Bluff Creek Triathlon - 2017

The day got off to a rough start as I woke up before my 4:45 am alarm to thunderstorms rolling through. A quick check of the radar showed that they wouldn't be ending anytime soon. Either way, I got changed into my tri suit, ate a quick breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and hoped in the truck to drive the 45 minutes to Don Williams Lake. It wasn't a lonely ride as my mom and dad had come down to attend my race and rode with me to the race. Upon arriving (in the rain) I checked the races Facebook page to see a message that the race was being postponed. In addition, the Olympic distance race, the one that I was signed up for, was cancelled and all racers would participate in the sprint distance.

As you can imagine, I was having flashbacks to the Accel Triathlon last summer, which ended up being cancelled. After a stop at the campground bathrooms, we sat in the truck and waited for the rain to stop before heading to check in and setup transition. My sister was planning to come up with 2 of her kids and my wife, Erin, was going to bring our girls to the finish as well so I texted to let them know about the delay and change in race. While I waited, I reviewed the sprint distance maps on the race website. Unlike the Olympic bike route, the sprint was a 15 mile straight out and back with very little elevation change. The swim was 500 meters straight across the lake, and the run was a single 5k loop of the same course. The distances of this race were nearly identical to the Crossroads Triathlon 2 weeks prior.

I'm not going to lie, with the wait and change in race distance, I wasn't feeling nearly as motivated. In fact, the only thing that probably convinced me to not just head home was that so many people were coming to watch me race. Luckily, my focus returned as we lined up across the beach and sprinted in the water to start the swim. Boy did I get off to a good start! As I got out of the water on the other side of the lake, I looked at my watch and was surprised to see a time of 9:34. Transition was quite a ways up the hill from the lake so my official swim time was 11:33 which put me at a 2:07/100 yard average. To put that into perspective, I averaged about 2:45/100 yards during my last 3 triathlons.

Out of the water and headed to T1

Before I was even out of the water, I could hear the cheers coming from my sister, Melissa and her kids, Aubree and Brycen. Having a cheering section made the race even more fun. The race continued to go well as I headed to transition 1. I made it out of T1 and onto the bike in 1:39. My previous T1 PR was a little over 3 minutes. 

Headed out on the bike course

There were a few small hills on the bike course, but for the most part it was flat. Unlike past races, I didn't pass many people on the bike. I suppose this was in part due to my faster swim and starting out ahead of more people, but the field for this race was certainly more competitive over all than my past couple of races. Even though I wasn't passing a lot of people, I managed to finish the bike in 47:04, which was a 19.3 mph average (another triathlon PR for me!). As I was turning back into the park, I got to see Erin and the girls as they had just arrived. 

Back in the park and finishing off the bike

T2 was another good one as I got through in 48 seconds (my previous best was over a minute). I really liked the run course as it had a couple of challenging hills as well as some grass and gravel portions and took a route through the woods. I didn't push very hard on the run (a little by design, and a little because I was getting tired) but ended up with a decent time of 31:58 which is a 10:17/mile average.

Home stretch

Final turn into the finish line

Finishing strong

My official time was 1:33:04 which was nearly 4 minutes faster than the 1:36:59 of the race 2 weeks prior. I'm continuing to see improvement, not only in the 3 different disciplines, but also in my overall race strategy and pacing. These are things that take practice and experience which I keep gaining with each race that I complete. After my 2nd strong sprint distance race in a row, I really think that I have found my groove. 

I was also excited to be greeted at the finish line by the best (and quite possibly loudest) group of fans!

With my mom, dad, and oldest daughter, Abigail

With Erin, Abigail, and Bridget

With my sister, Melissa and her kids Brycen and Aubree

Next up on my schedule, in less than 3 weeks, is the biggest race of my season. On September 10th, I will be making my first attempt at completing a long distance/half Ironman distance triathlon at the Legend Ad Astra Legend 70 in Lawrence, KS. The race includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. To be honest, I've been getting more and more nervous about the race as it gets closer, but I'm going to give it my best effort. More on that race in a future post. 

Difficult Workout And Another Race Week

You read that correctly, tomorrow morning marks the start of another race week. Next Sunday morning I will be competing at the Bluff Creek Triathlon at Don Williams Park near Ogden, IA. The Olympic Distance bicycle course is an out and back course that is mostly flat with the exception of a very large hill leading down into and back out of the Des Moines River Valley. The run course is similar to what I faced at the Accel triathlon with 2 laps of a 5k course.

Although I am very excited for the race, it is not my A race this year, so I do not plan on going all out for the entire race. I have not yet decided what my strategy will be but my focus will for sure be on a solid swim, efficient transitions and not getting hurt.

This week of training was quite interesting. Although I have not had issues with allergies in the past, this year they are really causing me some issues. With extreme nasal congestion all week, I was not able to get good sleep which is vital to train hard. Luckily for me, I was able to figure something out by the end of the week (I'll save you the details) and I'm breathing much better and sleeping better too.

This weekend was a hard one for training. It started with a run/swim workout at Raccoon River Park yesterday morning. I really enjoyed spending time there and am planning to return for more workouts soon. I started with a 4 mile pace run around the lake and followed up with a mile open water swim at the beach. Erin and the girls met me at the park after my swim and we had fun playing on the playground before heading home for lunch.

Of course, that workout was nothing compared to the brick workout that I completed today. In preparation for my Legend 70 race in September, I've been ramping up the distance of my brick workouts. Today I completed a 30 mile ride followed by an 8 mile run and it was HARD. With the longer workouts I've been playing around with my fueling and nutrition as well and learned a valuable lesson. I need to fuel a little more before and more frequently during my workouts. In addition, I thought I could get away without taking water along on my run, which I regretted around mile 6.

Solid, but not great pace on the bike

Went out a little too fast and faded late, but still a good pace on the run

All of that said, I made it through and learned a few things, which is really the goal of these workouts. With only 4 weeks until the race in Lawrence, I still have a long way to go, but I'm getting better one day at a time.

Crossroads Triathlon 2017

On August 5th I participated in my first ever sprint distance triathlon at the Crossroads Triathlon in Dewitt, IA. Let me start off by saying that this race was extremely well organized and it was easy to see how much pride the community takes in this triathlon with the number of volunteers that they had helping. To add to that, I don't think that the weather conditions could have been any better for racing. Upon arriving, temps were in the low 50s with water temps in the mid 70s and winds were very light. By the time I reached the finish line, the air temp had crawled up into the low 70s.

The race consisted of a 500 yard swim, 15 mile bike, and 5k run.

I headed up to Dewitt on Friday evening to pick up my packet and check out the course. This was is a unique race in that transition 1 and 2 are not in the same place, requiring some extra preparation. After picking up my packet and checking out T2, I headed out to scope out the swim course and T1, which was located about 4 miles away. I liked that T1 was in the grass just up the hill from the lake because grass is much easier on bare feet.

Custom temporary tattoo markings instead of marker

View of the swim course

After leaving the lake, I drove the bike course before heading back to the in-laws house in Bettendorf. I noted that the bike course was not flat at all (unlike my first 2 triathlons) so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. 

The next morning my alarm went off at 4:45 am. After getting ready and loading my stuff into the truck, I headed to Dewitt in the pitch dark. With 2 transition areas to setup and wanting to get a warm up swim in, I wanted to give myself plenty of time. I arrived at the high school (T2) first to leave my running visor and race bib and then headed off to park near the lake. After getting my bike set up at T1, I went back to my truck to fuel for the race. I had a banana and bagel with peanut butter. After dropping my running shoes off near my bike (I wear the same shoes for bike and run) and chatting with some of the other triathletes I headed down to the lake to warm up. 

Transition 1

The race was a time trial start and we got to seed ourselves. I lined up just in front of the slowest group as swimming is still not a strength of mine (YET!). At 8:00 am, the first 2 swimmers jumped into the water off the end of the dock, and every 10 seconds or so, another pair followed. Before I knew it, I was up and headed to the end of the dock. This is where things got a little dicey. I had never jumped into the water in this way with my goggles on before, and as I jumped in, my goggles popped off my head. As I came back up I felt them bump the back of my leg and was very lucky to be able to catch them with my foot. My race could have been over right then, but instead I was able to quickly get my goggles on while treading water and continue on. Looking back at that moment, I was very happy that I remained calm and didn't let that situation derail my entire race. 

I'm fairly certain the swim course was longer then 500 yards, and heard several other athletes mention that after the race as well. Either way, I swam okay with a time of 14:03. I was able to get through T1 in 3:14, which is my fastest time yet (putting socks on wet feet is not easy). I headed out on the bike course but took it easy for the first several miles as I wanted to save my legs for a good run. The course was indeed hilly as my speed ranged from 10 mph to over 30 mph (coming down the biggest hill). I handled the bike course well averaging just under 18.5 mph, which was good enough for the 40th fastest bike time, and knew that my legs had plenty left for the run. 

My 2nd scary moment came as I dismounted my bike going into T2. As I got off my bike and started running with it towards my spot in transition, my peddle caught the back of my calf and I nearly fell. My save must have looked impressive because it drew a gasp from the crowd that was watching followed by applause. I quickly racked my bike and swapped my helmet for a visor and headed out on the run course. My time in T2 was 1:12, another PR. 

Ouch

I headed out on the run feeling good. My hope was to average around 10 min/mile for the run so I pushed hard from the beginning. With the distances that I have been running, a 5k went by very fast and before I knew it I was turning back into the high school headed for the finish line. I had plenty left for a final surge and made it up to an all out sprint with about 1/4 mile left. As I crossed the finish line and looked down at my watch, I had even surprised myself, averaging 9:37 min/mile which brought me in at 29:51. My overall time was 1:36:59 which put me in 65th out of 118 finishers. 

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed and have good memories from every race that I have competed in, both running and triathlon, but it is safe to say that this was my favorite race yet. I had a lot of fun and really look forward to competing in more sprint distance races in the future. I think a lot of it had to do with the shorter distances resulting in less complexity (in race fueling and hydration isn't as big of a deal) paired with a field that doesn't get as spread out. It also helps that I performed well and the weather was nearly perfect. I still have a lot to work on, but I can see my bits of experience and hard work already starting to pay off. 

My official times

So what's next? Well, I have a quick turn around from this race as my next race, the Bluff Creek Triathlon is only 2 weeks away. I will be competing in the Olympic distance for that race as it is a warm up for my long distance tri coming up in September.