All aboard the pain train-Copper Creek

With Ottawa behind me it was time to get some solid training in for Des Moines CAMTRI U23 National championships, but Copper Creek was the week after....Temptation won in this case as long as I trained through it I would be allowed to do it. With it being less than 15 minutes away it was easy on the body and mind preparation wise. Plus I had several teammates racing including Tamera who raced with me in Ottawa.

PRE-RACE: So since this is a race through race the format for pre-race is a bit different. Two days out I had full day with a 9 mile AM run followed by 3000 yds of base work swimming with the crew. In the PM I knock out a 16x200 threshold on the track before relaxing by the pool at Mags. The day before I put on my coaching hat and ride with the Z3 crew. We knock out 25 miles in about an hour and 25 minutes, which is a bit long for me the day before a race on the bike. Afterwards Zach, Mags, and I take advantage of the beautiful day and head to Grey's Lake to grab an open water swim and 6 miles afterwards. I felt a little sluggish, but was ready to give what I had the next day. Packet Pickup and it was time for bed.

RACE DAY: The next day brought a few surprises. I woke up ,grabbed the classic shakeout, and went to go find some coffee. I learned that day caribou doesn't open in time for an early morning triathlon...oh well I grab an espresso from a gas station and call it good. I get to the course and grab a bike warm up on the course. I forgot how hilly the start of Copper Creek is. I get back after 15 minutes and grab my run warm up, but it is in vain. The race gets delayed because of a train? Yeah you heard it right, a train delayed the race by an hour because it was moving slowly across the bike course. So I had debate in my head and ultimately decided to grab another small run warm up as it is the easiest and most efficient way to get my body warm. Eventually the time rolls around to race.

Z3 crew before the race.

The pros begin to head in the water for a warm up, a few of us don't have wet suits and most of the others decide to even the playing field and take theirs off. Triathletes are awesome, let me tell you. We eventually get called back to the beach edge for the race start. The gun goes off and the small Pro crew takes to the water. TJ and Ian get off to an early lead and despite my best efforts I fall off of their feet. I find my rhythm and get to work. (I later learned that rhythm was pretty, but too slow) Tamera makes a move past me around halfway and I maintain a position behind her for the rest of the way. I come out 4th and sprint out to the transition rack.

Swim Course covered in 20:10 for 1500m.
Out onto the bike course! I take it out guns blazing because I know that TJ and Ian are strong riders so I couldn't let them get too much of a lead. I find a great cadence and pace early on and cruise up and down the hills. I pass by Tamera within a few minutes and wish her good luck before pushing on as hard as I can. All is going great until I get to halfway and realize I had a tailwind the whole way. Now with my body spent I had to take on a headwind and the monster hills that remained. They won this battle as I was passed by another strong cyclist and lost a lot of ground to the leaders before finally getting back to transition. Time to go to work.

Bike Course: Average 22.5 mph and 275 watts.
As I sprint out onto the run course I ask Zach how far behind I was from TJ. 6 minutes behind, but I still believed I could catch him. You never know what can happen. So I take off to the hilly neighborhoods at a blazing fast pace. I pass Ryan after a few minutes and it was onto Ian before I could catch TJ. I kept pushing the pace despite the hills breaking the pace a bit. The gap wasn't closing fast enough and I was beginning to get pissed so I pushed on. In the end it would be where I remained. Despite posting the fastest run by several minutes it was only enough for 3rd place. Not what I was looking for, but I also trained through so it is always hard to determine if the race was good or not. The ultimate verdict was that I needed to bike more. I had missed out on a bunch of miles when I was focusing on running in college and it was showing. Regardless it was a beautiful day so Mags and I grab a 5 mile cool down before awards.

The data on the run since it was the best part of the race.

Post awards I head to Fort Dodge after relaxing for a bit at the pool. Blake Whalen and I grab a few more miles to cap off a big day. The next week was one of my biggest weeks of training during the summer as I head into race preparation for Des Moines. Thanks for reading and supporting me! If you ever have any questions about racing or just life feel free to ask me!

Location: 1325 Copper Creek Dr, Pleasant Hill, IA 50327, USA

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