Ali Senz - Swim, Bike, Run, Smile!

How is it already December?! It’s been an amazing year (despite all of the internet saying that 2016 was the worst) filled with racing, quality time with those I love, and pursuing a career. Looking back, I think about how I raced 4 triathlons this year, and managed to podium at 3 of them, enjoying every day of training along the way. As an athlete, it was a season of massive growth and I enjoyed getting a taste of what I was capable of. I think of how living back at home wasn’t so bad, especially when I got to swim in the morning with my dad, hang out with my sis Mia, and spend every evening with my mom. I’m now moved into my own apartment, but I manage to go home quite often to see the family. Working for almost a year now with Mighty Oak Medical has been a huge blessing and experience. Working for a startup has its own challenges, but it has a ton of rewards as well! But the time has come to start looking forward to a new year, with even more accomplishments and growth. Here’s a qu...

The last race of my triathlon season was surely something to take my breath away. For the first time ever, the town of Dillon, Colorado allowed racers to swim in Lake Dillon for the inaugural 106 West Triathlon, the highest triathlon in the world (that’s what they say on the website). Due to the fact that Lake Dillon serves as a source of Denver drinking water, and the lake never reaches a temperature above 60-ish degrees, concerns over water contamination and hypothermia for swimmers has prevented an event of this kind from ever occurring. I was drawn to this race for a few reasons. One, I felt privileged to have such easy access to a race that would be a challenge to anyone who entered. The bike course throws concern for speed out the window with a 10 mile climb to Montezuma at nearly 10,300 feet, with a rolling run around 9,000 feet to test your oxygen deprived muscles. I knew there were people from all over the country who would want a shot at the thin air. Two, I wanted to be...

Saturday, August 13th, was a first for me. I went to Omaha, Nebraska, to compete in USAT Age Group Nationals. I’ve competed in Collegiate Nationals three times before, but never age group. Mostly because I’ve never qualified. As a collegiate racer, I was always stacked against a large field of women my age, and never placed highly. For me, it took racing a normal triathlon outside of the collegiate circuit and shooting for the podium. In order to qualify for AG Nats, you need to place in the top 10% of your age group at a USAT sanctioned race. If your age group is less than 20, that means getting 1st. I barely managed to do that in June at the Colorado Sprint Tri, and got my qualification email about a month later. At first, I wasn’t too excited about spending the money to travel to Omaha and get a hotel just to get my booty kicked by a bunch of women of high caliber, but I sent out an inquiry to my former CSU Tri-mates to see who was going. There was a decent sized group planning to...

Saturday, June 18th was Lookout Mountain Triathlon. A short lung-buster of a triathlon that I’ve competed in twice before and enjoy simply because it’s different, challenging, and allows me to push myself in a short amount of time. The swim occurs at Mount Vernon Country Club in the outdoor pool. From there, the bike screams down to highway 40, where there’s a small climb and descent, followed by a very steep climb up Paradise Hill. Climb, climb, climb back to Mount Vernon, and attempt to get the legs moving through a 5k run that climbs trails into the backwoods neighborhoods. It’s a lot of uphill, but I strangely like uphill quite a bit. The morning was freezing, despite projected temps in the high 90s. A cold canyon wind was rolling over the top of Lookout, and I spent the majority of my time waiting in a blanket burrito. Prior to the swim, I hopped in the heated pool to warm up, but only ended up shivering while I waited to be staged in my wave. The swim was incredibly quick. I ...

First race recap of the season! I want to start by thanking everyone who has donated to my page in the past month or so. I’ve written many thank you cards and I’ve gone on a couple of bike rides as well, but I’m not tired yet! I’m still raising money and can still use your help! The link to donate is in the top right of the blog. To everyone who already donated, I want to let you know that the night before the race, I was glowing with excitement. I knew that no matter what happened, you all had already given your support and would continue to cheer me on in my endeavors. I was, however, determined to provide some solid evidence of my hard work this season by getting a PR and hopefully catching the podium. Recently, I have been training even more fervently than usual. My mom switched cancer drugs a couple of weeks ago and they have left her utterly drained. We hope that this side effect goes away with time (along with a terrible metallic taste in her mouth that renders any food, even ...

Well. 2015 has come and gone. And a lot of things in my life have changed. After the euphoric high of finishing my first marathon, I took a well-deserved break from intense training and focused on a few other aspects of my life. I graduated with my Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from CSU in December, enjoyed a holiday season with family, and landed a job at a biotech company that I love. As my career has begun to pick up speed, I definitely felt the itch to do something on the side and to start training again. I wanted to pull away from the long distance endurance sports and focus once again on becoming fast and strong at the shorter distance triathlons. In February, I started to add structure to my training with purpose other than to “keep that holiday weight at bay”. For a while, I’ve been thinking about whether to race for Epic Experience for another season. I am so grateful for all the generous donations made by my friends and family in the past year. Together, we almost ...