see.CK.tri

a German on Team USA

Three Days – Three Races

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Three Days – Three Races

August 4 – 6, 2023
USA Triathlon National Championships, Milwaukee, WI
Open Water Swim (Aug. 4),
Olympic Distance Triathlon (Aug. 5),
Sprint Distance Triathlon (Aug. 6)

Wow! What a busy weekend. USA Triathlon (together with the PTO) tried to pack in as much as possible into these three days. The race site was packed at all times, and the logistical aspects of these three days rivaled those of Hamburg.

Friday, Aug. 4 – Open Water Swim Competition (0.75 km)

Entering the open water swim competition was a last-minute decision. After having received several emails inviting us to participate, Craig and I had toyed with the idea, but we did not register for it until the day prior to the event when we picked up our race packets. It essentially came down to either doing a 750 m swim competition at 8:10 a.m. or a race pace-like workout during swim familiarization at 8:30 a.m. We opted for the first.

The swim starts at Nationals are generally hands-on-dock, in-water-starts. The dock at Milwaukee’s Discovery World, used for the races this weekend, is a wood dock supported by floats. I tried to make the best use of these floats by getting my feet up against one of them while hanging on to the dock to be able to push off. It worked sufficiently well. I tried to swim the 750 m strong but not all out. I wanted to test the race course and not leave everything in the water already. I felt like I found a good rhythm without overexerting myself. I finished 2nd in my age group (Females 55-59), but the swim also ended up being the slowest of the weekend. I did not get on the awards podium, because USAT had some weird awards categories (16-39, 40-59, 60+). I was 8th in the 40-59 category (all but one ahead of me were in their early forties. I was pretty miffed about these weird categories.

Craig Peterson and I after the Open Water Swim Race. I have my mouth full of Jelly Beans 🙂

Saturday, Aug. 5 – Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run)

Friday to Saturday night was short and restless. My sleep quality was not the best (which is not unusual prior to a big race), and my alarm clock was relentless: It was an early morning. Transition opened at 4:55 a.m., and closed at 6:55 a.m., but my wave did not start until 9:15 a.m. So, there was a lot of time to kill between setting up the transition and getting active. Time spent relaxing on the lawn areas around the race site, getting the pre-race nutrition in, getting warmed up, standing in line at the porta-potties, and observing the race action. Like usual, I had lots of butterflies in my stomach. For me, the time prior to the starting gun going off is the worst.

My wave was assigned golden-colored swim caps, so the wave organizers started calling us the golden women. Could we live up to this nickname? Well, time would tell.

I got a really good push-off from the dock floats, and in no time I was ahead of the women around me. I swam hard to stay ahead of the fray, especially because about 275 m into the 1500 m swim the course narrowed considerably as we had to swim below a small trail bridge that connected the race site to the Lakeshore State Park. Suddenly swimmers were closing in from the right and the left. One of them hit me over the head, but otherwise, it was rather smooth swimming with most of the women behind me. I ended up swimming the 1500 m at a slightly faster pace than the 750 m yesterday.

The mount line coming out of T1 seemed to be much less congested than in previous years. The spacing of the waves seemed to have been optimal for me. I had enough space for my jogging semi-flying mount, where is step on my left cycling shoe that is already clipped to the pedals while I’m jogging with my bike, then swing my right leg over the saddle, stepping on my right shoe, and start pedaling. I always wanted to learn a full flying mount, but so far never dared to try it. Maybe this coming winter?

As I was trying to slip my feet into my cycling shoes, the strap on the right shoe ripped off, and I struggled to squeeze my foot into the tight shoe. I didn’t let that distract me. I did what I had to do to secure my foot in the shoe, to be able to pedal with full power.

I-794 Hoan Bridge looking North towards the race site at Discovery World and the Art Museum

The weather conditions on Saturday were near perfect for an Olympic distance race, but nevertheless, as I was riding south over Hoan Bridge on I-794, a gusty breeze coming off Lake Michigan pushed me in every which direction. I felt like I was white-knuckling my aero bars to keep my bike going somewhat straight.

I saw a lot of people repairing flats at the side of the road, and I heard of people who crashed on the bike course. I’m not sure what caused the flats or crashes, but I found that a good course recon allowed you to avoid most problems. The only bumpy section was the 1.5 miles through Sheridan Park (E. Amour Ave. and S. Sheridan Dr.) in Cudahy south of Milwaukee. I used this section for my last pre-race bike workout, and it paid off. I figured out how to avoid the frost heaves, that acted almost like aggressive speed bumps, and th deep-sitting manhole covers. Lesson: Do a course recon and if possible ride questionable sections!

It was the longest triathlon of my season so far, and at the end of the bike leg, I could feel it in my legs. When this happens, I tend to take it somewhat slower at the T2 transition spot to give myself a breather. However, I first had to find my spot. I accidentally ran past it initially, my fellow age groupers had left their wetsuits all over the place so I had problems seeing my running shoes right away. Luckily, I caught it very quickly and backtracked the few steps. This really made me appreciate the postal boxes we were given in Hamburg for our used race gear. The transition was so much less messy, especially since any used gear found outside the boxes automatically caused you a 10-second penalty.

The run started out well. I even moved up one position during the first 2.5 miles, that hardly ever happens. But then, the poor air quality, courtesy of the Canadian wildfires, got to me. Breathing felt harder and harder. Even the use of my prescribed inhaler did not seem to help a lot. I started fighting my inner bastard, and I let him win. I started to walk the aid stations and run between them; I let five women of my age group pass me without fighting back. In the end, I finished 12th out of 92 women in my age group. I know this is not a bad result, but maybe one of these days, I will be able to dig deeper and allow myself to free up the reserves that I’m currently still holding back.

It was one of the hardest races of this season so far, and my mind clearly was not 100% ready for the distance. But now that it was over my body was ready for some nourishment and some recovery. I was looking for the massage tent that I was accustomed to from previous Nationals, but I could not find one. I was looking for the great post-race food spread that I was used to from previous Nationals, but the foot tent looked like a storage place for boxes. All that was available were potato chips, sun chips, protein bars, fruit cups, and individual peanut butter servings. How are we supposed to eat the peanut butter? Lick it out of the container? Dip the bars or the chips in it? There were no utensils, no bagels, no fresh fruit, no fluids, just dry stuff. It was the saddest post-race food I had ever seen. It seemed that the folks who had paid for the VIP package at least had some bananas.

I’m OK with USAT wanting to pack as much racing as possible within this long weekend, and it is fun watching the pros and the youngsters do their thing. But please don’t do it at the cost of the athletes: first the weird awards categories for the open water swim competition, and no the lack of decent post-race food. I cannot eat the fact that this long weekend was supposedly one of the largest triathlon events in the world this year so far.

After the disappointing post-race food, and to prepare for tomorrow’s sprint race, we went to dinner right after putting our bikes into transition for tomorrow’s race. We ended up at Honeypie Cafe, and I took home half of my huge serving of delicious macaroni + cheese. Comfort food all the way!

Sunday, Aug. 6 – Sprint Distance Triathlon (0.75 km swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run)

I slept quite well from Saturday to Sunday night. I also had way fewer butterflies compared to yesterday, I was overall a lot calmer and relaxed. I was looking forward to racing.

I tried to repeat my starting technique from yesterday, with my feet up against the dock floats for a good push-off. This technique depends on having a good hold on the dock with your hand. Unfortunately, trust before the starting horn went off, my hand started slipping, and my push-off was less than optimal. I didn’t get the same jump start on the swimmers around me, and I had to fight a little bit more for a good position. Nevertheless, I ended up achieving my fastest swim speed of the whole weekend, and I exited the water in 5th position in my age group.

After I had ripped the pull-on strap off my racing shoes yesterday, I decided to use my older pair of bike shoes, that I happened to have in my car, because they had found a permanent home as back-up shoes under my car seat, for this race. However, in hindsight, I’m not sure it helped a lot. The pull-on strap was difficult to graph and was slipping out of my wet hands. I had to clamp it down like a vice to be able to hold on. It reminded me why I had retired them in the first place. Oh well, I guess both pairs are trying to tell me that it is time to splurge on a new pair of triathlon bike shoes. 🙂

After the initial small problems getting into my shoes, the rest of the bike leg went quite well, and I could maintain my 5th position in my age group. It was not until I started the run, that I started to feel yesterday’s race. My vasti medialis started tightening up. However, despite being tight, my quads never cramped, and I could maintain my running pace throughout the whole 5K. The improved air quality compared to yesterday also helped by making breathing so much easier. I still had two athletes from my age group pass me, but I could maintain a Top 10 position. In the end, I finished in 7th position in my age group.

Unfortunately, the post-race food was not a lot better than yesterday. So, after we finally could get our bikes out of transition, and we had us cleaned up somewhat, we went to Kompali Taqueria for some Mexican food before returning to the race site for the awards ceremony.

Unfortunately, only five of the top 10 finishers in my age group were able to attend the award ceremony. Many were already on their way home to make it to work Monday morning.

Misc. Other Stuff

It would have been fun seeing the professionals race the PTO races (men on Friday evening, and women on Saturday evening). However, because I had my own races early the next days (Olympic distance on Saturday morning and Sprint distance on Sunday morning), and because my hotel was not within walking distance to the race site, I decided to focus on my races and not make the trip to the race site to cheer on the big guns. BTW, the men’s race was won by Jan Frodeno (Germany) and the women’s race by Taylor Knibb (USA). However, I had the chance to take a selfie and chat with Florian Angert, who at the time of the race was ranked #13 in the PTO rankings. Florian and I have a special connection:

Unfortunately, Florian didn’t have his best race in Milwaukee. He was aiming for Top 10, possibly Top 5, but ended 19th.
Our favorite coffee and sandwich place along the race course: Colectivo Lakefront Cafe / Milwaukee River Flushing Station.
Unexpected art on a storm-swept tree along the race’s bike course.

Author: seecktri

an Exercise Science professor at Bemidji State University who spends most of her time working, swimming, cycling, and running; a German on Team USA Triathlon who nevertheless cheers for Team Germany for anything sport

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