTC this year in full force! I love my team and I’m so proud of everyone’s accomplishments! Stevens Triathlon Team = 2nd place in the NECTC overall!! Woohoo!!!!!

Here we come Tuscaloosa!!!!!! Nationals is going to be off the hook!!!!!

If you want to read the team race report written by the lovely Aaron Perelman, CLICK HERE to get to our Stevens Tri website!

Hotel view after the race :)

The night of the race was filled with shenanigans and a beach-side bonfire... Waaaaay too much fun.

The next day we volunteered as a team at the Mightyman Half Ironman and Marc and I took a pit-stop at a seafood place called The Lobster Roll as we exited Montauk for the drive home : )

mmmmmmm Fish&Chips and Pumpkin Lobster Crab Bisque

[NECTC] Westchester Olympic 2011

[NECTC] Westchester Olympic 2011
Rye, NY
September 25, 2011

Second race of the NECTC 2011 season!

1500M SWIM --- 40km BIKE --- 10km RUN

Intro
I had a special guest come with me to this race again… Mama Nauman!!!
She wanted to come out and watch this race like last year, so she flew out on a Thursday night and hung out with me til we left for the race on Saturday morning. I cooked some food and we walked around Hoboken, it was fun! We made a tourist stop on the way to Rye, NY, on Saturday at the Rockefeller Lookout point off of the Palisades Parkway.

The rest of the team met up with us at the Expo around noon on Saturday and we went on a nice Team Warmup ride and then some of us went for a swim or a jog. Luckily we had time to drive the bike course for all the noobs because it’s such a difficult course and knowing the details and where to push it is critical.

After that we made our way to the lovely Marriott down the freeway and settled in for about an hour. We then went to dinner at Bertucci’s.. of course we had to have Italian food! They found a huge table for our whole team which was awesome and we consumed copious amounts of pasta amongst us all. The team meeting was short and sweet and we were all in bed fairly early!

Westchester is a super early race, so we were up and out of the Marriott as fast as possible in the morning to get to the race. We never even saw dawn until we started putting on our wetsuits!

Swim= 20:07 –1st female swim split in NECTC, 5th fastest overall female swim

Last year’s swim time was an amazing 18:40 and that difference could have been due to a number of factors.. but I think it was because I was a week into the swim season at that point last year and was much more in tune with my swimming abilities.
To be honest, I thought I was flying in the water! But that was probably because I was blowing by all the old men in the wave before me.. oops. It’s all relative!

T1= 1:15

Bike=1:09:43 – 2nd fastest female bike split in NECTC, 8th overall female bike split
Average power = 190
Average speed = 22.37 mph
Bike HR Avg = 180

CLAIRE’S CLIMB = 2:04

My computer said I did 25.27 miles where as last year I clocked in at 24.89 miles. Last year I finished at 1:08:33 with an average power of 192. Minor minor differences. I couldn’t tell you why I was a little slower this year, but I wasn’t at my full taper yet so I was hurting.

I also could have sworn I was going to be over 200 watts, but I guess the back half probably brought down my average a bit.

4th fastest female Clair’s Climb Prime!!!

Last year I did the climb in 2:17 because I don’t think I was really trying. This year I hadn’t planned in trying until I came right up to the start line with some serious momentum and just decided to hammer it out for fun! There was a lady that I had been going back and forth with the whole time and she was just a bit ahead of me at the start of the Climb and I could tell that she wasn’t trying so I thought I’d make an effort to pass her at that moment. I eventually got to her and passed her at the top!

T2= 1:13

Run = 47:38 30th overall female run split
Run pace = 7:40 min/mile
Run HR Avg = 182

I came blistering out of T2 and ran the first mile around Playland at 7:18 because the lady that I had been going back and forth with on the bike had passed me and I wanted to keep with her if possible. Unfortunately she got away and then during the third mile, the terribly steep climb cramped my style and made me come to a complete stop at the top of the hill because my inner quads had cramped so badly. Luckily I was still able to keep that mile under 8 min, but it was painful and the rest of the race was a struggle to keep around 7:45 pace.

The Columbia girl passed me around the end of mile 2 and the Army girl passed me during mile 5 which was pretty frustrating. I just tried to stick with the 3rd place finish and bring it home as best I could.

Overall time = 2:19:53
3rd overall female in NECTC and 7th overall female in the race

In the 20-24 Female age group category I was 2nd overall to the Army girl because she’s 24. Gabby was right behind me with a 2:26 but she wasn’t in the NECTC so she received the first place award for the age groupers. For some reason they didn’t include the NECTC kids in the age group awards like they did the year before.

I was about a minute and a half slower than last year, and I have to admit that I was slightly upset about it because I really wanted to kill this race after having done so well the year before. But as luck would have it, the cancellation of Buckman really threw off my training schedule for the 10 days before this race and I had to compromise.

Overall, I still love this race course and it was a blast!

Pre-Race!

Post-Race!

If you want to read the team race report written by the lovely Aaron Perelman, CLICK HERE to get to our Stevens Tri website!

[NECTC] Lake George Olympic 2011

Lake George, NY
September 3, 2011

First race of the NECTC 2011 season!

1500M SWIM --- 40km BIKE --- 10km RUN

Intro:
The Cranberry Olympic race was supposed to be the first race of the NECTC season on August 28th in Massachusetts. However, Hurricane Irene trumped us all and forced the race director to cancel the race because Massachusetts was placed in a State of Emergency leading up to that weekend (along with every other Northeastern state in the US). We were all pretty bummed, especially because some had been doing solid speed work training specifically with that race in mind. So instead of racing, we were all huddled up in our own apartments on Saturday and Sunday, waiting for this monster of a storm that was supposedly about to come barreling down on us. As you probably already know, NYC wasn't hit nearly as hard as predicted and I even managed to squeeze in a couple long runs. One of those was in the pouring rain and it was awesome!

Anyways, back to the race at hand…

The team headed towards Lake George on the Friday before Saturday morning’s race. I was in Nick’s car with Joe and Matt, and we were lucky enough to leave at noon. The drive was long but the company was enjoyable and it went by fairly quickly. We got to packet pick-up at an indoor water park (so weird!) near Lake George. It was the most inefficient packet pick-up I’ve ever been through, but long story short we made it out of there in one piece with our numbers and that’s all that matters.

The most noteworthy issue, however, was that I wasn’t actually ever signed up for this race! One of the freshmen newbies on the team, Carrick Porter, had signed up and was no longer able to race. He emailed the race director to allow me to have his slot, but I never received a confirmation email. I just went to the race strictly on optimism that I was racing haha. Fortunately when I got there they had already set my name aside, gave me all of Carrick’s stuff, and then assured me that the timing company had changed the name and sex. Guess what number they gave Carrick? Number 1. Hell yeah.

We biked around the Lake area for a little bit before checking into the luxurious motel, and then we drove down to Olive Garden for dinner. The other cars with Luke, Evan, Aaron, Carolyn, and Kevin had to leave later in the day and we met them at the hotel after dinner that night. The team meeting was great.. I’ll never forget Matt totally breaking the bed with his own weight just by sitting there haha.

Prerace:
Since Nick’s car had already gotten our packet info, we stalled for a little bit longer getting to the race site on Saturday morning and just met the other guys there.
All the collegiate kids were in the first wave and our numbers were all in the top 100, so consequently we all had the same row of bike box racks. I started joking that all the Stevens kids needed to spread out because we were going to come out of the water and all get bunched up haha. We remembered to snap a pre-race photo and then everyone kinda did their own thing for warm-up and prerace shimmies.
Once the wetsuits came on we were all giddy with excitement and itching to race!

Swim= 21:16 – 6th fastest swim split in NECTC, 1st overall female swim split

Stevens comprised the top 7 swim finishes in the NECTC: Evan came out of the water first, then Luke, Joe, some UVM kid, Nick, me, then Matt. Stevens domination.

I had some goggle issues because they kept fogging up and I had to stop a couple times to clear them because I had no idea where the buoys were. I could see the hazy figures of who I assumed were Luke/Joe/Nick ahead me during the whole swim and just made sure to follow them. I’m in dire need of some anti-fogging goggles so I don’t have to stop and clear my goggles 3 times in a 20 minute swim. No bueno.

The swim also felt like it took a lot longer than 21 minutes, but it was pretty decent. I came into transition and saw all the Stevens guys and cheered us all on! So exciting to see us all in the lead from the start!

T1= 1:28

Bike=1:10:27 – 12th fastest bike split in NECTC, 4th overall female bike split
Average power = 184
Average speed = 21.3
Bike HR Avg = na

A little over 2 minutes slower than Vermont, but it was a much hillier course. The beginning portion was on a beautiful smooth paved bike path that was awesome to crank down on.
Overall, awesome bike course with a perfect amount of challenging rolling hills.

Fun fact, the average power of 184 was exactly the same as VT but it was slower.

T2= 0:56

Run = 46:46
Run pace = 7:33 min/mile
Run HR Avg = na

The only bummer about this portion of the race was my lack of Mr. Garmin. Unfortunately, the battery was dead when I turned it on the morning of the race… so I was back to the traditional method of just running without any sort of concept of time. I was kind of annoyed because I loved having the watch in VT.
It would be cool if I had known the actual distance of the course.. because I was so stoked about my sicknasty new PR under 47 minutes and I really hope the distance was actually a 10k!

2 lap course!
Luke came in from the bike relatively close behind me and passed me on the run within the first mile and Matt was close behind him. They both ran ahead during the first lap, but I ended up gaining on Matt once I started the second lap. When I came around for the second lap, there was an older guy, who’s leg defined him as a 60 year old, that came trucking out at quite a quick pace with a super high cadence. I thought about asking if he knew what pace he was planning on holding, but after a couple minutes of just trying to hang on, I decided to try and stick with him because he was running fast!
Without Mr. Tim Ricks, number 375, I totally would not have gone a new best time for my 10k. He was going the perfect pace that pushed me to a new limit on the back half of my run. Near the end, he looked at me and said, “You’re an animal!” I replied, “You’re killing it, too! Thanks for letting me hang on.” And then he asked me if I wanted to do a third lap with him haha. I respectfully declined and told him to pretend I was still right behind him! Later, I found him after the race and we chatted for a bit. For the last half mile, I was probably going 6-something because I was hauling. I came into the running chute and right as I approached the finish line, frikkin Aaron Perelman blasts by me as fast as his legs can move him so he nudged me out by 2 seconds for the overall finish. I cursed him as soon as I realized what happened and just laughed off the ridiculousness once I was able to breathe haha.

Very memorable run for sure!

Overall time = 2:20:53
1st overall female in NECTC and the entire race of age group women

The men on the Stevens team posted up some awesome races and walked away with the team win! They edged out UVM and one of our biggest competitors, BU, from last year. On the women’s side, Carolyn and my points added up perfectly to sneak away with the win right ahead of UVM even though we were the only two girls racing that morning from Stevens. On both sides, that’s pretty dominant if you ask me!

If you want to read the team race report written by the lovely Aaron Perelman, CLICK HERE to get to our Stevens Tri website!

Here's our very professional post-race team photo!

Beautiful!

Next race: Buckman Sprint!!!

Irvine Lake Mud Run

"We're doing a mud run?!"

July 17^th, 2011

4^th in Age Group

16^th Female

Final Time of 40:08 for a 5k+ Run w/ Obstacles!!!

There really isn’t much to say about this race, but it was MUDDY!

We totally signed up for this race on a whim the day before! Mama Nauman found an article about the race in the OCRegister and asked Garrison and Dad about. Apparently my Dad said that if I was interested, he was interested. So mom told me to be interested and that was it! Next thing I knew… Garrison, Dad, and I were all signed up and even Gavin (Garrison’s BFF) was tagging along for the ridiculous race!

It was really fun. I was using it more as a training run than anything. Told myself to keep the heart rate high for 40 minutes and have fun : )

I surprised myself with a top 7% finish out of all the women there haha but I was just running to beat Garrison and Gavin so I guess that placed me pretty well.

Here are some nasty pictures from the race:

Collegiate Triathlon Nationals 2011 - Tuscaloosa

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

April 9, 2011

A new location for USAT’s Collegiate Nationals!

1500M SWIM --- 40km BIKE --- 10km RUN

HOWDIE!!!!

Well well… after 2 years in Lubbock for Collegiate Tri Nats, we finally moved on to a new location.

I’m keeping these results short and not writing too much about the travels and tribulations leading up to the race.

Swim= 22:16.02 – 10^th Fastest Female out of the water!

Swim HR Avg = 188

After all that swim training for NCAA’s, I’m really glad that I ended up with a top 10 finish out of the water. Especially because last year’s swim was shortened, I really wanted to dominate this one. I came out of the water and dropped my goggles and stupidly turned around for them and lost a few seconds. But I liked those goggles, so it was worth it. And then I headed up for the long swooping run up to the transition area while pounding my feet on the asphalt path.

T1= 1:20

Bike=1:17:29 – slow

Average power = NA

Average speed = 19.2

Bike HR Avg = 177

Not nearly what I wanted.

But all things considered, like the fact that I biked 3 times before this race, I was okay with it.

It’s frustrating when you know you’re capable of going faster, but your legs just aren’t there. I couldn’t even get my heart rate high because my legs couldn’t work that hard.

And I was also missing Power due to a dead battery in the hub.

Sweetest moment ever: speeding down the bridge highway and watching a helicopter hovering at eye-level with me as it gets a sweet action shot of everyone zooming by in the lead for the women.

T2= :51.07

Run = 55:43.06 – death

Run pace = 9 min/mile

Run HR Avg = 181

The run was excruciating and hot, there’s not much more I can say about that hellish run.

Overall time = 2:37:41

Well, compared to my 2:18:12 from Westchester that was no bueno. But like I mentioned earlier, it was good considering I trained for the bike/run practically zero hours for this race. It was also good considering the women’s race was in about 95 degree heat because our wave didn’t start until 10am, 2.5 hours after the guy’s heat at 7:30am. So not fair. But it was a bigger challenge for us all and I think everyone did a good job overall!

Check out the Stevens Triathlon Team page for the race report for the whole team’s efforts in Alabama! http://sites.google.com/site/stevenstriathlonteam/race-reports

For a final note the event was televised on CBS Sports Network!!!!! The men’s and women’s races were shown April 29 in separate one-hour broadcasts, with the women’s race airing at 10 p.m. ET, followed by the men at 11 p.m. ET. The Stevens team had a viewing party to watch the race on national television and it was awesome!!