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

4-person wave/time trial start. The beach dropped off after about 3 steps, and we were on our way. I felt pretty good in the water - more orange caps were going backward than green caps going forward, so that was a good sign. This swim will be notable for the strangest experience I've ever had in a race - about 500m into the swim, we came close to a sandbar. Eventually my hand it the bottom, and so I stood up. I walked probably 50-100 meters in knee- to waist-deep water. Very bizzare! Then the water got deep again, and I was back to swimming. I think I sighted fairly well, went straight for the most part, caught some draft occassionally. I keep saying this, but it's a little sad that I've been doing this for 6 years and my swim time continues to hover around 30 min. If I ever want to get my overall time down, the best way to make that happen is to get to the pool 3-4 times a week and drop my swim time from 30 to 25 minutes. I can't expect to swim faster if I don't practice it.

Swim training. 29:23 is not an embarrassing time by any means, but I want to start competing at a higher level, and so I need to get this down into the middle 25-26 minute rang.

Well, well, look what happens when you don't have a stuck zipper on your wetsuit! I shave over 4 minutes off me T1 time from last year. That really only tells part of the tale though. Additional factors are a shorter run through transition than last year, and improved bike preparedness. I needed new bike shoes this year, so I got some tri-specific shoes. Without needing to put socks on, I could clip the shoes into the pedals and run barefoot with the bike. I mounted the bike well and got my feet into the shoes after a tenth of a mile or so.

My left heel got stuck on the wetsuit, which probably cost me 5 seconds. Big deal. T1 was very good.

This was a much better bike course than last year. Everyone that I checked had a faster bike split than last year. I felt like I was killing it on the bike. Averaging over 22 MPH is pretty sweet for a guy who used to try to average 20. I tried to remember the feeling I had last year about taking it too easy on the bike, and so I kept my effort high, keeping my HR around 150 or so. My bike training has made a nice jump this year.

Hmm, not too much. Maybe lose 10 pounds so I can hit the hills easier?

I was not going to be able to run sockless, so I had to put the socks on in T2. I expected that that would cost me 15 seconds, which is probably about right. I had a little bit of an issue with racking my bike because the bike right next to mine was in my area, but I got through that ok. I left transition feeling like I forgot to do something...strange...but I don't think I did. I had my race belt, and that was about all I needed to do besides put my socks and shoes on. Pretty decent T2.

Figure out sockless running...this would probably save me 15 seconds. You never know when those 15 seconds will come in handy.

I was a little worried about the run. I knew that I was pushing harder on the bike than I had before, so I didn't know if I would hold up for 6.2 miles. Additionally, this 6.2 mile run was the longest run I've done since April 15. And if you go back further (that was a 7 mile run), this was my second longest run since my marathon last October! I did not realize that until just now. I was hoping that my legs would hold up for the whole 10K. I hit the 5K mark at 22:45, which means my second 5K was 23:30. Positive split, but I'm ok with that, especially considering that last 0.2 mile is basically right up the mountain. I have to be happy with this run, just 50 seconds slower than last year's run, considering my lack of run training capacity this past year.

I think I ran about as well as I could. I think I can make another big drop here (3 minutes?) with some more run training next year. I will try not to have any more stress fractures. I would say 3 in the past 11 months is enough.

Walked around in the recovery zone, ate a big bopper, drank some water and Gatorade Recovery, ate some fruit and cheese, talked with friends about the race.


Mostly relative lack of training in the swim and run. Run training will improve with injury recovery. Swim training will only improve with dedication to the pool.


Awesome race. I am so pumped about this race. I was really trying to break 2:30; I had no idea I was going to break 2:27. This race keeps getting better and better. The organization is great, the volunteers are great, the spectators are great. Coming back next year to try for 2:20.