USAT Nationals

And so here is the report from the weekend of racing in Milwaukee. I think next week I'll actually detail out a real "report" but for this week just some general impressions over the weekend. I've been sick since Monday morning at about 1a.m. (which made for a... unique... 12 hour drive back to TN) so I am probably going to be pretty lazy with this post. First, let's get this out of the way.


1.) Have fun. Race the best I have on the day without any self brow beating.
Check. I had a good time both days and didn't let the bad get to me.
2.) PR the Olympic distance. That means 2:12:38 or better.
Nope. 2:17:26 with a pretty ugly swim and run.
3.) Gut out the Sprint and leave everything I've got on the table.
Check. I felt like I raced the Sprint extremely well after Saturday.
4.) Not hold back in either race no matter how I think I'm doing. Race to the end of both on the redline.
Check. I gave it what I had.
5.) Not make any silly mistakes (nutrition wise, equipment wise, new on race day, etc.)
Check'ish. I used the full sleeve wetsuit I am not terribly comfortable in... but due to water temps I didn't want to use the sleeveless.

Friday after bike check in we got a picture in the park. Beautiful weather was a theme of the weekend.

*added goal from the Cobb Mobb group... not get caught by Barry Phelps (who is a monster) until the run. I'm proud to say he didn't pass me until 2 miles into the run :)

Obviously missing my goal time in the Olympic meant that to start with there was no shot of a top 25. Even if I had hit a perfect day I would still have likely been closer to 30th than 25th. Some true talent showed up this year... it was humbling to see the speed of some of those guys. My time was 91st, which was obviously a disappointment, but the race was what it was.

You can see the disappointment on my face after the Olympic.

The sprint went a lot better. Despite some soreness I actually raced better than I did the day before. I had expected around a 1:10 (with 1:05 being a great day) and finished in 1:10:17, so pretty close. Last year that would have been 25th place exactly, but it was only good enough for 50th this year. A little disappointing but I think it's obvious I'm not quite worlds material at this point anyways ;)

As far as the actual event, I thought it was a very well set up and ran race. The area was for the most part nice (although the bridge was a bit rough) and there were plenty of people to make sure the race ran smoothly. The only gripe I have with Milwaukee is that it is literally the hardest city on earth to get something to eat in. Downtown in every other city I've ever been in is always littered with places to eat... here that was not the case, at least not anywhere I walked around.

Ouch. Triathlon Tramp Stamp in place. The only thing better would be if "Cobb" was a cutout in the shorts ;)

I met a lot of great people while up in MKE. It was finally a good chance to put some faces with a couple of the other Cobb Mobbsters (who all did very well, better than me for sure!) and I even had the pleasure of talking to a couple of people who recognized me from the blog. I only had a pen handy to write down Patrick's name... you other guys I'm terrible sorry I suck with remembering names, but hope you had great races! 

Next week a real race report. I hope everyone who raced this last weekend (nationals or not) stayed safe and had a good day!

-Christopher Morelock