Quad Cities Triathlon 2019

After work on Friday, Bridget and I headed for the Quad Cities to pick up my race packet before heading to my in-laws house for the night. The forecast for Saturday called for thunderstorms and high wind, but at least it wasn't going to be extremely hot and humid like last year.

It was VERY windy at packet pickup

 After filling my tummy with Rigatoni and putting Bridget to bed, I headed to bed myself with an alarm set for 4:00 am. When my alarm went off in the morning, I was happy to see that the radar showed no rain nearby but I wasn't thrilled with the 15 - 20mph wind. With a goal of breaking a 20mph average on the bike, I knew the wind would not help. I headed for West Lake Park and waited in a short line of cars for the park to open. Just like last year, I got a parking spot just outside of transition and wasted no time getting everything set up. 

Transition set up with an extra towel on top just in case it rains

Erin and Abigail arrived on the shuttle shortly after I was set up so I hung out with them until race time. The water temperature was 70 degrees which meant the course was wet suit legal. After 1 last check of transition, I grabbed my goggles, swim cap, and wet suit and headed for the beach. The 600 yard swim course was an out and back with a self-seeded time trial start. I lined up in the last 1/3 of racers and waited my turn to get into the water. 

Heading to the beach

Waiting patiently for the race to start

Before I knew it, I was in the water and the race was underway. I swam hard and surprisingly passed a lot of people on the swim (something that I'm not used to doing). As I stood up out of the water and crossed the timing mat I was excited to see a sub-12:00 time which unofficially put me under 2:00/100 yards checking off another goal for 2019.

In the water, I'm in the black wet suit to the left of the furthest yellow buoy

Abigail watching the swim from the highest spot
she could find

Out of the water and headed to T1

I got off to a bit of a slow start on the bike but quickly started to pick up the pace once I got out of the park and onto the main road. The bike course was a 15 mile out and back course with 3 - 4 of those miles heading straight into the strong wind. My first split was just under 20 mph and my 2nd split was just over 20 mph. I knew that I had a good chance to meet another goal but I ended up getting slowed up a bit as we headed back into the park and ended up about 30 seconds slower than I needed. 

Headed to the dismount line and T2

I felt a little weird heading out onto the run course and my first mile was not very good. I sort of figured I might need some calories so I quickly downed a GU gel. I started to feel better quickly and settled in for the last 2 miles. I finished the race strong and felt great afterwards. Shortly after finishing it started to rain so I quickly got my transition packed up and drove Erin and Abigail back to their car before heading back to my in-laws house. 

Heading out onto the run course

Getting a high five from Abs as I head into the finish line

Literally flying to the finish line

I was extremely confident coming into this race and that confidence was confirmed with my performance. It is amazing how "easy" a race like this feels when I am used to training at much longer distances. I had 2 major highlights for the day that included my swim and how well I handled the wind on my bike. In addition, I fought through some early issues in the run and managed to finish strong. 

My overall time was 1:34:10, over 16 minutes faster than the 1:50:53 that I turned in last year. Last year I finished 297/399 and this year I moved up almost 140 places to finish 159/366 this year. I turned in the 159th fastest swim time (that is right, I was in the top 50% of all swimmers!) and the 85th fastest bike time.

Official Results

I saved the most exciting parts for last, and that is the numbers. My official swim time was 11:54, which put me at an average of 1:59/100 yards. That pace was good enough best my PR of 2:01/100 yards at the Des Moines Corporate Games Triathlon last summer and check off another goal for the year. My official time on the bike was 45:35, giving me an average of 19.7 mph. While it was not the 20 mph average that I was hoping for, it was good enough to surpass my previous PR of 19.4 mph set at the Cyman Triathlon last September and in turn, check off another goal for 2019. 

With this race, I have officially checked off 5 of my 8 goals for 2019:

• 5k PR
• 10k PR
• Half marathon PR
• Triathlon swim pace PR
• Triathlon bike pace PR

In addition, the 3 remaining goals I haven't even had the opportunity to check off this year (although I will soon!):

• Finish a marathon
• Olympic triathlon PR
• 70.3 triathlon PR

I'm looking to keep the good year rolling at Door County 4 weeks from today, where I will attempt to set a new 70.3 PR.