Q&A with Triathlete Ben Collins

 

We caught up with Ben Collins after his Toyota Triple Crown Series victory this weekend at Life Time Tri Oceanside to hear about how winning the first two events of the series (Life Time Tri Minneapolis and New York City Triathlon) prepared him for the final race and how he's celebrating a successful season! 

 

I'm ecstatic! The dynamic of gutting men versus women is exciting so the Toyota has been able to bring a ton of attention to these races. Alicia Kaye had a great year and to edge her out for the title has taken months of focused training. I have never been as nervous as I was warming up for Oceanside and it was all I could do to direct all that emotion into the race. I raced as hard as I could on Sunday, but it was the months of preparation that made it possible to win the crown. I'm just so happy that it all paid off.

 

 

Absolutely! After Minneapolis it seemed like Alicia Kaye was the clear favorite but in New York I had one of the best races of my career and reversed the standings. I was terrified going into Oceanside because while Alicia has been extremely consistent in her performances I've had a year mixed with great races and terrible races without really being able to predict which it would be. At high pressure races in the past I've made mistakes getting positioning penalties, crashing or some other stupid mistake that I cause by focusing too much on the outcome and forgetting that every step is important to get there. All this had my head spinning in the days leading up to Oceanside.

 

 

It was absolutely on my mind but I knew that in order to catch Alicia I needed to focus on my own race and ensure that I made no mistakes. On the first turn coming out of T1 I crashed. I underestimated how slick the road was from dew and found myself sliding across the pavement on my side. Immediately I thought of the Triple Crown and told myself, "you can overcome one mistake but you'd better get your head into this and do everything else right." It was motivating in a pivotal moment.

 

  

I came off the bike with 4 minutes and 40 seconds to make up to Alicia – which is almost two minutes longer than in Minneapolis or New York. In that moment I thought for sure I had lost the Triple Crown but I wasn't about to give up. At 5k into the run I had closed two minutes but that meant I was still not closing fast enough and my legs were starting to give out on the hills. In the last 800 meters of the race when I passed Alicia I thought, "this is it, you've got it!" But at that moment my lungs started tightening up and I went into a full-on asthma attack. Suddenly I wasn't so sure, and until I crossed the finish line (and was dragged off to medical for an inhaler) did I truly believe that I had done it. It took every ounce of training and will power to get the job done.

 

 

The giant check is pretty wonderful. Most people think you've won a sweepstakes and say things like, "I wish I had won." Then you explain how you won and the expression changes form jealousy to wonder. This time was especially fun because I had the $25,000 check for placing second in the Life Time Series on top. When people asked if I really won $25,000 I would pull the second check from behind and say, "yeah, but I also won $50,000."

 

 

If anything it added pressure to the race. Those two races were exceptional and I knew I would have to repeat that kind of performance if I wanted to win. 

 

 

The field was different. In October you get a lot of talent from ITU and long course athletes who are done with their respective championship races. I knew with these athletes there would be a much faster swim and that the run would be blazing fast.

 

At the same time, I knew Cameron Dye would take a flyer on the bike, Hunter Kemper would seek shelter in a pack, Alicia would dominate the bike and that I would need to be within a few minutes of her when I started the run. I knew who to pay attention to and I chose to ignore the athletes without a stake in the series.

 

 

I had to get back to Chicago for class, so after a few hugs and smiles I left Oceanside. When I got home I had fresh baked cookies and ice cream waiting for me, and this weekend I plan to indulge in some of Chicago's famous restaurants that don't really fit into my training nutrition. It's been a great year, but also really intense. I'm going to celebrate by taking a step away from triathlon for a bit and enjoying some of my favorite things: family, friends, urban living and the great outdoors.