2008 Hy-Vee Triathlon Report

Hello strange blog world. Sorry for the slight delay in posting the tri report. It has been  a very busy couple of weeks.  Overall the Hy-Vee Triathlon was a good day, but I need to learn how to better rid myself of stress and errands on race weekends.  Maybe it was the swim/no swim drama of the race, but I don't remember ever being so mentally not prepared to race. 

Prerace
Melissa and I drove to Des Moines on Friday for Sunday's race. I worked a full day so we didn't arrive in Des Moines until past 11.

I had only heard a few days before that the swim was back on.  Race officials had announced about 10 days earlier that they had to cancel the age grouper swim due to flooding.  Needless to say, I simply stopped practicing the swim when they made that announcement.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal, but Lake Michigan has been so cold this year that I had only two open water swims under my belt at the time of the race.  

Saturday we were up early and had a long day of running errands.  They included a trip with Melissa to the farmers market in downtown Des Moines, a quick swim in Chuck's fastlane in his backyard, the typical prerace packet pickup activities, lunch at Manhattan Deli, picked up a battery for the camera, and going out to drop off the bike and T2 supplies at the triathlon site in West Des Moines (there were two transition areas).  The real highlight of the day was dinner where we had the big first meeting of the parents (Melissa's parents came down for the race and met my folks for the first time).

We didn't get back home until past 10, but I don't think it really interupted my sleep.  I only slept for 20-40 minute incraments the whole night. Either way you look at it, it wasn't a good race prep the day before.

I left bright an early on Sunday (4 AM).  The only people on the road had USAT stickers and bike racks on their cars.  They had the athletes park at Valley West Mall, which was about 2.5 miles from the finish and about 5 miles from the start.  The shuttle was full of nervous energy, or maybe that was just me.  I am a talker by my nature, add a little bit of butterflies to that and I am just looking to make new friends.  At 4:28 AM, most athletes don't want to make new friends.  I suffered through. 

Once at T1, I made a quick trip to the bike stand.  Said hello to my old friend Andy Lueck, who checked the air in the tires and removed my embarrassing reflectors that were on my wheels for a year.  Then it was back to my transition spot to set up my gear and struggle into my wet suit.

As I was fighting the wet suit, I quickly looked around to realize that they had organized the transition area by age group (which is good so you can see how many bikes are gone when you get out of the water), and also that the fellas around me seemed to look much more serious than I did.  Now considering I only minutes before removed reflectors from my wheels, this probably isn't saying much, but I was a little intimated.  

[From stage left, enter KT]

"Yo Murph, what's up man?"

I don't remember being so pleased to see someone.  Kevin and I went to high school together, played little league together, and have shared a few sips of whiskey over the years.   Now he is living in Des Moines, and has been doing tri's for a few years.  He is actually a damn good triathlete and also just as friendly as they come.  Since we were a few miles from any spectators (they told all the spectators that there wouldn't be space near the makeshift swim area, so to stay up by the high school to watch the bike and run), I was glad to have a friend there.  

As I managed to get into the wet suit, talking to Kevin really let me relax.  By the time Charlie and Bikal ran into us about 10 minutes before the start, I was feeling good, ready to go.  A few minutes later the first group went off.  A few minutes after that, our horn went off and were off into the water.

I remember thinking what a perfect morning it was.  Very pretty sunset.  It felt good to be back in Iowa.

Race

All those pleasant thoughts were kicked away the first time I was kicked in the face in the swim.  Still, after last year when I got significantly off course during the swim, the kick and subsequent beatings I took were good indications that I was headed the right direction.  In fact, if I didn't feel someone passing me by going over me, I began to worry I was off course.

I managed to do much of the first half of the swim without stops.  The wetsuit made a huge difference.  The course was triangle, but felt a lot like an out and back as it was so long.  The water was a typical Iowa lake in that it was VERY merky.  

After the turnaround, I started to get tired.  I would stop, tread water, and adjust my goggles a little more often that before, but I continued to make progress.

I made it out in pretty good time (17 minutes faster than last year), but I think a lot of it has to do with the wetsuit advantage (and some might be due to swim lessons and training).


After a pretty uneventful T1 I was out on the bike course.



[In a related note, I make really funny faces on the bike.]

The bike course we a good Iowa course, some hills, a stretch on a country road, a couple of hot laps around a mall parking lot (could have done without the last part). I pushed it hard thinking that I had been riding more and should keep a good average mph (also known as "not thinking"). There was a part in the ride when I remember feeling somewhat tired, never a good sign.

On thing that made the whole event better was my awesome crew. Good look'en too!



On to the separate T2 area I had a pretty quick bike rack and shoe switch, then tried to minimize the damage with a gel (unsuccessfully). Then it was off to the run.

I don't need to go into much detail, but the run was hot and my legs felt like bricks. I was spent. All that lost sleep and crappy prep week, plus bad hydration and nutrition, plus probably not running enough, and my run when from an enjoyable Iowa morning to looking forward to stopping.

In the end I finished well and slightly improved my time from last year's tri.

Overall, I have to say I liked the 2007 course better, but I think that is clearly because I grew up in the city of Des Moines vs the suburbs. I did hear from a number of people they liked the West Des Moines course better because the downtown run was too confusing. Either way, they run a top race there. They changed the entire course on a flip of a dime due to the flooding, and it was run very, very well.

I was also pretty pleased with my performance. I didn't drown, Melissa's parents and my parents got along well in their first meeting, and I dropped a ton of time in one year. New PR in the swim (37:47), the bike (1:18:11) and the run (54:05) and overall (2:55:41).