CU Triathlon wins third straight national championship

Published on April 24, 2012 on www.CUIndependent.com. 

We got on the bus to DIA last Thursday a group of hopeful, excited and admittedly nervous triathletes.

We came back national champions.

On the CU Triathlon Team, that’s how it’s done. We train hard all year, pushing each other and pushing ourselves, in hopes of winning big in April. This weekend, we captured our third straight and 13th overall national championship at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Junior Tess Amer on the bike course at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Amer finished 11th. (Courtesy of Thom Ward)

I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team.

Going into nationals, we knew we had the potential to win the combined team title. Three of our top four racers from last year’s men’s team were returners, and our women’s team had more depth than ever.

This year, in addition to the overall title, we had another goal: a long-overdue women’s team win.

The overall team win is determined by combining the men’s and women’s team scores. In previous years, the men have won big, taking first by a long shot so that even a second or third-place finish by the women would result in an overall title.

Not so in 2012 — the women’s team wanted to earn a championship just as much as the men.

We got our chance on Saturday morning, with the women’s race the first event on the schedule. Just before the first wave went off at 7:30 a.m., our whole team, men and women, gathered around me as I led our classic repeat-after-me cheer:

Iki la boomba (Iki la boomba)

Iki la wikki likki (Iki la wikki likki)

Affa la waffa laffa (Affa la waffa laffa)

Ooh-chee-ahh… (Ooh-chee-ahh…)

C-O-L-O-R-A-D-O

What’s that spell? Colorado!

What’s that mean? Victory!

With adrenaline pumping, our first girls headed down to the water for the swim start. We knew that all of those killer swim practices, endless bike rides and painful runs we had gone through together were about to pay off.

I was in Wave Three with teammates Heidi Spees and Maggie Scanlan. I knew they were stronger swimmers than me, but I still wanted them by my side when the gun went off. Though I lost them almost immediately, I focused on keeping good form, being efficient and staying calm throughout the swim.

Once out of the water, I stripped off my wetsuit, grabbed my bike and put on my game face. It was time to catch some girls.

I felt fast, passing entire groups of Wave Three cyclists with ease. Looking back at the results, I went from 220th place overall coming out of the swim to 51st place coming off the bike. It was my fastest bike time ever.

But my strength, the run, was yet to come.

I transitioned quickly, re-racking my bike and slipping into my run shoes for the final stretch. As I headed out of transition, I heard a familiar voice calling my name — there, on the side of the course, was a graduated teammate and good friend from my freshman year who had come out to Tuscaloosa to cheer us on. I smiled and picked up my pace, knowing I had the support of so many.

During the first two miles of the run, I caught and passed the teammates I had started with in Wave Three. A few minutes later, I passed my coach, Mike Ricci, timing from the sideline.

“Come on, Caryn — pick it up. We’ve got to win this thing,” I heard him say. I realized I may be one of the scoring four, and that meant my mental strength on this run could affect the entire team. I pushed harder.

Around mile four, I was hit with the worst cramp I’ve ever experienced in a race. My breathing became suddenly shallow, and my pace slowed way down as I tried to fend off what felt like a knife in my side. There were only two miles to go, but they would be the hardest of the whole race.

Whether you run fast or slow, this cramp is still going to hurt, I told myself. It can’t get much worse, and the faster you move, the sooner you’ll be done.

My run time wasn’t what it could’ve been sans-cramp, but I finished as strong as I could and ended up in 32nd place. The other scoring CU women finished 11th, 15th and 17th. We had a shot at the women’s title, but we would have to wait until the awards ceremony later that night to know for sure.

For now, it was time to cheer on the guys.

Watching the men’s race gave me an adrenaline rush all over again. I am constantly impressed by the talent and work ethic our men’s team has. Our top four men ended up in second, fourth, fifth and 14th place. There was no doubt they had earned the men’s team title.

We spent the rest of the day cheering on our athletes in the open and relay races, eating barbecue with our team parents and anxiously awaiting results. Finally, at 8 p.m., it was time.

The awards are always more of a party than a ceremony. Teams traditionally dress in themed costumes, and it’s not unusual for flash mobs or loud team cheers to erupt from the audience. This year, the University of Wisconsin rolled into the awards ceremony on Razor scooters.

CU chose “Noah’s Ark” as our awards theme. Dressed as animals (or, in one case, Noah), our athletes proudly took the podium to receive both individual and team awards. Graduate student Rudy Kahsar, dressed as a buffalo, was recognized for his overall finish and for recording the fastest bike split of the race. Freshman Jak Hamilton, wearing pig attire, earned a third-place podium spot in the men’s open race.

Next, the women’s team titles were announced. We had finally done it. By a narrow six-point margin, we edged out Duke University, the University of California and the U.S. Naval Academy for the first-place women’s team title. Our win marks the first women’s team title for CU since 2005.

The men’s team was recognized next, having won the title over second-place University of Arizona by a hefty 98 points.

And finally, by a margin of 159 points, the CU Triathlon Team was announced as the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Champions for the third year in a row. Navy, our biggest rival, would have to settle for second place behind the top triathlon team in the country.

National championships do more for our team than just celebrate our top athletes though. They reflect the commitment that everyone on this team has to the sport and to each other. As our coach always says, we have no slow athletes. When we train, the fast ones push the faster ones, who push the fastest ones to win championships.

My teammate Morgan Burrows, a graduating senior, said the night before the race that she would rather be 13th on the Colorado Tri Team than be first or second on any other team. To be a CU triathlete is to be a part of something special, something irreplaceable.

I have one more year left on this team, and I will savor every moment of it. The CU Triathlon Team is my family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Casa de Pancakeo

It's that time of year again.

The CU Tri Team has been back at school and training hard for a few months now. We’ve spent hours in the pool, on the bike and on the trails, and our first time trial is behind us. Needless to say, all this training has us a little tired out. Thanksgiving break is just around the corner, but until then, we’ve been doing all we can to motivate each other to keep working hard.

That’s why this Sunday, four teammates decided to host a pancake party following our weekly long run. Our team has gotten pretty skilled at pancake-making over the the past year, thanks to the ingenuity of Rudy Kahsar and other like-minded cake connoisseurs. We know, for instance, that Oreos make the best mix-ins and that while maple syrup is a classic topping, vanilla yogurt and peanut butter can work wonders on a flapjack.


Before we could chow down on pancakes, though, we had to earn them with a good workout. With a big group — about 20 runners of varying speeds — and a workout that could range from 45 to 90 minutes, we knew we would spread out over time. Still, we left together from the “Casa de Pancakeo,” heading south towards Bobolink Trail and eventually to Marshall Mesa.

It was a warm but windy morning, and as we struggled up hills into oncoming gusts, the only thing that kept us going was the prospect of pancakes to come. Marshall Mesa is a set of rolling trails near Colorado Highway 93, and it is completely exposed. We had no shelter from the wind and were all trying to draft off each other to make the effort a little more bearable.

As the time on our watches slowly ticked by, we finally settled into a comfortable pace. Finishing a long run is always a mental battle, but with teammates to talk to and pace with, it tends to be over sooner than you think. We picked up speed for the final few miles, knowing that the faster we made it back to the house, the sooner delicious cakes would be filling our bellies. When we reached the driveway of the Casa de Pancakeo, someone’s GPS recorded 10.8 miles; naturally, we took one more lap around the block to get to a solid 11 (it’s a triathlete thing).

Rob Helvestine was the hero of the morning as he poured dollops of pancake batter onto the skillet and took mix-in requests nonstop. The rest of us, spent from our effort and in need of some serious fuel, huddled around the stovetop with our paper plates outstretched. Leave it to a team of college-aged triathletes to consume enough pancakes and coffee to feed a small country over the course
of an hour.

Without times like these, we wouldn’t really be a team — we would just be a big group of training partners. Triathlon in itself is an individual sport, but when we take the time to bond over new pancake-topping creations, we make it a team thing. It may sound silly, but the friendships we build outside of regular practice are the ones that will stick.

And when we race, those friendships will carry us to the finish line.

Give and take.
Caryn

CU triathlon takes on Pumpkinman

A firsthand account of one club team's trip to Vegas

By Caryn Maconi on October 17, 2011 — originally published in the 2011 Colorado Football official game program, Colorado Buffaloes vs. Oregon Ducks

When I headed to Vegas with the CU Triathlon Team last weekend, we weren’t trying to win a game of blackjack.

This club team was looking for victory at the 2011 Pumpkinman Triathlon, a multisport event that combines swimming, biking and running into one race.

Pumpkinman is one of several races the CU team does in the fall before the larger collegiate regional and national championships in March and April. As part of the Mountain Collegiate Triathlon Conference, we battle teams like Air Force, Colorado State, Northern Arizona and Arizona State — but they’ve got nothing on us.

The CU Tri Team has won 12 national championships since its inception in 1994, and we’re aiming for our third straight and 13th overall title this April.

In Vegas, we were just giving our competition a preview.

On Thursday morning, we loaded four cars and a trailer with 15 people, their bikes and whole lot of gear. Then we headed out of Boulder, only to arrive 12 hours later in… Boulder.

Boulder City, Nevada, that is.

Since the team regularly camps, we stayed near the race site about 25 miles outside of Las Vegas at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The tents went up as soon as we arrived on Thursday night. We crashed early, knowing we had a big weekend ahead.

As usual, Friday was a day of rest, race preparation and plenty of carb-loading. We made sure our bikes were working properly, tested the water in Lake Mead with a quick swim, and went on a jog to loosen our legs. The inevitable pre-race spaghetti dinner was prepared out of an RV by one team member’s parents. It was early to bed again, but this time, the anticipation of the morning to come made it difficult to sleep.

At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, I awoke to the sound of ten phone alarms going off at once.

It was race morning, and we were ready to rock.

Our campsite was a scene of organized chaos as we made our final preparations, taping race numbers onto bikes and pumping low tires by the light of our headlamps. We made it to the race site just after sunrise, and after setting up our transition areas and donning our wetsuits, we huddled together for our team cheer:

Iki la boomba
Iki la wiki liki
Affa la waffa laffa
Oo-chee-ahh! 

None of us knows the translation of this tribal chant or even what language it is, but it sure works to get us pumped.

The entire Pumpkinman event actually features three races of varying distances – a sprint, an olympic distance and a half-Ironman. The olympic distance, a 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run, is the classic collegiate distance, but we also had some first-timers racing the sprint (half that of an olympic distance).

As I watched the sprinters start their swim, my heart beat faster. I hadn’t done an olympic since nationals last spring, and I couldn’t wait to race alongside my team again.

Soon, it was time for my wave to start. The gun went off, and everyone shot forward at once. Knowing the swim was my weakness, I tried to to set a comfortable pace and avoid getting kicked in the face. As I made it back to shore and headed into transition, I prepared to make up some time on the bike.

The biggest challenge of Pumpkinman’s bike course is its hills. The first half is rolling, but the course ends with a gradual incline on a bike trail followed by a steep hill up to the second transition area. As I crested that last hill, I thought of the mountains we train on in Boulder, knowing I was ready for a challenge like this.

Finally, it was time for my strength – the run. We’d been racing for two hours already, and the Nevada sun felt like an oven. My legs were nearly shot, but I was motivated by my teammates. I knew two CU girls were just a few minutes ahead, and I wanted to catch them.

In the end, the three of us finished less than five minutes apart, a promising sign of our team’s depth. Senior Courtney Clark finished 4th of all women in 2:43:47, I came in 6th (2:45:38), and junior Elisa Schauer was 9th (2:49:45). On the men’s side, graduate student Rob Helvestine finished 4th in 2:18:59, senior Eric Ebeling was 8th (2:23:20), and sophomore Jesse Frank was 9th (2:23:43).

To boot, we had two girls complete their first olympic distance race this weekend and three people complete the sprint as their first-ever triathlon.

On the CU Tri Team, though, success is about more than just results.

Success is being a true team in a sport that’s individual on the surface. We constantly push each other to new levels in training and racing. We pick up the slack when another teammate has an off-day, something we’ve all experienced at some point.

Most of all, we care about each other both on and off course. Those newbies who raced with us for the first time this weekend? They joined because they saw something in us that they wanted to be a part of. We’re not just a team — we’re a family.

And when the race is over and the hard work is done, we sure know how to party in Vegas.

Tucson Training Camp

After an incredible weekend racing regionals at Lake Havasu, about 20 members of our team headed to Tucson, AZ for four days of intense training. Coach Mike scared us with what was ahead: "the hardest training week of your life," "I'm not going to stop my 80-mile ride to fix your flat tire, so you better learn how," etc. I envisioned a week filled with throwing up, passing out, crying, the works. But I also hoped that it would be an amazing team bonding experience.

Well, it turns out I was wrong about the first part. I didn't realize how in shape we had gotten, so that five-hour training days and 80 mile rides were actually bearable. I was definitely working hard, and it was the biggest training week I've ever had, but I never felt like crying or giving up. I can thank Mike and his smart coaching for that. Realizing what we were capable of as a team gave me a big confidence boost going into Nationals.

The team bonding part, though, was right on. Coming home from Tucson, I felt like I knew several of my teammates much better than before. By road tripping hours in a car with them, I got to know Laura, Sean, Leigh, and Rob especially well. I also loved riding with Bryn, Maggie, and Molly, pushing through some quality sufferfests with my fellow Nats team members.

Day 1&2: Tempe. My car left a day early from Havasu so Laura could get to an interview in Tempe. We took a much-needed day off and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Sean's grandma's house-- steak, green beans, potatoes, and warm brownies. Lucky us. :) The next morning, we woke up at 6 am to run so Laura could get a workout in before her 8 am interview. Even though it was dark when we started, it was comfortably warm. We ran easy, taking in the beautiful sunrise and the ASU campus. When we got back to our hotel, we had run 5 miles, but felt like we had barely worked. Since when did a 5 mile run feel so easy? Laura left for her interview, and Sean, Rob, and I headed to Tucson.

When we met back up with the team, we went straight to the University of Arizona pool and swam over 5000 yards. Again, while it was definitely a long workout, it didn't feel that hard. The sea level oxygen was nice on our lungs, and the outdoor pool was definitely more enjoyable than Clare Small. A short run from the hotel afterwards, dinner, and a good night's sleep got us ready for the craziness that was Tuesday.

Day 3: Run, swim, bike. We started the morning off with an insanely long race-pace track workout. That's all the detail I'm allowed to give (coach's orders-- we want to keep the competition guessing!) I can say, though, that my race-pace on the track felt much faster than it did at Havasu. I guess adrenaline really does work wonders! After the track, we had a big breakfast and headed to the pool for an easy swim in sunny weather: relays for our Tri Team "Olympics" and a short set.

We had lunch, relaxed for awhile, and then did our first Tucson ride: about 30 miles up and over Gates Pass. I did most of the ride with Bryn, Maggie, and Molly-- we were all exhausted, but we got a paceline going and worked our way through. We met up with Tess, Nate, Will, and Rob on the way home and headed back to the hotel together after a very long day. Bianchi's pizza and Ben and Jerry's pints were just what we needed to refuel. At Bianchi's, I witnessed a miracle when Ryan Bice ate more pasta, pizza, and garlic bread than could possibly fit in his stomach. We may be mediocre at three sports, but we are pros at eating.

Day 4: MOUNT LEMMON! This was the epic day we had all been anticipating / dreading / havingnightmaresabout. 80-miles round trip, including 23 miles of climbing. I think the only thing that stopped us from running away as fast as possible was Mike's promise of famous cookies at the summit. It took us about an hour to get to the base of the mountain from our hotel. At that point the fast group took off, and Bryn, Maggie and I set up our paceline again. It was the longest ride any of us had ever done (my longest by 25 miles), so we decided to start off easy and not kill ourselves. 2 and a half hours of painful pedaling later, we reached mile 23, only to find no sign of cookies anywhere. We got a little discouraged, a little frustrated, and a little confused-- where was our team? Turns out we had a mile or so left to go-- but hey, we'd already made it this far, and we weren't about to give up now.

When we asked someone in a car for directions and finally made it to Cookie Land, we were not disappointed. After waiting in a forever-long line, we received cookies the size of dinner plates. I ate as much as I could, but Bryn outdid me by finishing the whole thing (hardcore.) We hung out at the top for a little while, then started making our way back down. The descent was the most fun part of the whole day. Bryn, Maggie, Ryan, Bobka, Alex Kehr and I took the descent easy-- no need for broken bones. We stopped pretty often to check out the incredible views and take pictures. I would've wanted it to go on forever, but my butt was starting to hurt... and when we made it down to the base, the fun was over. The ride back to the hotel was excruciatingly hot and filled with rush hour traffic. I lost a cleat, and my legs felt like Jell-O. When we finally made it home, I gave it one final push for a 20 minute brick run, and then it was hot tub time. We chilled for awhile at the hotel, ate a big team dinner of burritos (what else?), and slept like rocks. One more day to go.

Day 5: Easy trail run at the bottom of Gates Pass. All our legs were pretty much fried, so we took it slow and enjoyed the scenery. Just a nice recovery run to get moving before another all-day car ride. The rest of the day was spent traveling back to Boulder, where real life would resume again.

What we accomplished at Tucson made me so proud of our team. There were definitely hard moments-- frustration, pain, fear, and even a few tears. But we were more prepared for those workouts than we ever thought we would be, and we had each other to lean on. Every single one of us made it to the top of Mount Lemmon-- that's impressive. Suffering together definitely makes you stronger as a team, and our team did that really well over spring break. I think that's made obvious by the fact that after not seeing each other all day on Friday, we were ready for another team dance party on Saturday night.

Going into Nationals, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I love each and every one of my teammates, and I know they all helped me through Havasu and training camp in one way or another. Now it's time to take all that training and channel it into race day. We race for each other. B3.

Give and take,
Caryn