Ben Collins

Today was National Age Group Championships in Portland, OR. It was my first focus race of the season and a lot of effort went into preparation. Last year I won my age group and was second overall, so there was a lot of pressure on me this year after I made public my goal of taking the crown.

This whole week I felt relaxed. Unlike at Hy-Vee two weeks ago, when I was fresh off final exams and still carrying unneeded stress, this week I felt calm and ready. While my coach was hoping I would hit my taper, I was so confident in his training program it never even occurred to me that I could miss my taper. Here’s my recap of the race:

Pre-race: I couldn’t see the buoys at all through the glare of the sun. I called together the front line for a huddle, but nobody seemed to have a good idea of what to sight off of.

SWIM: I sighted wrong, went way inside, then corrected once I finally got close enough to see the buoy (~50 meters away!). I rounded the far Buoys for the out and back and took advantage of the glassy water, to glide in for a 17:49 swim prime, and Continue Reading »

I entered a push-up contest today at the National championships’ award ceremony. The announcer called out numbers and everyone on stage had to do a push-up together. Now, seeing as how most of the Tri-types are tiny in the upper body, and I’m still packing the swimmer guns, I figured I had a good shot. What I didn’t expect is that this 19 year old girl (~100lbs and no visible muscle with an army-triathlon T-Shirt) pushing up next to me, would end up being a master of intimidation, not to mention a worthy contender. She was a tiny little thing, I would have pegged her to be the first one out, but as we rounded off 100 push-ups with nobody else left on stage, she turned to me, and gave me a death stare with her blue eyes that said, “You’re going down sucker”. Now normally I would have quit and asked for a phone number, but there was a Halo Swim Bench on the line, and I wanted it. 20 rapid push-ups later and she just couldn’t keep up. Take that Ashley Morgan, 19 year old National Champion!

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I’m safely back in Seattle now. Far away from the polite people, logical transportation network, and attractive architecture that Des Moines uses to lower your guard and keep you from remember to pay attention to silly things like pre-race changes to swim courses and which side of a concrete barrier you’re supposed to ride on.

I swam strong, biked strong, and ran horribly this weekend. It was my slowest 10k in over a year, and it was done on a course that (aside from the humidity) should have been the easiest run course I’ve done. I lead the swim, and was about cruising 25 yards in the lead when I made a 4th left as was described in the manditory pre-race meeting. 30 seconds later a kyak stopped me and pointed to the shore where two of my competitors were nearing the beach. They had apparently listened to the race director before the start when he told us Continue Reading »

I’m writing from the living room of JJ Bailey in Des Moines Iowa. JJ was 3rd last year at USAT Nationals, won the Florida 70.3 this year with a new course record, and (I just found out) he holds the course record for Lifetime Fitness (over past amateurs like Andy Potts). There is a deer head hanging over the fireplace, which is next to a 50 inch plasma TV with more channels than hairs on my right leg (as an aside, first i wrote left leg, but after careful analysis, right seemed more accurate.) When I arrived Thursday I was subjected to a full length lecture on how to turn on the TV, before JJ darted off to work. Finding myself in somebody else’s house in a town I’ve never been to I quickly ran out of better ideas, and decided to take a nap. Continue Reading »

The 2012 Olympic Logo was just released. I think the best description I’ve heard is that it looks like an “80’s hangover”.

It looks like a Pink Panther video game on an 8-bit console. But these things always grow on us, right? Just look at Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project. I remember when I thought it looked like something you would find in a junk yard…ok I still do think that.

Regardless, it’s just a brand logo. It has very little to do with the Games.

I drug my friend Brian to the Issaquah Triathlon last weekend. (Brian Davis, Northwestern grad, 3x NCAA qualifier in swimming, 15:06 1650 yard freestyle…but can he run?)

Here is his race report (this is the funniest first time triathlon story I’ve heard.):

(I should mention quickly that since the race filled up before Brian registered, I had to convince him to do it “unofficially”.)

T minus 11:00

I arrive at Ben’s house to fit me to his bike and put cleats on my
shiny new tri shoes. Ben sets me to work cleaning the loaner bike
whilst he finds the cleats.

T minus 10:45

Ben admits he can’t find the cleats. They must still be in Hawaii.
It’s OK, though. We’ll just remove a pair from his commuting shoes. No
big deal.

T minus 9:00

It’s a big deal.

Continue Reading »

My first triathlon was 2 years ago. I bought a bike from Speedy Reedy, and 3 days later I raced in the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon. That race was a bit ugly. Without a wetsuit, I had a panick in the 62 degree waters of Lake Sammamish, and did backstroke for a good portion of the race. I was passed repeatedly on the bike, and my run was the product of an untested theory that running sucks. I finished the race in 1:12, and couldn’t believe that anyone could call something so arduous a “sprint”.

Two years later, I returned to Issaquah to repeat the course. With over a dozen races in the interim I’ve learned a couple things, and yesterday’s race was a lot more fun. I finished in 58:40

Here’s me vs me: Continue Reading »