With triathlon season in full swing, the EGO p/b Sammy’s Bikes Triathlon team targeted Leon’s Triathlon as their first full team race of the year. Leon’s Triathlon holds a team competition which combines the times from the first five finishers from each team, and the team decided to stack their top guns into the co-ed division in an attempt to defend the team title from last year.
New for this year, Leon’s Triathlon held the US Armed Forces Military National Championship. Athletes from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard all were competing in an olympic distance draft legal race fighting for slots to represent the US at the CISM Military World Games in Korea later this year. Leon put on quite the show honoring veterans and Armed Force members with a 21 gun salute during the opening ceremonies. With their race being draft legal, the military athletes had a modified looped olympic distance course and were slated to start 1.5 hours before the open race.
The military athletes took off in what looked like promising weather. But while waiting, the radar showed storms brewing just off the coast of Lake Michigan and was heading right for Hammond, IN. 30 minutes before the open race was to begin, the clouds changed color and swiftly made their way over to release a downpour of rain with 30+mph winds. The military athletes were deep into the race and were starting the run/finishing the bike when the storm hit. It did not seem to affect their performances though as the top athletes were very strong and fast.
New for this year, Leon’s Triathlon held the US Armed Forces Military National Championship. Athletes from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard all were competing in an olympic distance draft legal race fighting for slots to represent the US at the CISM Military World Games in Korea later this year. Leon put on quite the show honoring veterans and Armed Force members with a 21 gun salute during the opening ceremonies. With their race being draft legal, the military athletes had a modified looped olympic distance course and were slated to start 1.5 hours before the open race.
The military athletes took off in what looked like promising weather. But while waiting, the radar showed storms brewing just off the coast of Lake Michigan and was heading right for Hammond, IN. 30 minutes before the open race was to begin, the clouds changed color and swiftly made their way over to release a downpour of rain with 30+mph winds. The military athletes were deep into the race and were starting the run/finishing the bike when the storm hit. It did not seem to affect their performances though as the top athletes were very strong and fast.
With lightning and storms lingering for what was projected to be the next 2 hours, race officials decided to shorten the open olympic race down to a 450 yard swim, 10.5 mile bike, and 5k run. Regardless of the distance, the EGO p/b Sammy’s Bikes team was ready for anything and were there to compete.
SWIM
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to get a good amount of open water swimming in between the local lakes. Even the day before the race, I went out and swam the entire olympic distance course and had a new personal best 1500m swim time. Excited to get into the water and hold my own, I decided that I was going to go for it and try to latch onto the front swimmers. Since the course was modified, there was much chaos as to where we were actually supposed to swim. I thought that I knew the course and figured that I wouldn’t be leading the swim and could just follow along. Ready to attack, I took it out hard as soon as we started. Surprising myself, I was right near the front with only 3 athletes ahead. I was able to make it to the first turn buoy sitting right in 4th place overall. With swimming at max effort came some unclear thinking and lack of concentration. I slowly lost the feet of the 3 ahead of me, but still was able to see them just ahead. It was then that I noticed when I took a breath that there were masses of swimmers very far to my left and actually close to the swim exit. I panicked as I noticed that I was following the lead swimmers and that we had gone very far out of the way. I then shifted position and made a straight shot into the swim exit while watching as athlete after athlete popped out of the water. As I neared shore, I saw my teammate, Alex, running out of the water and felt a sign of relief as I knew I couldn’t be too far back since his swim has improved drastically.
SWIM
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to get a good amount of open water swimming in between the local lakes. Even the day before the race, I went out and swam the entire olympic distance course and had a new personal best 1500m swim time. Excited to get into the water and hold my own, I decided that I was going to go for it and try to latch onto the front swimmers. Since the course was modified, there was much chaos as to where we were actually supposed to swim. I thought that I knew the course and figured that I wouldn’t be leading the swim and could just follow along. Ready to attack, I took it out hard as soon as we started. Surprising myself, I was right near the front with only 3 athletes ahead. I was able to make it to the first turn buoy sitting right in 4th place overall. With swimming at max effort came some unclear thinking and lack of concentration. I slowly lost the feet of the 3 ahead of me, but still was able to see them just ahead. It was then that I noticed when I took a breath that there were masses of swimmers very far to my left and actually close to the swim exit. I panicked as I noticed that I was following the lead swimmers and that we had gone very far out of the way. I then shifted position and made a straight shot into the swim exit while watching as athlete after athlete popped out of the water. As I neared shore, I saw my teammate, Alex, running out of the water and felt a sign of relief as I knew I couldn’t be too far back since his swim has improved drastically.
Screen shot taken from Strava. Just to give an idea, I swam the red route, where as I should have swam the green route
Into transition, I tried to be as fast as possible and get onto the roads and make up lost time. With a quick transition, I was able to pass a few athletes and mounted my bike about 45 seconds down from the leaders. The new modified bike course was a 3 loop course with 180 degree turnaround at both ends. So all in all, there would be 6 180s in a 10.5 mile stretch. The wind was also not dying down, so one direction was spent rolling at 30mph while the other was tucking and holding 24-25mph. After the first loop, I had made some ground up on a few athletes, but the leader, Chris Waterstraat, stayed an equal distance (45 seconds ahead). Alex came past me when ending the first loop which helped with the pacing. I let him get 10 seconds up the road and then dialed in to keep the distance to him right around there. We were moving at a good clip and caught all the riders except for Chris before the last loop. Alex, now in 2nd, lingered about 15 seconds up the road and I was content at keeping the distance right around there. I have race Chris before and know his strength lies in the bike, so if we kept the distance around 30-45 seconds back of him, there was a good chance I would be able to run him down. Overall, the bike was very uneventful as there is not much that can go on in 10.5 miles. I made sure to take the 180s cautiously as it wasn’t worth a few extra seconds here or there compared to going down and putting the season in jeopardy. Coming into transition, I was able to swing up next to Alex while he was unstrapping his shoes. We rolled into transition about 40 seconds down and right where we needed to be to start the run.
Sammy's Dragon helmet ready for flight
Photo thanks to trijuice.com
Transition 2 was fast! Helmet off, bike racked, shoes on, and grabbing the ultra fast T1 magnetic belt. I was in and out of transition in no time and off to my favorite part of the day. I was a little worried my run legs wouldn’t be ready to go as I had raced a 5k just 35 hours prior. The legs were there though as I pulled into 2nd and was able to see Chris up the road. Right around the first mile mark, I moved into the lead and was then able to relax. Mile one was 5:08 and felt comfortable. I figured that I had another gear or two and could pick up the pace if needed. After the turn around, I was able to see Chris and then Alex charged. We gave the thumbs up as I knew he was running well and could move into 2nd. I continued a strong pace the last 1.5 miles into the wind and was able to enjoy soaking in the finish line. Shortly after, Alex came across giving us the top 1-2 sweep for the 2nd time in the short season so far.
another great photo from trijuice.com!
Runnin' so fast the tread burned right off!
Although the weather was miserable, Leon’s Triathlon still put on a terrific event. We are all honored to be able to race alongside the military athletes competing for world championship slots. A huge thank you to EGO and Sammy’s Bikes for providing their unconditional support, and especially this race for the team tent to keep us dry!
We came here trying to defend the co-ed team title and did just that! Amazing job to the entire crew!
We came here trying to defend the co-ed team title and did just that! Amazing job to the entire crew!
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