Officially a pro!

I qualified for my elite license (or “pro card”) in my second triathlon of the year by winning the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island. Since I already had USAT Age Group Nationals on my race schedule, I didn’t want to go pro right away as that would leave me ineligible to race AG Nationals (just like if Prefontaine had raced Viren and Vaatinen in Oulu instead of those less qualified guys in Helsinski). After another strong race in Burlington I decided now was the time to stick my nose in the professional ranks. I sent in all the appropriate paper work and paid the required fee a few weeks ago, and now… I’m officially a pro!

I have signed up for my first pro race, the ITU Pan American Cup in Myrtle Beach, SC on October 9th. This will be a draft legal race, so I have my work cut out for me in the swim. I have put a lot of time and energy into my swim and I am hoping it pays off.

For such a late season race, the field is looking very competitive. At first glance, there are two Olympians in the race and several other World Cup caliber athletes. View the start list here. What better way to learn to race than from the best, right?

There will be a few other Collegiate Recruits competing in that race (Jeff Helmer, Kalen Darling, Brianna Blanchard and Natalie Kirchoff) and it will be nice to catch up with them. While most of them have other ITU racing experience, we are all in very similar situations and it is going to be fun “racing the circuit” with them in the coming months and years.

I am truly living a dream.

Interbike Part 2

Have you ever tried selling yourself? On Thursday I was in Las Vegas, Nevada doing just that. No, I was not looking for a place to sleep by selling myself on the strip to the highest bidder; I was selling myself in a much more professional manner. I spent the day walking up and down the floor of Interbike at the Sands Convention Center selling myself to potential future sponsors.

Mark Cavendish, a familiar face in a sea of strangers

My first thought was that this shouldn’t be so hard. I have interviewed for a job or position in which I had to make the employer believe that I would be an asset to their company — that I add value. But those experiences were different in that 1) I had already filled out an application so the employer knew who I was and 2) they were actively looking for a position that needed to be filled. In this case neither were true. Every single person I saw at Interbike — with the exception of Jordan Rapp (with whom I shared a delicious lunch with), Colleen Quindlen with Trigger Point Therapy, and fellow collegiate recruit Baily Kuestermeyer — was a stranger. These potential sponsors had neither heard of me before nor were they, as far as I know, looking for a new triathlete to bare their brand across his chest. Needless to say I had an uphill battle.

But battle I did! With my coach’s help, we selected a few brands that we thought I would be a good fit with. I approached each of them with a resume and gave them my spiel: I’m Jason Pedersen and I will be racing my first season as a professional triathlete… Some were more interested than others. I had long conversations with some, while others just gave me their business card and a “shoot me an email.” But one common theme throughout was that NONE OF THEM BIT ME! Imagine that?

So I returned to Flagstaff Thursday evening, with a bunch of contacts and some hope that I won’t be going through 2012 alone financially.

Are you interested in financing a dream?

While I’m on the subject, I figure I should make an official statement that I am looking for sponsorships for 2012 and beyond as I look toward 2016. Aside from being a good looking, witty and incredibly popular young man, I plan on putting up more great results in 2012. Don’t you want your company’s logo atop the podiums?

Please send me an email at jason at runpd.com (or direct message me via twitter) if you answered yes to that question.

Interbike Part 1

Las Vegas, Nevada. I have been here quite a few times before, but this will be my first time in Sin City alone and on business. This week is Interbike – International Bike Expo. I am here thanks to my coach Ian Murray with Triathlon Training Series to look for future sponsorships. As anyone that has done just one triathlon knows, this is an expensive sport. And while I have great support from my family, coaches and training partners, there is more to it than that. When I finish my masters degree in May, I will be an unemployed, overly educated dreamer. I am hoping that I will find a few folks tomorrow that are interested in investing in such a person.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I will be patrolling the HUGE convention space with some resumes in hand (which I just noticed have a typo for my 5k PR… I promise I’m faster than that!), a USA Triathlon “Collegiate Recruit” polo, and hopefully a not-so-dorky looking smile.

Hi, I’m Jason Pedersen. Would you be interested in giving me that bike?

I will let you know how that one goes over.

Coach PD

After a long travel back from USAT Age Group Nationals, Mo and I made it back to Flagstaff safe and sound. Flagstaff is absolutely gorgeous this time of year, and it is great to be back to the familiar sights and smells.

Starting this new semester has been full of change for me. As all my loyal followers know, I am no longer competing for NAU’s cross country team; I AM COACHING IT! Coach Heins asked me last year if I would be interested in taking a graduate assistant position with the team. I have always been interested in coaching and this is a great opportunity to see if this is something I want to pursue in the future. My coaching duties include helping out at practices, recruiting, and getting some more publicity for the team via a blog (imagine that?). The blog is NAUTrack.com and I will probably include several more shameless plugs throughout the year.

"CoMo" and I working hard at George Kyte

The team has had one meet thus far, the George Kyte Classic at Buffalo Park here in Flagstaff. Both teams are showing lots of new talent and I am looking forward to seeing them reach their goals this year.

Training has been going pretty well these last couple of weeks. I have been getting my feet wet with the masters swim team. I try to swim with them every chance that I get. I am able to do a bit of running with the team, which has reminded me why I ran 100 mile weeks in college instead of my current 40. I have also gone on a few great rides with Joe Withers and have found a great group ride on Saturday’s as well. (…which deserves its own blog post. It is that much fun!)