2014 - 2015 Season Wrap Up — David Celentano

As promised in my first post, what follows is a detailed history of my triathlon athlete and coaching experience.

2014 - "Don't Get Naked"

Let's start where I left off in the last post. I had just attended the new members meeting for the Northeastern University Triathlon Team and stayed around afterwards to ask if I could participate in a race they were doing that weekend. Bear in mind that I didn't know what a triathlon was 15 minutes prior, and if one of my athletes asked me that today I would certainly advise against it. Nonetheless, the executive board at the time said "Sure, why not" and arranged to have me borrow a teammate's time trial bike. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, and I had never used clip in pedals before, much less ridden a TT bike.

The picture is far better composed than I was.

Cut to race day at Buzzard's Bay Sprint, I tried out the bike I had never seen before in the parking lot and was too embarrassed to ask how to shift gears, since I had never seen integrated aero bar cabling before. Luckily being born and raised in South Florida, I had learned to 'swim' at a very young age, but I was the farthest thing from an accomplished swimmer when I started. I also knew how to ride a bike, but never anything like the strange machine I was handed that morning. My running fitness wasn't to shabby coming off many years of tennis, but I had certainly never run more than a 5k. Despite these facts, I was so excited to race! I started in the first timer's wave and managed to get through a slightly choppy .25 mile ocean swim in about 13 minutes. Definitely not a time for the record books, but transition one was where laws were broken, and a great party story was born.

So I ran into transition where I had left my clothes (since I was only wearing a jammer) and I hadn't considered how and where I would change my clothes. Clearly I hadn't heard of triathlon kits, or considered that some athletes complete entire races in bathing suits, rather I decided it must be normal to strip down to the ol' birthday suit and change right in the middle of transition. Luckily, being in the last wave and being a very slow swimmer left me as one of the very last people to leave transition one, so the amount of people who saw both sets of my cheeks that day was (hopefully) low. However, when I told my teammates about it afterwards I received a howling of laughter and disappointing looks. Despite my brief nudeness, I continued on and completed the bike (without shifting gears, thankfully it was flat) and the run without many issues to clock in at 1:32:53. Even with all of my embarrassing antics, I had an absolute blast and couldn't wait to get to another starting line.

Over the next few months of training with the team, I learned an incredible amount about all aspects of the sport, but I was still far from an experienced triathlete and ended up with a knee injury due to overtraining that fall. I was out of commission from late 2014 to early 2015, but I never lost my desire to race.

2015 - "You don't race every weekend?"

As Boston thawed from the worst winter in history, my knee was finally recovered from the year prior and I was ready to get another taste of triathlon. I went home to the Florida Keys in May and signed up for Tri Miami. It was a sprint with similar distances to Buzzard's Bay, but I was armed with 8 months of knowledge from my newfound teammates (and a tri suit, thankfully). Just before I went home for the summer I also picked up my secret weapon, Sheila (pictured). All my work in the offseason paid off with an age group win in a time of 1:13:47. After getting a taste of 'victory' I was even more hooked than before, and signed up for every race I could drive to.

May 2015 - "All I do is Win"

During May I raced four times (basically every weekend) including Tri Miami. Next on the schedule was the FIU 2575, where I once again took home first in my age group with a time of 1:21:01. I thought I was getting pretty good, little did I realize I was a mediocre fish in a very small pond, but I almost miss the blissful ignorance. After that I signed up for my first 'International' distance race, which usually consists of: .5 - 1 mile swim | 20 - 30 mile bike | ~10k run. These races are about twice as long as a sprint, and I was certainly underprepared going in.

Never thought I'd race on a NASCAR track

The race was known as the Miami Man Speedway and was hosted at the Homestead NASCAR track. I completed the .6 mile swim in 21:35 and even with a stop to use the facilities (let's be real, it was a bush on the side of the road) still managed a 19 mph average on the 29 mile bike course. Unfortunately, my fun and games came to a halt on the 10k run since even with my warm Florida blood, I struggled with the 90+ degree heat and a lack of training. Eventually I deliriously crossed the line with a run time of 1:08:58 (10:29 min/mile, aka lots of walking 😵) to round out a total time of 3:02:07. Despite my struggles at my first international, I was able to claim 3rd place in my age group and meet a few friends/rivals who would push me to improve drastically throughout the summer. To finish the month, I headed north up the coast to race at the Singer Island Sprint. By this point I was really hitting a stride in my early career and used my newly acquired clip on aero bars to hammer out a 21.5 mph bike split. My efforts rewarded me with 2nd in my age group in a time of 1:03:19, and after coming so close to a sub hour sprint, it became one of my many goals to beat in my first season.

June - August 2015

After my golden month of podiums and racing every weekend, my hot streak came to a halt when I came down with a cold before my next race and went on antibiotics. I didn't realize how far back a simple cold could set me, and I learned that lesson in a hard way at the first Mack Cycle Trilogy International. I quickly realized after finishing the swim that I was not feeling well and ended up barely being able to walk the 10k 'run' in 1:33:16 (15+ min/mile 💀). I was nearly last overall in that race and learned a lot of hard lessons about preparation and listening to the signs my body was giving me pre-race. As the summer went on I also battled severe GI issues when racing, mostly due to nerves, and I had to make many adjustments to my raceday diet in order to find a winning recipe. I rounded out the summer with one more sprint and a relay with my dad as my biker, which was so much fun! Triathlon is often such an individual sport, but I've met some of my best friends at races and it's awesome to show friends and family how fun these events can be! As the summer came to an end, I had eight races under my belt, and I was ready to race in the Northeast Collegiate Conference as a Husky.

2015 Collegiate Season - "People are fast!"

I certainly learned a lot during my jam packed summer of racing, but I had no idea how skilled the collegiate field would prove to be. I started my first season as a Husky at the Cranberry Tri Festival in late August. I crossed the line with a respectable time of 1:20:25 but oh how surprised I was to come away with 28th place amongst my collegiate peers. If I wanted a taste of the podium again, it was clear that I would need a lot more training.

I'm only happy because I haven't seen the mountains yet

My next race with the team lead me to Lake George, NY, which was a race that made me realize how stunning the scenery could be at these events. Lake George was my first Olympic distance race, which consists of a .9 mile swim | 25 mile bike | 10k run. Even though I had already raced at the international distance, Lake George was far colder and more mountainous than anything I had seen down south. I managed to clock my first Olympic in at 2:46:15 with help from my fastest 10k at the time running 8:35 min/mile. While I may have been happy with my individual efforts, I was still far behind my competition, taking away 40th amongst ~100 collegiate men.

After Lake George, it was time for my one year anniversary at Buzzard's bay. So much had happened since my first fight with the bay, and I was thrilled for the opportunity of redemption. I had an amazing race, besting my time from the previous year by 20 minutes.

A comparison of 2014 v 2015 at Buzzards Bay

I was thrilled at how far I had come in a year, but I still had one more mountain to climb (literally) at the Westchester Conference Championship. Lake George seemed tropical compared to that morning in the low 40's. I had a decent swim since I was used to ocean courses, but when I got to the bike I was a popsicle. Over the next hour and twenty minutes I never got warm on the bike, and feared frostbite as I had no feeling in my hands or feet. To add to my despair, I realized a few minutes in to the bike that I did not have my time chip on! Another lesson learned, always keep your time chip under your wetsuit. As I dismounted my bike, my legs crumpled when I touched the ground due to the numbing cold. I managed to quickly right myself and head into transition, where I strapped on my forgotten timing chip and hoped for the best. I couldn't feel my feet until about mile four of the run, which may have actually allowed me to run faster since I felt no pain. I crossed the line in 2:40:00, mostly glad to still have all my fingers and toes, but a respectable time as well. And with that, my first season in the NECTC was complete.

Emerging from the water at Naples Christmas Sprint

I ended up ranked 66th of 146 male athletes that season, and I was determined to stack up to my new competition. The season should have been over as winter swept through Boston, but I wanted one more race to cap off my year, so I headed down south to the west coast of Florida. In late December I raced the Christmas Sprint in Naples and came in at 1:01:24, just shy of my sub-hour goal. What was more shocking to me was that my efforts only netted me 5th place in my age group. Even though I had vastly improved, it seemed as if my competition had as well. Despite these realizations, I was thrilled with the year I had, finishing 12 races in a year was no small feat. I set my sights on 2016 and couldn't wait to compete in the Collegiate National Championship next spring. To continue my saga, read my 2016 season recap!