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 Swim
Comments: I LOVE to swim! I felt pretty good about it all things considered - I am shocked - I had a slightly faster pace than last year. (last year's pace 2:14/100) I had not focused on the swim at all in training, if I had to make a choice between the disciplines, I chose running or biking - knowing that the swim is my strength - hopefully next year I won't need to make choices I knew I was doing ok when I passed some folks in other color caps - (I was in the second to last wave) My other issue was sighting - I need new goggles and I needed time practicing sighting - I got quite far off course at one point, not sure how much it cost me, but at least a minute - maybe two the water temp was great! What would you do differently?: OWS practice Sighting Practice More swimming volume  Transition 1
Comments: surprisingly my transition time was faster than last year - I hadn't practiced at all. And we had to bag up stuff for the race folks to take to the finish line so we didn't have to come back and pick up all the T1 stuff What would you do differently?: nothing  Bike
Comments: So, I start off on the bike and the very first thing I encounter is a hill, not a big hill, not a particularly steep hill, but a hill. This is really the first hill I have seen all season - due to my commuting and travel situation, my training has been done in spinning classes and on the trail in NE (which is flat). I made it up the hill and got my first words of encouragement. A woman passed me at the top of the hill and shouted out, 'great job on the hill! keep up!' and I did I made it through the next hill and the next hill and the next - to the mall - at that point I knew I was going to make it. Added bonus, I knew there were 'fans' on the course cheering me on My family was there and I saw them twice - my son later said - 'sheeesh mom, I didn't know you could ride a bike so fast' - LOL Renee (rreishcl) was there and it was so great to hear her and the Manatees and the Nibbs cheering me on!!! I seriously can't quite believe that I had a faster pace than last year, but I did! last year's pace 15.29 mph I actually passed people and they didn't pass me later - that's never happened before! What would you do differently?: train on the bike rather than in spinning class ;) Transition 2
Comments: Hmmmmm, what the heck was I doing last year? My T2 time was 5 min???? Maybe I just didn't want to do the run?? - LOL  Run
Comments: Ok, so this year I was ready to go! Surprisingly I found my stuff fairly easily (this was a separate transition area set up the night before). I shook my shoes out of my subway bags - put them on, clipped on the race belt and was off I ran, I actually ran out of the run out, I didn't walk, I didn't stop, I went for it! I really felt pretty good the whole way - I only walked a few times - when I got to the water stations I walked from the first person handing out water to the trash can and then ran again. I walked a couple of times up a few of the hills and when I just felt I had too - but dang it, I ran almost the entire way - Last year - 1 hr 30 min 32 seconds - 14m 35 sec mph - ps Bill and Steve - for the record.... I love to run! (at least as much as you love to swim ;)) What would you do differently?: nothing - just keep training Post race
Warm down: I couldn't have felt better running across the finish line! Although it seemed like there was never going to be a finish line - LOL (along the last mile everyone is saying - you're almost there...........;)) I was so excited, I knew I had done better than last year and that was my goal. A volunteer led me into the first aide area - I'm not sure why exactly - (I guess I must have looked like I needed it) - at any rate I was grateful for the cold towel on my back and the ice bags for my knees. I borrowed someone's cell phone to locate the fam - Found my way to my family and to Renee - it was so great to see them! Surprisingly no one wanted a hug -lol Then came the whole shuttle business, what to do? The car was parked in the Athlete's lot, the fam had taken a cab to the spectator's lot. Didn't know if they could ride on the Athlete's shuttle bus...... So, I rode my bike (yeah, as did many others) back to the mall where we were dropped off in the morning - it was about 3 miles or so, got to the car, loaded it up, drove to pick them up - only to realize I couldn't get through - ha! (hmmmmm, I think I need to add that time to my challenge biking!;)) Oh well, it all worked out, we met up - went back to the hotel showered, ate, napped and then went to Adventureland - at last! What limited your ability to perform faster: crazy logistics - commuting between NE and PA while training for a race weight - have made good progress, but being 10 lbs lighter would help a lot! Event comments: The folks of Des Moines and HyVee did a tremendous job in getting this race done! They did so in spite of many, many obstacles and my hat is off to the organizers of the race, the many volunteers and the city of Des Moines for making it happen! They had the safety of the athletes first and foremost in mind - and did everything they could to make the event the best it could be. For anyone who doesn't know, this was the race that under many circumstances wouldn't have happened at all. It was a great event! Last updated: 2008-06-20 12:00 AM
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United States
Premier Event Management
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1168/1253
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 34/42
The Tri that was a tri and then a du, and then a tri - let's GO!
So, this was sort of one of those weekends where nothing goes quite as planned. I guess I should have figured that based on the preceding week - LOL
After nearly missing the race entirely last year because I got lost and got to Des Moines too late, but sort of sweet talked my way in even though I missed the last meeting...........I was bound and determined that wouldn't happen again!
So, the plan was, get to Des Moines for the 1 pm briefing, pick up the packet and the swag, drop my bike off, and head to adventureland. - best of intentions....missed the 1 pm briefing by 5 minutes - but made it to the 2 pm briefing - and thank goodness I did! There was a lot of information!!
Anyway, found out that I was not going to be able to drop my bike off until later than planned and that there were actually going to be 2 transition drop offs - so, we regrouped and decided to do Adventureland on Sunday.
Got the bike dropped off at T1 and the running stuff dropped of at T2 - it was looking like it could rain. And of course, I hadn't brought anything with me. A very nice guy in the T1 area let me use the last part of his plastic to cover up the important parts of the bike.
I put my shoes and my hat and race belt and bib number in subway sandwich bags that we had in the car - hey, it worked great, one bag for each shoe and one bag for the hat, race belt, and bib number - as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. ;)
Had dinner at the hotel - mmmmmm, pasta and salmon, it was yummy! (oh and just to highlight the importance of the briefings - a friend called me during dinner - and was like, 'ummmm.....sooo, Beth, did you pay attention during the briefings???????????? where do we............?" LOL (don't worry, I gave him the right directions for the drop off ;))
Alarm went off at 3:30 am, I took the car and the fam took a cab later
Pretty sure I didn't need the alarm
Checked, and double checked the bag - good thing too - I had forgotten to pack my bike shoes - WTH!!!
Drove to the drop off location - they had lots of shuttles and it went pretty smoothly.
Plenty of people in body marking and timing chip pick up so I got to the transition area with no stress other than the pre-race jitters.
Found my bike, took it to the LBS guys that were set up to get the tires pumped up - set up my area, ate a pop tart (imagine my disappointment that it was and oreo cookie pop tart and not wildberry - last time I grab pop tarts in the dark)
Went down to the water - figured out where I was from the swim exit -
Met a fellow BT'r, John (jdwright56) - he was a USAT offical and of course a super nice guy! (I had hoped to meet others, but well, there were a whole lot of people there ;))
no swim warm up, it was a bit chilly - no wet suit for me -
chatted with some folks, found my fellow red caps and got mentally ready for the swim.........