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AG Nationals next month - advice needed
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Hi Folks,

I'm pretty new to both this forum and Triathlon in general so apologies if this has already been answered.

To my surprise, I just managed to qualify for the AG Olympic Nationals in Cleveland next month by winning my age group (50-54) at the WA State championship held at Lake Whatcom, Bellingham.

I'm only in my 3rd year of Triathlon and this will be the first time I have travelled to a race.

I was hoping I could get some newby advice about:

1. The Cleveland course - from people who did the race last year - anything specific I should be aware of?

2. Anything else I should be aware of when traveling to a race for the first time?

I'm really excited to be racing at Nationals and was not expecting to get there this year, so any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks!
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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On the course:

Swim: It's in Lake Eire. Last year there were 2-3 ft swells which made the course a challenge. The sighting buoys swere few and far between (a challenge for those who have poor distance vision, even with contact lenses). Supposedly, they added more sighting buoys. The course may have been long, also. Oh, and there was a leak at the sewage treatment plant a week before the race.

Bike. It's an out-and-back. The first half is on a closed state highway and is flat-to-rolling. There was a LOT of construction which made the course plain dangerous (narrow roadway, lots of debris, poor road conditions). Supposedly the construction is complete. The back half is flat and on city streets. The police did a good job controlling traffic. The turn around is in a botanical garden (which was pretty if you cared to look).

Run: Last year it was a two-loop bowl of spaghetti in the park above the transition area. There's a longish climb to the park. Once in the park, it's very narrow and twisting. It was dangerous as faster runners tried to pass slower runners. At the far end, there's an out-and-back leg where people were running in both directions on a sidewalk. That was scary as people in both directions tried to pass slower runners. The park itself is very pretty. I believe they changes the course this year.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [HandHeartCrown] [ In reply to ]
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This is great background - thank you!
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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The best advice anyone can give you is to wait for Milwaukee next year
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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I bet you could do an activity search on strava for Ag Nationals in Cleveland and pull up some peoples races.

Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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The logistics getting to and from the race site are a hassle compared to most races because the race site is a couple miles from the downtown hotels and parking at the race site is limited. The shuttle service and parking info are detailed on the USAT website. I recommend you have a plan before you arrive instead of winging it. Where are you staying? Are you renting a car? If so, did you purchase a pass to park at the site on race day? I'm driving to Cleveland and staying in a hotel downtown. I plan to bring my commuter bike to ride to the race site instead of taking a shuttle. That way I get my normal bike warm-up and don't have to wait for a shuttle bus. Last year you couldn't warm up on the bike pre race.

I hope you enjoy your visit to Ohio!
Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Jul 23, 19 8:54
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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Choppy difficult swim. It's the same for everybody else so don't freak out if your swim time seems slow. I've done a bunch of races (olympic, 1/2 IM, IM) with swims in different parts of Lake Erie and they are always slower than I normally swim for that distance. Come out of water, look at my watch and I am immediately disheartened. Sometimes takes my head out of the race right after the swim. But many times I've looked at my results later, and they have actually been good swims compared to others in the race, just hard conditions and slow times...for everyone. Last year in addition to chop and currents, the swim was also long. I was 10 minutes slower than normal for an olympic distance race. So many people complained about the long swim, that I doubt that will be a problem this year. It was also long for everyone, so big deal except people did not get their PRs.

Bike course has one hill at beginning over highway overpass and one at end opposite way. Otherwise pretty flat. Nice course. Great traffic control last year.

Run will be different this year.

Getting bike to the race is a bit of an issue. Not sure what people did last year. I fortunately rented so it did not matter. But race venue is kind of hard to get to and surrounded by highway so I don't know how people safely got there on their bikes.

It's a great race. Enjoy yourself being at a big championship event with lots of great triathletes - I doubt you will race with so many talented triathletes in one place anywhere else in the US. One neat thing about the national championship is everyone in the race is at least pretty good. Fast feet to follow in the swim. No passing slow bikers who are all over the road. The bikers ahead of you and behind you are fast. If you pass someone during the run, you have just passed a pretty good triathlete. Pretty much everyone in the race is good and knows what they are doing. Knowing everyone is good, I am really happy if I beat anyone, and my goal for the race is just to beat some people and show I belong in the race - that my qualification was not a fluke. For others, they are super-fast and trying to get a Team USA slot. Whatever your goal, it is cool to be in a championship.

And enjoy Cleveland. Seems to be a lot of people saying bad stuff about Cleveland, but I think it is a great city. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is terrific. I went to it last year. I am going to go again. Lots of great restaurants. I went with my family to Lola - the Michael Simon restaurant - the night of the race and it was a terrific meal. Waterfront area where Cuyahoga River empties into the Lake is also very nice.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [HandHeartCrown] [ In reply to ]
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HandHeartCrown wrote:

Run: Last year it was a two-loop bowl of spaghetti in the park above the transition area. There's a longish climb to the park. Once in the park, it's very narrow and twisting. It was dangerous as faster runners tried to pass slower runners. At the far end, there's an out-and-back leg where people were running in both directions on a sidewalk. That was scary as people in both directions tried to pass slower runners. The park itself is very pretty. I believe they changes the course this year.

I believe the run will only go through the park one time this year. Instead, there will first be a loop (out and back?) on the same closed highway used for the bike. With half the congestion, the park should be better. Last year I was in an early wave and did not experience the run congestion.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [indianacyclist] [ In reply to ]
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indianacyclist wrote:
The best advice anyone can give you is to wait for Milwaukee next year

+1

Cleveland was a pretty good course and experience, however, Milwaukee has been the best AG Nats city in recent memory.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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The run course for the Olympic was changed to a one loop course with the last 35 to 40% being the same as last year. This will significantly reduce congestion on the "path" portion.

The bike is the same except that the construction in complete so that should make it safer and more pleasant.

As others noted they have indicated they will be using more sight buoys this year. I reached out to USAT about the swim distance, it was off by quite a margin, most had 300-400 extra yards. I was told the added extra precautions to make sure that doesn't happen again and provide a more accurately measured course. As others noted the swells were pretty big for the later waves (I was second to last wave, M50-54, you will be glad to see we are a little closer to the middle this year (if you are M50-54 12 of 18, W50-54 are right behind in wave 13). I watched last year's live stream replay for a bit last night, boy were the conditions significantly better for the early waves!
Last edited by: Stelvio: Jul 23, 19 9:56
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [Mark Lemmon] [ In reply to ]
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Good advice - thanks.

I managed to snag an airbnb by the port. Google maps has it as a 55 min walk to the beach so not too bad.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [Jon] [ In reply to ]
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This is great background - thank you very much for taking the time to share your experiences.

I'm also just racing for the experience. I didn't expect to even qualify this year so just attending the race is a big bonus!
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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Strava Bike Course:
https://www.strava.com/...09738?filter=overall
Last Year's Strava Run Course:
https://www.strava.com/...73131?filter=overall

Edit: I mapped out this year's run course. Should be a legit 10K this year:
https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7392244
Last edited by: Stelvio: Jul 23, 19 10:37
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [hugoagogo] [ In reply to ]
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hugoagogo wrote:
I believe the run will only go through the park one time this year. Instead, there will first be a loop (out and back?) on the same closed highway used for the bike.
Wow! How exciting! Instead of running in a parking lot, athletes will run on a highway--with construction!

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [healthy] [ In reply to ]
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healthy wrote:
indianacyclist wrote:
The best advice anyone can give you is to wait for Milwaukee next year


+1

Cleveland was a pretty good course and experience, however, Milwaukee has been the best AG Nats city in recent memory.

Burlington FTW! (It was only 2012)
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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kjwcanary wrote:

1. The Cleveland course - from people who did the race last year - anything specific I should be aware of?

2. Anything else I should be aware of when traveling to a race for the first time?

I'm really excited to be racing at Nationals and was not expecting to get there this year, so any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks!

I did it last year.

Like the others said, the swim was pretty brutal, a guy died last year during the Oly, and they canceled it for the Sprint. On the day of the Oly, it was flat calm for the first few waves, and then it just switched to 4 ft swells. Not only were the water conditions tough, but I think everybody agreed that the yardage was way long. It's swim distance ended up being longer than a 70.3 swim.

There aren't really any hotels withing walking distance, so I had to take a bunch of Ubers back and forth from the race site to the hotel. Unless you've got an Airbnb close by, or somebody giving you a ride, plan on paying for local transportation.

The bike course is nothing to write home about. But the run course is very nice along the paths next to the lake.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [TriJayhawkRyan] [ In reply to ]
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Really useful - thanks!
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [kjwcanary] [ In reply to ]
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Looks like USAT fixed the things people were complaining about from last year, and wants to make sure everyone is aware that they did.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [HeartRN] [ In reply to ]
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I realize it’s easy to qualify so I am not bragging

I just received the qualification notification today. Seems a little late doesn’t it to arrange travel, time off etc?
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]
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When did you qualify? I got my emails last fall.
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Re: AG Nationals next month - advice needed [Stelvio] [ In reply to ]
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I qualified on July 13th (this year) and called USAT the following Monday to confirm. They sent me a link to register as we were talking.
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