Hy-Vee Triathlon 5150 U.S. Championship - TriathlonOlympic

I need to work on this discipline. It's my worst. It didn't help that despite the time-trial start, I still ended up getting swam over and knocked around. The worst part is I felt I was going better than my finish indicated. The water temp was just fine, easy course to navigate. Didn't help that my goggles fogged up almost immediately.

I need to work on this much harder. I did a swim-focused training program from this site and the one positive I can take away from this is I was faster than my very first sprint tri from June where my pace was 2:15. I also think my suit is too restrictive: It's a shorty but also with short sleeves. This off-season I'll be looking for one that's sleeveless. I'll also do more open-water training whenever I can.

Had a slight problem finding my zipper, but had a good run up and out of the water and found my rack easily. I haven't graduated to biking/running without socks yet, so that hurt my time.

Get used to biking and running without socks.

I impressed myself with the bike. My first complaint right off the bat was as you're leaving the park (first 1/2 mile or so) the instruct you in the pre-race briefing to not pass. I don't like this rule. I was ready to go out and get up to speed right away, but there were 3 people in front of me that were maybe going 15mph. I couldn't get around them fast enough once we got out of the park. After that I got into a good cadence, and was surprised by how many people I was passing. Hardly any wind definitely helped.

In retrospect I could have pushed myself a bit more, but since this was my first Olympic-distance tri, I wanted to make sure I had enough left for the run.

Usually I make up a lot of time here since I wear the same shoes for the run that I bike with. I cost myself time here today, though. Came in very well (I had been practicing my flying dismounts) and found the rack easily enough again. I stopped to take a few last gulps of Gatorade and debated whether or not to wear a visor. Stupid little things that cost me time.

Next time I won't worry about stupid things.

Great run. I found someone to pace with right after leaving and stuck with her for two miles. After I left her, someone else wanted to join up with me for another mile, and after that I was pretty much doing my own thing. Lots of water stations which was great. I think I could have pushed myself just a bit more, since I had plenty left in the tank for a full-out sprint to the finish line. Felt awesome.

Get a race monitor - I kept asking people I was running with what pace we were running at.

I felt so great afterwards I really didn't feel the need for a massage. I got some Gatorade G3 (or whatever they call their recovery drink) found my wife and daughter, got some fruit then waited over an hour for a shuttle back to transition.


It's obvious to me now that my wetsuit is a hindrance with the short sleeves. I was really hoping the water temp had been higher, but I should really train in the wetsuit more. Not having anything to know what my speed/pace was during the bike or run didn't help: knowing how fast I'm going would likely make me push myself harder.


I can't give this an honest assessment since this is only my 3rd tri and first Olympic-distance. Everyone says it is one of the best in the country - guess I have to do some more next year that are outside of Iowa to compare for myself! I had a great time, right up until the shuttle back to transition. I could have walked back faster - and that's not an exaggeration. A few hundred of us had to wait as the sun beat down on us for nearly 90 minutes for the shuttle buses to arrive. Apparently they got caught in the mass-exodus of the parking lot back at the start area. One would think that one of the best tris in the country would have this sort of thing figured out by now. But if that's the only criticism, then that's not too bad of a day at all. I'll definitely be back next year.