Team Wattie Ink Pro Program athlete Amanda Wendorff Qualifies for 70.3 World Championships

(Blog post by Amanda Wendorff - Professional Triathlete)

In addition to being a professional triathlete, I’m also a multisport coach, and so much of my job(s) are about plans – writing training plans and race plans, making season plans, travel plans. So many plans!
But one thing I’ve learned over the years—sometimes things just don’t go according to plan.
Before I picked up this crazy triathlon hobby, I was a big firm litigator in downtown Chicago. Upon graduating from law school, I had a plan. I was going to work my way up in the firm, devote my life to my career, make partner, start a family, move to the suburbs, and live happily ever after with my piles of wealth.
It’s safe to say that things haven’t exactly gone according to plan. Triathlon took me off course. In 2010, I signed up for a local half Ironman and a training group, looking solely for a social outlet. Then life took a crazy turn as I fell in love with triathlon and showed a little early promise. Over the next five years or so, I got more and more serious as an athlete, eventually deciding to temporarily set aside that legal career to pursue a career that provided more fulfillment and (much) less money – that as a professional triathlete. I did end up in the suburbs, but not in order to buy a big McMansion as once planned. Instead, it was to live in a cheaper apartment closer to training locales. And those “piles of wealth”—yeah, let’s not talk about that.
Much like my career in general, this year has not gone according to “plan”. 2017 is my second year as a professional triathlete. Last year, my debut season, went way better than I could have dreamt. I made a little prize money, raced right alongside the women I’d idolized for years, and motivated by unexpected success, started making plans for future greatness.
The plan for 2017 was simple- go all-in. Move to Boulder. Leave the legal career totally behind. Train like crazy. Make significant performance breakthroughs. And most of all, qualify to Worlds 70.3 (qualification as a pro is a based on ranking, so I needed a few strong races to accumulate enough points).
Well, that plan didn’t necessarily pan out. I did go all-in, I did move to Boulder, I did stop practicing law entirely, and I did train like a madwoman—far too much so, in hindsight. But those performance breakthroughs I thought would automatically follow? Not so much.
Instead, I floundered and struggled through the early 2017 races, overwhelmed by the new pressures I had placed on myself. The plan was for the St. George 70.3 to be my breakthrough race, where I could show off my new devotion. I trained so perfectly for that race, simulating every aspect of it in my training, arriving on sight 10 days early. I was dialed in. And then, the gun went off, and things almost immediately unraveled. A panic attack in the swim (it happens even to those of us who have been swimming since childhood!), nutritional issues, mental meltdowns—quite simply, I completely choked and had the worst result of my time as a triathlete. That wasn’t the plan!
OK then--- new plan! I quickly booked a last minute trip to Mexico for the Monterrey 70.3, a short 8 days later. This would be my redemption- my chance to really show off all my great training, to prove St. George was just a blip on the radar.
Yeah, that plan didn’t work so well either. A pre-race bike crash combined with a tired body and mind and my result wasn’t much better than St. George. I returned home after two poor performances demoralized, defeated, and honestly, questioning at times my entire decision to give pro racing a go.
What did I do then? I changed the plan, again- this time fairly drastically. After many hours of soul searching, I realized that in my efforts to go “all-in” as a professional triathlete, I’d left one very important piece of the puzzle behind – the fun! I needed to step back a bit from the grind and re-embrace those things I loved most about the sport – the simple act of swimming, biking and running; travel; training with friends. My new plan became less about results and more about re-finding the joy. That 70.3 Worlds goal? I threw it completely out. Maybe next year, I told myself. Chattanooga just wasn’t meant to be.
From May on, I embraced my new plan. I’d already signed up for two races in Denmark in June, Challenge Denmark and the Elsinore 70.3, with high hopes of big performances. I backed off the expectations and approached the trip with an eye more for making memories. I booked a stop-over stay in Iceland, riding my bike all over the beautiful volcanic terrain, enjoying the midnight sun, and swimming in a few of the hundred of geothermal pools that dot the nation. Then, I treated my Denmark trip like a family race-cation—we explored the country, drank a fair bit of wine, took lots of pictures. I still did my training, but the volume was way down and my goals were fairly modest. I just wanted to have fun with racing.
And, I did. Danish races have so much character – 70.3 miles squeezed into the smallest geographical footprint imaginable. The two races I did included things like running, four times, through the interior of a library, circling around the castle in which Hamlet was set, swimming around an active shipping harbor in a confusing zig-zag fashion the likes of which I’d never experienced, and cruising through the rolling Danish countryside. I smiled through almost every minute of those two races, just thankful for the opportunity. And then what do you know? With my new laid-back attitude and letting satisfaction be derived just from the ability to compete in such unique events, I had two of the best races of my pro career.
Upon arrival back stateside, I stuck with the new “relax and enjoy” plan. I moved myself back to the Midwest-- Chicago and Madison—there’s no better place in the summer. I took a nice little break from structured training and spent time catching up with the many people who’d supported me in this triathlon venture from the beginning. I swam, biked, ran when the urge hit me and with anyone and everyone who wanted to join me, and I just enjoyed being home. I fell back in love with the sport.
And then, in the midst of my mid-season break, I got some shocking news—despite those early results that had disappointed me so much, I’d qualified for 70.3 Worlds. Qualifying to Chattanooga was the original goal I’d been so serious about; the one I pursued so hard that I overdid things and forgot how to enjoy the sport, the one I’d completely thrown out the window. It’s pretty funny how life works out.
So, here we go. New plan! Worlds is in a bit less than 8 weeks, and I couldn’t be more happy to have the opportunity. I’m training hard, but I’m training hard in a way that works for me – with flexibility, often with friends, and in the locations where I ‘grew up’ as an athlete. I’m counting down the days until I leave for Chattanooga, but I look at the race not with fear but with excitement—I get to toe the line with the very, very best in the World, I get to see and meet dozens of my Wattie Ink teammates, I’ll be
there with friends and family. Maybe things haven’t gone according to plan, and maybe they never will—but in a crazy way, they always work out.
I have to give a huge, huge shout out to Wattie Ink and all of our team sponsors- Cannondale, Knight Composites, Pioneer, Blue Seventy, Herbalife 24, HOKA One One, Eternal Water. I’ve had my ups and downs but the team has continued to show so much support. I can’t wait to make my supporters proud come September 9!

70.3 Mont Tremblant

70.3 Mont Tremblant

6/25/17

Race Report: Lucas Pozzetta

The Story So Far:

Where do I even start? Really this journey began well before I ever did my first triathlon but that’s a story for another day. I made my first foray into this sport back in 2012 when a friend convinced me it was a good idea to sign up and race at the local YMCA sprint distance triathlon. At the time I was, what I would call, a “washed up” and “out of shape” collegiate athlete turned desk jockey. I had no idea what I was doing and with barely a month of training under my belt, I would say that first race went halfway decent. I don’t know exactly what it was about that first race but the aftermath of that day was pretty much instantaneous, I was absolutely hooked and it quickly evolved into much more than a fun way to stay in shape.

Fast forward 5 years and 30+ races later I find myself sitting here and writing about my latest foray into triathlon, racing as a professional. I still feel a little awkward saying that word, “professional”. Honestly, if you were to ask me, I am still just that same guy who fell in love with the thrill of competition and the unbreakable bonds of comradery this sport creates. I would like to say that every race I compete in brings me the same feelings as that very first one but the truth of the matter is that things are a little different when you toe the line as a professional triathlete. There are now things at stake like; money, sponsorships, and peoples lively hoods to say the least. The truth of the matter is that there is no room for error at this level of the sport and if you want to succeed and excel there can be no doubts or second guesses. You have to pour your heart into being the best that you can possibly be even when things do not always go to plan or how you had hoped. Ultimately after what I would call a lackluster 2016 professional season, this has been the biggest challenge facing me in 2017.

I started off 2017 with high hopes heading into both 70.3 Puerto Rico and 70.3 Galveston TX but after two personally disappointing performances, I realized that something was not quite right. I felt my training was good and that I was more than prepared for both races but when race day came it wasn’t all there.  Thankfully I had a huge moral boost at the Team Wattie Ink San Diego training trip, where I was able to mentally reboot and pick the ears of doctors at Herbalife 24 and some of the best athletes racing for Wattie Ink. What I came away with from camp and from my conversations with the likes of HJ, Coach Flanny, and Doctor Dana was that; I am still young in my experience in this sport, it takes time to hone your skills racing long course and that on race day I may not be getting the proper nutrition on course.

Armed with new mental fortitude and some insights into nutrition I had a much better outlook as I headed into 70.3 St. George. Unexpectedly and to my dismay, I was sidelined from any sort of running due to patella tendonitis just two weeks prior. Thankfully I was still able to swim and bike in preparation, but as race day approached I certainly had doubts about if I would be able to run off the bike at all. Ultimately I was able to race despite a good amount of pain on the run course and for the very first time was able to execute a race that I was proud of. Certainly, it wasn’t a podium worthy finish and there were parts of that race where I know I could have done better but the one thing I did nail was my nutrition.  I finally had what I felt to be a piece of that race performance puzzle that had been missing before.

70.3 Mont Tremblant:

Headed into 70.3 MT I was thankfully able to execute an awesome block of training with my coach, I was finally healthy and was armed with the knowledge that I had the ability to provide myself with the proper nutrition out on race the course. After not racing for 8 weeks post St. George I was so ready to get after it again and so hungry to prove that I have what it takes to race as a professional. With everything lined up, this race really felt like a make or break moment for me.

Race Day:

The Pro field was a bit lacking in quantity this year but what it lacked in numbers it made up for in talent. Race morning I found myself toeing the line with some of the best athletes from Canada and around the World who comprise more than a few spots on IronMan’s top 50 rankings.

Swim (23:48):

This was by far my best 70.3 swim to date. Not only because of the time but also because of my position coming out of the water and my execution of race strategy.

The swim at Tremblant features a beach start that follows an easy well-marked course which heads straight out with two 90⁰ turns before heading back to shore. I much prefer the beach start format over in water starts because they tend to create greater separation between athletes and allow for cleaner faster starts which means less physical contact and stress for me.

When the cannon went off at 7:00 am on race morning it all unfolded exactly as I had hoped and after a short dash and a few dolphin dives I found myself in clear water, swimming shoulder to should with American Beau Garufi and just across from the Canada’s Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches. Having raced with both athletes before I knew Antoine would push the pace right out of the gate and sure enough, he began pulling away almost immediately. My strategy was simple, get on the feet of Antoine and hold on for dear life. It took some very hard few minutes of swimming but somehow I was able to get around Beau and onto the feet of Antoine. Unlike most races where there is constant jockeying for position, people swimming over you or attempting to pass the rest of this swim course was pretty uneventful and not once did I bump elbows or feel the touch of another swimmer. Confident that the swimmer in front of me could swim a straight line along the course, I was able to keep my head down and needed to only focus on the feet in front of me. 

T1 (3:02):

Coming out of the water, knowing I was in 2^nd position was a pretty good feeling but a quick glance behind told me that 3^rd- 5^th were only a few seconds back. Because of how long the swim to bike transition in Tremblant is, I opted to change out of my wetsuit prior to making a dash to my bike. The few extra seconds it took me to slip off my suit meant that I was now chasing the top 4 guys into an out of T1

Bike (2:12:59) @ 300watts

The course bike course at Tremblant features plenty of climbing straight out of transition along Montee Ryan Road which is followed by a series of long rolling hills out and back on along Route 117 before ending with a challenging 5 miles of climbing up the infamous Chemin Duplessis.

Heading out on the bike I was perfectly positioned with 3 other riders including; Canadian’s Jackson Landry, Taylor Reid and American Sean Jefferson who began setting a fast pace as we rolled out of the village and hit the first few climbs of the course. Heading into the race, my strategy involved attempting to get out with that lead group of riders and to stay with them as long as the pace did not push me to far above my target power for the day. Again things seemed to be unfolding exactly as I had hoped they would and for the first 15 or so minutes the four of us traded positions a few times. But almost as soon as we turned out onto Route 117 north it became clear that both Landry and Reid were riding at a pace greater than what Jefferson and I wanted to ride this early in the race and they began pulling away. Over the next 15 or so kilometers Jefferson and I pushed a more reasonable pace and rode together, trading positions just once or twice. There was a motorbike keeping tabs on rider positions so every few minutes he would drive by with splits and we could see that Landry, Reid, and Desroches had merged into one group and that there were two riders behind who were closing the gap on us. Just before reaching the turnaround, Lionel Sanders made his pass, making Jefferson and I look like we were standing still.

Once we had passed through the first turnaround I noticed that Jefferson was slowing and my power numbers were dropping as I attempted to maintain a clean distance riding behind.  Within just a few minutes, I decided it was time to leave Jefferson behind and push out on my own and moved solidly into 5^th position. I was still getting time checks from the motorbike every few minutes and could see that one other rider was continuing to close the gap. By the time mile, 30 rolled around that small gap had dwindled to just a few seconds and just before taking the top of one of the largest hills on Route 117 I was passed by Cody Beals. It was near perfect timing for me, as we started the descent on the other side of the climb, I was able to quickly push the pace and get into a clean position behind. Over the next 25 miles, despite pushing a pace slightly higher than planned, I was able to keep my position behind Beals as we rolled through the second turn around and back through Montee Ryan. We were actually able to slightly close the gap on the leaders as the as we received one last time check passed transition and onto Chemin Duplessis.

Chemin Duplessis is my least favorite part of this course, it is not only a challenging climb that pitches to 13% in sections but it also never allows you to settle in for very long because of the way it winds along the river and quickly rolls up and down steep sections of road. For me, this is where the proverbial wheels fell off ever so slightly. I am not the lightest guy and on the first initial climbs up the road, it was clear I could not hang with Beals as he attacked the steep inclines and was soon out of sight. As I reached the top of the climb I was able to get a final time check on 1^st-5^th and despite Lionel Sanders being well out in front, the other four riders were only a handful of minutes ahead and I was hopeful that I may be able to catch at least one on the run. After making the turn around at the top of Chemin Duplessis I began making the fast descent back into Tremblant.

T2 (1:20):

Aside from making a rookie mistake and totally ending up ass over tea kettle and hitting the pavement as I made my dismount, T2 was pretty good. My run legs felt strong and I covered the short run from dismount to rack quickly where I threw on socks, shoes, my number belt, a hat and grabbed some nutrition before heading out on course. 

Run (1:21:11):

The run course in Tremblant is a very simple out and back that consists of roughly 5k through rolling terrain, 11k out/back along a relatively flat rail trail, and finally another 5k back over the same rolling terrain.

Getting off the bike I had never been in this position before,  I was in 6^th place, only a minute or two behind the leader and with the 7^th place athlete more than 2 minutes behind, things were looking good. With 13.1 miles of running still to cover I had to consciously remind myself to not get too excited and to stick to my race strategy. The plan was to take the first 3 miles 10 to 15 seconds slower than my target in order to get settled in before building up to speed for the remainder of the run and finally giving it my all over the last few miles. Those first 3 miles were spot on as my watch buzzed out each of those splits (6:04), (6:14), (6:04). I was still feeling good as I turned onto the rail trail and attempted to start opening things up. Keeping my leg cadence high and my stride short I sped up and started running at goal race pace. This time my watch started buzzing miles (5:55), (5:54) and (6:00) which were closer to my goals but still just a little bit slower.

I could tell I was fading ever so slightly as I made the turnaround. The sun began to peek out of the clouds that had kept things overcast throughout the morning and began heating things up. I was having a hard time getting any chews or gels down at this point and running through aid stations that were stationed nearly every mile I was taking on as much Gatorade as I could. Despite my best effort my splits began fading as my watch buzzed out more times (6:28), (6:30) and (6:28) were the next few. Eventually, the 6^th place finisher Jordan Monnick passed me and I slid back into 7^th before I was finally passed by Sean Jefferson just before hitting the 11-mile mark, pushing me back into 8th. I was on the home stretch now, only two more miles to go, but looking back I could clearly see the figure of Mikael Staer Nathan closing in on the little lead I had remaining. The next split hurt me to see, 6:49 came across my watch and I knew if I couldn’t push just a little harder I wasn’t going to finish in 8^th. It took everything I had to cover that last mile, up the two remaining hills and onto the cobblestone finishing chute through the village of Tremblant. I was nearly sprinting by the time I could see the finish line, not letting up once until I was able to raise my arms and cross the line for 8th place in 4:02:20 (nearly 21 minutes faster than my time from the previous year)!

Post Race Thoughts:

With my mindset of make it or break it, this race was the confirmation that I have been looking for throughout my races this season. Although 8^th place is not quite the top of the podium, I was able to hang with the leaders throughout all 3 disciplines and put together a race the showcased my strengths and diminished the time losses caused by my weaknesses. There is still work to be done on the bike and especially on my run but I know now that when executed properly I can compete at the professional levels of triathlon. 70.3 Mont Tremblant is a pretty special race and I entirely intend to come back for even more redemption next year. Who knows maybe I could crack the top 5 on the next time around

I could go on and on about how beautiful this event is but there is only so much time in the day. The one thing I will say is that if you have never raced in Tremblant, you need to add it to your race schedule right now. The organizers, the fans, the supporters and really just the entire village of Tremblant make this race so special and so much fun. I have to say thank you my amazing sponsors; Wattie Ink, Knight Composites, Herbalife24, ISM Seat, Speedfil, Pioneer Power Meters, Cannondale, Hoka One One, Eternal Water, and Zealios Skin Care  who continue to make the 2nd year pro feel like he’s at the top of the sport. I also have to say thank you to my amazing Canadian host family, Christine Lupien and Tamara Cousineau for housing me for the 2^nd year in a row and providing me with the best race experience I have had thus far.