Hy-Vee Triathlon - 5150 U.S. Championship : Official Thread

Yep - It's on the site.  You can't ride the whole bike course because one of the roads is not completely finished yet and part of one of the roads is quite busy during normal traffic periods.  You can run the entire run course very easily though. 

The bike is much more challenging than it has been since the first year.  Many more hills to deal with and drafting should not be an issue. 

Really depends on the weather.   It's been wetsuit legal most of the tyime - but that has been in June.  I raced near Des Moines in a smaller body of water in Late August last year and it was legal.

The fact of the matter is that most of the bodies of water here are river fed, and so goes the strory.  Short on water the month before and the water will be warm.  Lot's of water and the lake will exchange a ton.  

The swim is in Grays Lake this year in the beginning of Sept.  In the past it was in June at a different bigger lake.  I'm thinking the air temp will be cooler than the water the first part of Sept.    You should plan on not needing a wetsuit on Labor day weekend.  Bring it, just plan on not needing it.

just out of curiosity, do you guys know what kind of start this race has?  dock, beach, treading, etc...

Only reason I ask is my son saw one of the commercials for the pro race where they dive in off the dock and asked me if I was going to do that.  i told him I hope not because my goggles will go down to my ankles.  lol

It should be a wade in by wave start.   The pro dock dive is really cool, last year they dove in, swam a lap, got out and ran down the dock for another lap! WAAAY COOL!  This year the pros are swimming in the Des Moines River. (way creepy!, Glad I'm not a pro)  Grays lake should be a pretty good swim, no current, no coliforms, mostly flat.... (maybe some coliforms...) 

Been tapering since July 21st, (injurys) so, still hope to beat a few old codgers in my age group!

Good Luck to ALL!

CPT K

Debating about attending Hy-vee.  I went last year and the rain sucked, but the schwag was awesome.

I've been taking the family along to races lately and camping out, but doesn't look like there are campsites close to the site for this one, and the nearest ones may be filled anyway. Maybe this time take the minivan instead of the truck and just sleep in it.

Figuring out lodging is a pain, not to mention that the web site isn't going into ANY detail that I can find at all regarding transportation on race day.  Are they bussing everyone around like last year?  Where are the parking sites?  Is transportation provided from the finish line back to transition/start? 

Hi All,

Is anyone else getting excited!  We are driving from Alabama, which I'm not looking forward to, but I can't wait to race!  It looks like the run is on a trail for the first half or so.  Does anyone know if the trail is paved or is it dirt?  I'm trying to decide which shoes to pack.

Thanks!

Yep, I'm excited.  We're just driving over from Omaha, but it's the first race that I get to go head to head against my best friend who got me into Triathlon.  We're both looking forward to it and he's very nervous about the outcome.  ;-)

Not sure of the start of the run but it goes downtown so most if not all of the run will be on hard surfaces.

Hello Everyone!

I am officially in.   Currently as of this moment, I have never done a triathlon.  I am scheduled to do a sprint in June, then this one is September as my #1 race.   Am I Crazy???