PROgress: Monroe EDR 2014
For three years in a row I have been blessed to be able to travel out to Monroe, WA to compete in TriMonroe. It is by far one of my favorite races and it is bittersweet that this is my last time competing in it. This year was am EDR race in comparison to Junior the last two years. After finishing 4th last year, this year was a chase for a top 2 podium and a pro card.
One of those pretty flight pictures
Lake Tye waiting for us to race in it
Alan Webb and I at the finish line
Top 3-left to right 1st to 3rd
Mount Rainer off in the distance
White river next to one of the trails
One off my lakes along the way
Finally a sign that I'm going the right direction
Awesome pathway through some massive trees
Can't beat the rivers around here
Finally at the park entrance!
Sherpa made Bleu Portobello Mushroom Burger at Wildberry Restaurant before heading back. Yum!
The weekend kicked off bright and early with a flight that landed us in Seattle Thursday morning. WA is just as beautiful as I remember and breath of fresh air for sure. Arriving so early made for a pretty long relaxing day off. I get pretty antsy on days off, this one especially since I hadn't had a full day off in months. My teammates filter and in and I assembled my bike so it was ready for my Pre-race Friday. I also get some food for the weekend as well as my stable Pre-race hydration Nuun.
Friday rolls around and after sleeping in a bit. I grab some food off the hotels complimentary breakfast, and get my stuff gathered up to head to the course. We arrive and do our normal dynamic routine. After a quick talk from Jenny I take the Z3 guys out for 2 laps of the bike course. My pedal strokes feel pretty fluid so I throw a few pickups and call it good. Once we finish up I do a quick 2 laps of the run course building progressively. It feels easy and flys by as I enjoy the beautiful landscape. Before I know it I'm doing some arm circles and heading into the water for a brief swim and some starts. I nail down my start and my strokes feel smooth in the water so I call it a day.
I picked up my packet and headed back to the hotel to rest up. We had the Pre-race meeting that evening, follow by some delicious bonefish for dinner. After dinner we head to our rooms to shave and put our decals on. Once I finish up, thanks to Tucker Creger a Z3 teammate I got to use Normatec recovery boots for the first time. I finish up the night with watching Andy Tetmeyer the team bike mechanic hook up my new bike chain before heading bed to prepare for my race.
The morning of race day I wake up early out of habit and go grab some breakfast. After talking to my teammates at breakfast, I determined that it would be best if I stayed at the hotel and stayed off my feet until after lunch considering my race started at 3:30. So I head back to my room to chill for a few more hours.
I got picked up a little after noon and I was very anxious to get there and race. Upon arrival I drop my stuff off stretch out a bit and head out to do my warm ups. Luckily since there was a gap between the junior elite and EDR races for lunch so the course is clear for me to warm up on the bike. Everything works and my body seems to be ready for the race so rack my bike in transition, set it up, and head out for a quick 1 lap run warm up. I get back and do my dynamics. My whole body feels fast and ready to race. I get a quick swim warm up and line up on the beach as our names are called out.
The horn blast goes off I hit the water with a fast two step and jump into the water just like I planned. It is one of the best starts I have had and it shows because right off the guy I am leading the swim and continue to do so until just about the 1st turning buoy. At the first buoy I have a slight hiccup when I hug it too tight and get caught up in the ropes. After a second or two of panicking I relax and get out. I get back into the rhythm and focus back on the race. I know every second will matter because I only can make up so much time during the first transition and first lap if I want to catch the first pack right away with minimal energy spent.
The swim goes smooth and before I know it the shore was upon us. As soon as I can I am up, and tearing off my cap and goggles as a sprint up the beach. I push it all the way through with full effort as I normally to before hopping on the bike because I know mentally I can handle this portion of the race better than most. After the race I learn that I had the fastest T1 once again. It may be such a small detail in the race but I take pride and believe that it makes a big difference.
Now that I am out the bike it's time to chase. I find a strong rider right away to form a two man squad just like last year when I made up a massive gap on the bike to a large group of riders. This time is only slightly different because the gap isn't as big and it takes only 1 lap up catch the lead pack. It starts out as a pack of 5, that will eventually dwindle down to 4. One thing that I don't notice right away is that Alan Webb the American record in the mile was in the pack. Once I realize this I know that he can run so I want to break away. However after Jenny shouting at me to stay off the front I realize that even though I want to win risking a chance wasn't worth it when I know I can run my way into at least a second place. So I sit in and the bike flys by with ease.
As we turn in to dismount, instinct kicks in and I want to win. I dismount quickly, blaze through transition and onto the course in first. Off the gun I push it in an effort to break Alan mentally with a pace neither of us can hold off the bike. This attempt is brought down pretty quickly as he reels me in. I push with him for a bit before sitting on his shoulder and realizing I need to be able to finish quickly in order to get second and my pro card. I settle into a decent pace one without risk and slowly watch him pull away. It hurts to let him go, but I know that I will get another chance at him during a pro race later on in the future. The run becomes a tempo run as I cruise into a 2nd place finish a with a large gap between 3rd place and me. I finish the race without being winded at all, and congratulate Alan in his win. Of course I ask for a quick picture with him before heading out to find Jenny.
I head over with Andy to where Jenny was during the race. We find her and we talk the race over a bit before heading over to get ready for the awards. The take a bit to get ready, but they finally roll around and I get my first draft legal medal finally. Post race we head back to the hotel and I get a quick cool down 4 mile run before I get dinner and relax for the night.
Well now I had finally done it. I got my pro card and the only thing that stands in front of me is some paperwork. Some quick details for my readers, for this season until I finish up track and field 2015 for Iowa Central, I will be a "collegiate pro" which means I retain my eligibility to race in college by not excepting any race winnings. This summer now that I have a pro card I am looking to potentially do my first international race in Canada early August. Details to come on that!
So now with my race in the books I figured I might as well think of something crazy to do since last year Connor Dilger and I road to Seattle pretty much right after our race. So I set my sights on a long trek to Mount Rainer because I visited it two years prior when I had raced in WA. Without a rental because I'm 19 I would be biking the journey. Problem was that I didn't have training wheels andI wasn't about to through down a bunch of miles on my race wheels.
So I reached out to several cycling teams, and was blessed enough to stumble upon Project 13 a multisport collective. Shawn Sullivan the creator of Prohect 13 reached out to help me without asking anything in return. I was extremely impressed with this level of generosity and later learned that is actually why their team is based on. An uncoached community based endurance team, as he explained it to me when we met up Tuesday morning to return the wheels, catch a quick bite for breakfast, and chat about a sport we both hold so close to our heart. Thanks again for helping out and for those of you wanting to learn more about his story I encourage you to do so!
So thanks to him my adventure was on. After buying a box of clif bars and a bunch of water Sunday I was set to tackle the task at hand bright and early. I woke up before the sun and started my ride. I won't go into too much detail here because it was a long ride with lots of stories along the way. If you are interested in learning more ask away, but I figured I would let some of my pictures tell part of the story for me! Thanks for reading and below are some pictures for you to check out of you have time! Stay tuned for my race next weekend in Chicago!
Well my phone died shortly after turning around so that's all I have, but even though it was really hard I had a blast spending my Monday chasing something that reaches into the sky! Now back to my flat old Iowa, which is still beautiful in it's own way. Thanks again!
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