Standard pool swim. Took off at a decent pace. checked my watch at 150 and was at 2:00. This is where I wanted to be. Started with flip turns but I had a hard time judging where I was and decided to do open turns for the last 200 of the swim.



Not much. It was a good swim.

Transition includes about a 200 yard run so it is a little misleading in overall time. T1 was the definition of "speed vs comfort". With the terrible weather I made the decision to put on socks for the rid and pants and a long sleeved shirt under a wind breaker. It took extra time but I felt I needed the protection from the 20-35 mph winds in 38 degrees weather with rain. YUCK. Garmin 910 did not function well in this event. It was all screwed up because of the pool swim and tried to find satellites while inside during t1. I ended up stopping the multisport option and set the workout to bike. At least I knew my speed and distance and heart rate on the bike.

Different pants maybe next time. I was very happy with the layers though.

Severe cross wind for the first mile, then 90 degree turn to the north into a very tough, sustained head wind and rain. mph showed anywhere from 13 mph to 20 mph on the way out. Rolling hills, wet course. Mud in places due to tractors. Several ambulances on the road pulling bikers off suffering from the cold. This was a tough ride. Miles were ticking off very slowly. I kept thinking, I hope that mile marker says Mile 7... nope, mile 4, 5, 6..... 7 Finally. I see ambulances at the turnaround again. Someone is laying on the ground getting loaded up. I hope he / she is okay.

At the turnaround it felt AMAZING!!! Speeds hitting 35 MPH! Passed a ton of the early "slow" swim starters and saw one of the studs in front of me. Couldn't quite bridge the gap. Some of the early swimmers were all over the road. Swerving from line to line, very dangerous. One person looked like they were going into shock. I alerted the police officer at the next intersection about her and he took off. I hope she was okay too.

The last 90 degree turn into town was a miserable 1 mile ride. The cross wind was tough. Had to lean into the wind to stay aero. Very challenging last mile and it was only a mile.

I still can't believe this was only a 15 mile bike. It felt much much longer. I was able to get my soaking wet and cold feet out of my shoes before the entrance to T2.

Keep pushing through the wind. I was cranking a high cadence but just couldn't keep the speed up.

Took off my pants. They were soaked and basically falling off. Changed my socks. Found dry gloves. Put my shoes on and took off with my hat and race belt. It was a slow T2 because the path is narrow and someone in front of me was taking their sweet ass time getting to the racks.

Happy with my decisions during transitions this year. They were much slower than I normally would have liked to see but I'm okay with that. Having layers was the right choice. I never felt too cold during most of the race. There were SEVERAL people, probably a couple dozen who DNF due to the wet cold.

I took off with short strides trying to get the feeling back in my feet. At about 1/2 mile in I felt pretty good and was going at 6:45 / mile pace. We went out with the wind so I pushed it for the first 1.5 miles knowing that it was going to be cold and windy on the way back. Never felt pain in my quad that I thought would surface. Only pain was at the end and it was just muscle soreness. Overall happy with my time even though I did not have my Garmin working properly.

Push harder on the run. I had gas left in the tank but I held back to avoid cold muscle injuries. Just push harder!!

Got in line to get stretched by PT and changed my clothes. Stretched some and waited for other STC members to finish.


Weather. Nothing more than that.


Sioux Center does a great job supporting this event and there are plenty of volunteers. Post meal of brats and burgers was done well. The pool swim is a tough way to do this but that is our only option this early in May in Iowa.

I will keep coming back if it continues to work into my schedule.