Hy-Vee Age Group Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Des Moines, Iowa
United States
5150 Triathlon Series
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 35m 27s
Overall Rank = 164/992
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 29/99
Pre-race routine:

A little background... I started training for Triathlon a little over a year ago and lost 45 lbs. because I was inspired by my best friend Scott. I've done one other Olympic and two Sprint Tri's since then, but this was my first opportunity to go head to head against Scott. We've both been training hard for this race and neither one of us wanted to lose to the other.

As for the race holy cow is all I can say. When I got to transition the day before to drop off my bike I got the first glimpse of just how big this event is. It was a surreal thing for me just to see the blue barriers lining the bike course leading up to transition. Also, the pure size of the transition area was intimidating to me as well. How the heck am I going to find my bike in here was all I could think. lol

I did manage to get some sleep the night before and woke up at 4:30am and ate a banana and drank a Naked Mango Fruit Smoothie.
Got to transition on time and got everything laid out for the race. It was pretty cold around 55 degrees and our wave didn't go off until around 7:45 so I got a little chilly in just my Tri suit. I did go down to the water after a while and waded in to warm up. The 75 degree water was a lot warmer than the air. :)
Event warmup:

I was still nursing a sore left calf from a really bad cramp I got on my Sprint Tri last weekend, so I stretched out real good before the race. Other than that I didn't do anything.
Swim
  • 32m 25s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 59s / 100 yards
Comments:

On the last few OWS I'd had in races I would get a little anxiety at the start which would slow me down. Sometimes I'd even have to breast stroke a couple times to get my nerves back in check. Fortunately this race I had none of those issues. I started strong and stayed that way the whole swim. Navigation was very good and I felt like I was swimming strong. I did get punched in the head by some dude passing me. I actually kind of laughed it off because that was the most significant contact I've ever had in a swim so I considered it a right of passage. :)

What would you do differently?:

I would swim harder and kick more. I tend to get into a relaxed rythym and kick enough to keep my feet up.
This was a wetsuit legal race as well, so it would have of helped a lot if I owned a wetsuit. It's on my list of things for the future.
Transition 1
  • 02m 46s
Comments:

I got out of the water and saw my wife and Kristi (scotts wife) right away. I waved and started running to transition. As I was running I looked up and scott was about 20 feet ahead of me. My first thought was "crap" but my second thought was "awesome" because I'm generally a faster swimmer than scott and I felt like I had a strong swim. So I gave him a knuckle bump and told him great job on the swim.

T1 was a long run. I think it was a good 300 yards or so from the swim finish to the entrance of transition. In some ways this was good to help warm up the legs a little. The grass/dirt was still a little muddy and slippery so I had to run gingerly.

Scott and I came out of transition at pretty much the same time. He hadn't practiced mounting his bike with his shoes clipped in so he had to stop at the bike mount area to put his shoes on. So, I got a good 30 second or so head start on the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, was a smooth transition and I got into my shoes very quickly at speed on the bike.
Bike
  • 1h 09m 36s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 21.42 mile/hr
Comments:

I took off knowing I'd have a 30 second or so lead on Scott, but it wasn't a good feeling knowing he was back there gunning for me. I pushed it hard from the get go and never let up. There was one really long downhill that was freaky fast. I hit 43mph and was still spinning it out as fast as I could. There were railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill so that got the adrenalin pumping thumping over them at over 40mph. They did have them covered with blue carpet, so that helped decrease the risk a little.
At mile 10 there was a hairpin segment that I was able to see scott on the way back. I was about three minutes ahead of him which was good. That told me I was riding faster than him, but I knew three minutes might not be enough time of a lead on the run so I kept pushing it hard.

What would you do differently?:

Not much, I gave it all I had
Transition 2
  • 02m 12s
Comments:

T2 was fairly uneventful other than my two neighbors in transition got there before me so they had their bikes shoved together without any room for my bike. I pulled them apart and jammed my bike in there, but it cost me 10-15 seconds.
Last weekend I got a horrible cramp in my left calf putting my shoes on in transition so I took my time this time. I didn't point my toes and eased my shoes on. No problems at all which was a huge sigh of relief. :)
off to the run
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 48m 29s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 49s  min/mile
Comments:

I started out very strong and felt great after the bike. I have my GPS watch and had planned to run a 7:30 pace the whole run. However, shortly after I started a guy in my AG passed me so I decided to tag along with him. After 2 miles tagging along with him at around a 6:50 pace I realized that it was stupid for me to try and hang with him and slowed back to my 7:30 pace.
I saw scott on the first hairpin and he was about 4 & a half minutes behind me with 4 miles to go. I knew it would be tough for him to make up that distance, but I was worried I pushed it too hard chasing that guy early. I held a 7:30 pace through about 4 miles and my legs started getting pretty fatigued. The last two miles I gradually slowed from a 7:30 pace to closer to a 9:00 minute pace towards the finish. I was really worried about scott catching me, until there was one more hairpin a half mile from the finish where I saw him. He was still a good three minutes behind me with a half mile left. woohoo, I was gonna beat him.
They put a nasty little hill in the last quarter mile before the finish which was no fun, but after I turned the last corner and seeing the blue carpet and bleachers it was incredible. I felt like I was a Pro racing as I ran down the chute with people cheering loudly and even camera's filming me as I ran by. The announcer called my name off and I ran through the finish with both hands held high. It was truly my best accomplishment in Triathlon to date. My watch had me finishing just under 2:33, but the official results had me in at 2:35. Either way, they're both PR's by almost 10 minutes.
Scott was 3 minutes behind me so I waited at the finish line for him and we gave each other a big hug. It was a great race for both of us!!!
What would you do differently?:

stick to my plan and not get caught up in trying to chase somebody in my AG.
Post race
Warm down:

They had a ton of great food and drinks at the finish line. I had some peaches and a banana with my gatorade.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

still need to lose 15 lbs. and train more

Event comments:

My only complaint about the whole event was they had the finish downtown at the pro finishline which was very cool, but it made it very challenging for my family to get from transition to downtown in time to see us finished. My wife didn't get to see me finish. :(
I absolutely loved that we got to finish in the pro area, but logistically it stunk for my wife and kids.
Also, they had a bus that took athletes from the finish line back to transition but because the roads were still blocked off they dropped us off on the other side of the lake from transition. we had to walk/run 1.5 miles from the bus dropoff back to transition. That wasn't fun an hour after you finish.




Last updated: 2011-04-01 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:25 | 1640 yards | 01m 59s / 100yards
Age Group: 48/99
Overall: 462/992
Performance: Good
Suit: Tri Suit
Course: One lap of the course going counter clockwise. was very well laid out with lots of buoys to navigate from.
Start type: Wade Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 75F / 24C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:46
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:09:36 | 24.85 miles | 21.42 mile/hr
Age Group: 23/99
Overall: 135/992
Performance: Good
Wind: Strong
Course: The course was in excellent condition and very smooth. I unfortunately didn't get to take in much of the scenery, but from what I hear others saying it was nice. ;-)
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:12
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:48:29 | 06.21 miles | 07m 49s  min/mile
Age Group: 42/99
Overall: 321/992
Performance: Good
Course: Was a fairly flat course with a few hairpin out and backs which was nice to see where Scott was.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5