Quad Cities Triathlon

I left work early on Friday to head to Davenport for packet pickup and to check out the race course. The race was held at West Lake Park which made for a beautiful venue. The swim and bike were both out and back courses and the bike course was pretty flat with just a couple of small hills. The run course did have some hills and also included 3/4 of a mile of grass and gravel. After picking up my packet I headed to my in-laws house to spend the night. My mother-in-law, Mary, cooked me Rigatoni for dinner with garlic bread, salad, and peas. It was VERY good and provide some good fuel for race day.

View of the swim course

This was waiting on my bedroom door

A 7:00 am start time meant that my alarm was set for 4:00. I arrived at the park a few minutes after 5 and took my time getting ready. I got a parking spot just outside of transition, which is always nice. After getting my transition spot set up, I looked up to see someone that I vaguely recognized. Both of us did a double take before catching that we work together. He is a fellow software developer at Pioneer, but the catch is that he left Johnston several years ago and has been working remotely from his house in Moline. To make it more interesting, out of 400 racers, our transition spots were right next to one another. There is a good possibility that if that wasn't the case we would have never ran into each other. I also realized how strange it is to see someone that you know in a situation that is completely out of context for how you know them. We had a good chat and I found out that this was his first triathlon ever. 

Transition all set up

View of transition shortly before the race started

Even before the sun was above the horizon the temperatures were already in the upper 70's and the humidity was ridiculous. At 6:45 we all gathered on the beach for the pre-race briefing and then lined up according to expected swim finish times. The swim start was 2 people at a time every 3 - 5 seconds. I waited in line for a half hour before it was my turn to go. I felt pretty good throughout the 600 yard swim and was very pleased to see a 2:30/100 yard average as I got out of the water. I headed into T1 feeling pretty good as I mounted my bicycle. This is the first time this season that I finally felt comfortable on the bike. I was able to attack the few hills on the course and take advantage of having the wind at my back. I averaged 17.5 mph on the bike and am extremely happy with that. 

By the time I got off the bike, the temperature was well into the 80's and the heat of the sun was nearly unbearable. I headed out of transition and it became apparent pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be setting a 5k PR today. I took several walk breaks through out the 5k run course (usually going up the hills) and ended with a time of 40:27. I'm not overly proud of that time, even in the heat, but I did what I had to to cross the finish line. 

All finished and ready to head for home

My official time for the race was 1:50:53 and I finished 297/396. My biggest take away from the race is that my open water swimming and bike are finally heading in the right direction. As for the run, I'm not worried at all. Today was just a fluke that will be easily corrected as I pick up some more brick workouts on my training schedule and spend some more time running in the heat. 

Official race splits

The Quad Cities Triathlon was a great experience. I really liked the course as well as the race staff and volunteers. I'm certain that this race will find it's way onto my race schedule in future years. I really liked that the bike course was closed to traffic and I also liked the off road portions of the run course. 

My next race is the Accel Triathlon on July 14 followed by the Des Moines Corporate Games Triathlon on July 15. My plan for the next month is to ramp up my running miles and build in more combo workouts. I'm also going to work on shedding a few pounds prior to those races as well. I'm targeting the Bluff Creek Triathlon in August as my "A" race this year and want to make sure that I am in peak shape by them.