Ames Triathlon - 2023

 It was cloudy and windy as I backed my truck out of the garage to head north at 5:00am on Sunday morning. After such a successful race in the Quad Cities just last week I was feeling confident but the wind had me a bit nervous. I arrived at Ada Hayden just before 6:00am and got a spot in the first parking lot across the road. I had opted to skip packet pickup on Saturday to save the extra 1.5 hours of drive time so I headed to the registration table right away. After getting my packet I got marked and headed into transition to get things set up. 

Transition was set up with an aisle down the middle and racks on either side. My spot was exactly in the middle of transition and on the outside by the fence, which I liked because there was some extra space for me to leave my bag so that I didn't have to walk it all the way back to my truck. After setting up and hitting the bathroom I found my friend, Adam, setting up his bike. Adam and I have been doing some training together over the last few months and he was competing in his very first duathlon. We killed time before the race walking around to loosen up. Having someone to talk to helped keep the nerves at bay as well. 

Soon after transition closed we began lining up for the swim start. I spotted Erin heading toward me as I was line and she snapped a quick selfie with me. 

Pre-race selfie with my biggest fan

The race start was similar to last week, a self-seeded time trial start, so I was lined up near the back again. This week, they started people much more quickly and I was in the water by 8:17am. It didn't take long for me to realize how much of an impact the wind and waves were having on my swim. I struggled to keep a straight line with the cross wind and every few breaths a wave would break over my head as I was breathing. I swallowed A LOT of lake water. After about 150 yards I reached the first turn buoy and was headed straight into the wind. Breathing was easier now but it was slow going fighting the wind. I could feel that I was using a lot of energy and tried my best to get into a rhythm but just never got there. I finally reached the far buoy and turned with the wind at my back for the last 400 yards. Swimming was much easier at this point but I would again occasionally have a wave break over my head as I tried to breathe. I finally reached the boat ramp after what felt like hours and got up out of the water to head into T1. 

And I'm off!

Battling a cross wind

Great view of the swim course

Emerging like Aquaman once again

As I crossed the timing mat into T1, I checked my watch and was very disappointed to see a time of 24:30 as I had hoped to finish around 20 minutes. Determined to improve on last week, I sped through T1 in a time of 2:26, a HUGE improvement over the 4:04 from last week and giving me more than 1:30 back from that horrid swim time. 

My bike got off to a slow start as we had to ride on the shoulder of highway 69 for about a half mile and I was unable to pass. We then had a short climb before turning West and heading directly into the wind for about 2 miles. The wind was over 20mph and gusting about 30mph and it had a huge impact on the early portion of the race. I got a small reprieve from the wind as we turned north for a mile before heading back west again. It is at this point of the race that we hit the biggest and steepest climb and I think I may have averaged about 8mph going up that hill. It was brutal! Eventually I reached the farthest west part of the course and turned north before heading back east with the wind. Although the north/south sections of the course weren't into the wind, that cross wind really pushed me around and it took a lot of effort just to keep my bike going in a straight line at times. I finally reached the turn back onto highway 69 and down into Ada Hayden but my legs were on fire.

Heading back into the park towards T2

I managed to complete the 15.5 mile bike course in 59:28 which means I met my goal of finishing in under 1 hour. Because I know what I'm capable of, it seems laughable to type this but I'm actually very pleased with the 15.6mph that I was able to average on the bike course considering the conditions. I know what I am capable of on the bike when I'm in peak condition so watch out world when next season comes around!

I once again made up some time in transition with a T2 time of 1:44. The run course was a figure 8 on the trails around Ada Hayden lake, and I'm sure it is a gorgeous place to take a walk on a sunny and not-so-windy day. As I headed out on the run course I didn't have a good read on my body. My legs didn't feel super heavy like they sometimes do at the transition but I also wasn't feeling particularly ready to push it on the run. I had a GU gel in my back pocket and pondered using it for awhile but opted not to. About 2/3 of a mile into the run I began monitoring my heart rate and I was consistently staying in zone 2 so I knew my body was holding up. I pushed through mile 1 and was excited to see a sub-12:00 minute time. I tried to keep the same effort through mile 2 and was surprised to once again see a sub-12:00 minute mile. I kept the hammer down and gave it everything I had for the remaining 1.1 miles. I kept waiting to hit a wall but it never came, and before I knew it I was heading around the south end of the lake and the finish line was in sight. As my watch buzzed to signal the completion of mile 3, I was very surprised to see a time of 11:45. 

High five from Bridget as I head out
onto the run course

Settling into a good pace early in the run

Heading into the finish chute

I completed the 5k run in 36:32, an average of 11:46/mi. I'll be honest, I did not know that I had that type of run in me right now, nonetheless after a hard swim and bike. To put all of this in perspective, during all of the miles that I have run during my 500+ day run streak, there have only been 2 miles that came in under 12 minutes, both were 11:59 and came on different training runs. I just completed 3 consecutive miles, all under 12 minutes. As mentioned previously, it has been very hard for me to view anything as a success because I'm always comparing myself to past-Patrick. The feeling that I had about that run is pure pride and accomplishment. I quickly headed over to find my family to celebrate.

Bridget and Abigail were equally proud
of me AND cold

I mentioned earlier that I had a friend competing in the duathlon. It turns out that he is every bit as amazing as I thought he was and he had an amazing race as well. I was able to catch up with him at the finish line as well as he was nice enough to stick around to watch me finish. 

Adam headed out on his 2nd run

2 very accomplished gentlemen

Due to logistics and the fact that spectating these races can be tricky and boring at times, it has been rare for Erin and the girls to attend my races. Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all when they do not come BUT I'm very happy when they do. It was great having them to cheer me on the whole time and I couldn't help but smile every time I heard "Great job daddy!" on the course. It wasn't just me that had to brave the yucky weather, they did as well. 

Cold, and probably a little bit bored

Finding a way to stay warm

Now I'm not going to dwell on this next part too much, but it is part of the story and needs to be told. Excitement after crossing the finish line did not last long as Erin informed me that she got a fraud alert on one of her credit cards during the race. We tried to think through where she would have used the card that could have resulted in the number being stolen. Her and the girls headed back to the car quickly to verify that she hadn't accidentally dropped or left it somewhere only to find that the passenger side window of her car had been broken and her satchel with Id and credit cards was gone. There were several Sheriff's deputies already on scene as about 40 cars were hit (all racers and spectators). Without going into too many details, Ames police were actually able to track the guy down and arrest him. We spent the rest of our day cleaning up the mess and making phone calls and appointments. I'm not going to lie, it really put a cloud over another successful race. 

Broken glass everywhere

It was certainly another successful step on my comeback tour. I've spent some time thinking about how great it will be when I can finally put all of the pieces back together. If I could have paired last week's swim with this weeks transitions and run it would have been outstanding. I'm really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is still very small and very far away, but it is there and I am heading in the right direction. I've been having so much fun racing, that I did some digging and found another sprint triathlon in Marengo, IA on my birthday weekend in September. I might just sign up for that one too!

I have 2 weeks of recovery and training before my next race but it will actually be 2 races in 1 weekend. On July 8th I will head back up to Ames to compete in the 8k Des Moines Corporate Games cross country race. Then on Sunday, July 9th I will head out to Big Creek to race at the Des Moines Corporate Games triathlon, proudly representing John Deere in both. 

Thanks for reading!

Quad Cities Triathlon - 2023

It was such a fantastic weekend in the Quad Cities. Erin, the girls, and I left Grimes late in the afternoon on Friday and stopped at West Lake Park for packet pick up before heading to my in-laws house for the night.

The girls and I checking out my spot in transition

Got my arm and calf tattoos put on before bed 

After watching some TV and having a delicious éclair dessert that Mary made, I got to bed way too late with an alarm set for 3:45 am. 

I woke up to my alarm and might have hit the snooze a time or two before getting out of bed. After putting on my tri suit, I got my bike loaded and my bag ready, and hopped in the truck for the 25 minute drive to West Lake Park in the dark. The park opens at 5:00 am and even though transition doesn't close until 6:45, there is limited onsite parking and I really didn't want to park a couple miles away and ride my bike in with all my things.

After getting into the park, I got to work setting up transition before heading up to get my timing chip. I had about 30 minutes to kill so I sat in my truck enjoying an apple and some cool drinks of water. At about 6:30 I made all of my final preparations and headed for the beach.

Transition set up and ready to go

Shortly after transition closed, Erin and Mary arrived on the last spectator shuttle. Of course without my glasses it was a trick finding them in the crowd of spectators but they ended up finding me. The swim was a time trial start with 2 people starting every few seconds. I know that I am not a good swimmer so I stayed towards the back, which meant I waited about 30 minutes before starting. I met a very nice man in line who is 64 and lives in the Quad Cities. We spent that 30 minutes chatting before being 1 of the last 4 people into the water. 

Checking the time and making sure my watch
is ready to go

Making a new friend while we wait

I really wasn't expecting much out of the swim. While I was very confident in my ability to finish all 600 yards easily, I have not done much training in the water. When I did my 1st open water swim of the year last week I averaged a little over 3:00/100 which is atrocious. I have been averaging around 2:30/100 in the pool, which isn't great either but I hoped that I would land somewhere in the middle and be happy with that. 

As I entered the water I got comfortable really quick. I'm too big to fit into my wetsuit currently, but even though the race was wetsuit legal the water really wasn't too cold. I passed about 20 people on the swim which made me discover that I really like swimming from the back of the pack. I was able to complete the swim in 15:46, which is 2:38/100 and I am extremely happy with that.

And so it begins

Quickly catching the groups in front of me

Finishing really strong

Just like Jason Momoa

I took my time heading up the hill into T1 and was definitely rusty as I didn't have any urgency and started putting everything on out of order but quickly got things straightened out and headed out on the bike course. I made the conscious decision to run the extra 20 yards up the hill out of transition to make getting on the bike easier and that was probably a very good decision. I did struggle a bit to get my 2nd shoe clipped in but I eventually did and got up to speed quickly. 

Finally getting my bike off the rack and
heading for the bike out

On the bike and ready to roll!

I passed a few people on the park road and many cyclists were already returning as I headed out but once I turned out onto the main road I looked out ahead and couldn't see anyone for at least a half mile in front of me. This may sound a bit strange, but my strategy on the bike course is usually to pick out the person in front of me and make steady progress until I catch and pass them. Without a person in front, I just tried to keep a reasonable cadence and paid close attention to my heart rate. Before I knew it, there were other racers in sight and I passed the next person on the first climb. After both of the climbs on the way out I was feeling pretty good. As I made the turn north I saw my speedometer hit 20+mph a few times and quickly realized that the wind was at my back. I gave it everything I had to the turn around knowing that things would slow down on the way back. Luckily the wind wasn't too strong after I made the turn at the halfway point and before I knew it I was turning back east and had completed 10 miles. I could really feel my calves and hamstrings screaming at me after the last 2 climbs but with only 1.5 miles left I pushed through. I had hoped to finish the bike in under an hour and as I headed down the hill into transition I glanced at my watch to see just over 55 minutes. My official time on the bike ended up 56:05 which is a 16mph average. 

A quick wave for my cheering section as I near the dismount line

T2 went much better, but still wasn't very speedy. I will be completely honest here, I did not have a good read on my body as I left T2 and headed out on the run. Lots of things were going through my mind but I was mentally preparing for anything, including walking as much of the 5k as I needed to. I felt a little shaky on the first quarter mile of the run course (which is all grass and gravel) but once I got out onto the main road I found my stride and pace and just kept things really easy. As I hit mile 1 I was averaging just below 14 min/mi. Quite slow, but I was still feeling good so I decided that I would keep it easy and see what happened in mile 2. There are a few rolling hills but I just kept a steady pace and when my watch buzzed at mile 2, I saw that my pace was now below 13 min/mi. I kept it easy going up the hill and back into the park but with about a half mile to go kicked it into another gear. I certainly didn't go crazy and probably left a little in the tank but it really was a good run for me. I finished the run in 41:50 with a 13:28/mi average. Not great compared to what I have been doing in training but perfect for my first outdoor triathlon in almost 4 years. 

Heading out on the run course

Heading in towards the finish line

This is a picture of me feeling more pride
in myself then I have felt in a long time

Words cannot describe what it feels like to cross the finish line of a race. This one in particular was a long time coming. This was the 3rd time that I've raced this course, and my worst time BY FAR, but that didn't matter at all to me and still doesn't. I am so proud to have finally made the decision to do this again and I'm so excited for what is to come. Everything about triathlon just feels right to me and I'm able to draw so many parallels to the other parts of my life. What a challenge. What an accomplishment. Best of all, what a great new memory!

Proud finisher!

Time to give a huge shout out to my in-laws, Kurt and Mary for hosting us this weekend. To Mary and Erin for getting up early to come cheer me on and taking great pictures. To all my training buddies on Garmin Connect, Adam, Kyle, Megan, May, and Robbie who help keep me accountable and provide motivation every day. Lastly, to Erin, Abigail, and Bridget for all of the love, encouragement, and support they give me every day while I train. 

Best cheering section a guy could ask for

One last thing before I close out this post. I wasn't going to include it because I feel that it really draws away from the success of this race but I also felt that not sharing it would be hiding a part of myself and I strive to make every blog post as authentic as possible. Before I dive in further, I want to ensure you that everything I said above in this post is 100% true and authentic and I still feel an extreme sense of pride in myself.

When we got back to my in-laws house, after I had an opportunity to shower and rest for awhile I asked Erin if I could see the camera to look at the pictures that she took. Now I am well aware that I was racing a triathlon at a weight much higher than I had before, but when I saw the pictures of myself I was absolutely disgusted. Tri suits aren't designed to be flattering, they are designed to be functional but I have seen pictures of myself in this exact suit before but have never felt the disgust and repulsion that I felt while looking through these pictures. It nearly sucked the joy out of all of it instantly. 

I've had more than a day to think about it since looking at the pictures and have realized that I still have farther to go on this journey than I thought. I'm not referring to the weight I have to lose, that will happen in time, but more about my mental journey and improving my self-image. I could have made the choice to keep the pictures to myself (and I'll be honest, I hand picked the ones I thought weren't too bad) but I didn't. I want to share my journey with everyone with the hope that someone else out there can relate. I am imperfect, and always will be, but as always my goal is to just keep getting better and better both physically and mentally. 

I hope that you enjoyed my race recap. It is going to be a quick turn around as my next race is less than a week away at the Ames Triathlon on 6/25. I'm hoping to improve on my success from the Quad Cities but am also being realistic about only having a week to prepare. Until next time...

Celebrating Success and Training Cycle Updates

Somehow the month of June is upon us already and I am only 2 weeks away from starting one of the most dense racing schedules ever. May turned out to be another great month of training and I'm really starting to see the results of all of my hard work. Below is a breakdown of my running totals and averages from the past 3 months. The mileage has remained pretty much the same but my average pace has been dropping significantly. My average mile time in March was 14:07/mi which dropped down to 13:15/mi in May while keeping my average heart rate about the same. 

While this pace is still a lot slower than I was running just a few years ago, it is trending in the right direction and that is something to celebrate. Over the last several weeks I've also managed to complete several runs with a sub-13:00/mi average and even a few 1 mile splits that were sub-12:00/mi. One of my best recent training runs came during a 1 hour interval run just a couple weeks ago. 

I'm also happy to share that I have been seeing progress in cycling as well. I increased mileage significantly in May and managed to complete several rides outside as well. Even with these gains, the best part of all the cycling has been getting several rides in with my friends, Adam and Kyle. It is amazing how much more quickly a long Saturday morning ride seems to go by when doing it with friends. 

My success extends far beyond the metrics that are collected by my Garmin Forerunner. Some other observations that I have made in the last month aren't as easy to measure:

• My clothes have been fitting much better
• Going up and down the stairs is MUCH easier
• My running form has felt a lot smoother
• My confidence is higher
• I was able to do a weekend of work at the cabin without having to take breaks
• I'm seeing more definition in my muscles and feeling much stronger

I'm very excited for what is to come in the next 2 months. The Quad Cities Triathlon is 2 weeks from today and I'm starting to feel ready. My longest/hardest workouts are officially behind me but I still have a lot of work to do. This morning I decided to get the my QR PR3 time trial bike out to begin the processes of getting reacclimated. The ride did not go well and I ended up only going about 45 minutes instead of the 1:30 that was planned. I think there were 2 primary contributing factors and neither of which I can do much about in only 2 weeks. The first is that I should have gotten the bike out a long time ago to build my confidence and get used to riding in aero position. The 2nd is that I need to lose more weight (I know, what a surprise). As soon as I got home I spent about 30 minutes getting the bike prepped to be on the trainer in my basement. I've decided that I will race with the K2 this year but want to keep working on getting used to the PR3 again for next year. 

Another big thing on the list is to get some open water swims in during the next 2 weeks. I was all ready to go last week but we ended up having storms move in during the evening hours. I'm hoping to get in 2 or 3 before race day to help build some confidence there. The good news on this front is the warm temperatures should have the water at Big Creek a lot more suitable for swimming. Oh yeah, somehow I managed to misplace my tinted goggles too. I've looked everywhere that I can think that I would have left them with no luck at all. I just have a feeling that as soon as I buy a new pair they will turn up. 

Lastly, I need to start putting together my race-day strategy. I'm leaning heavily towards playing it safe and focusing 100% of just finishing the race comfortably. With 2 more triathlons quickly following the QC Tri, I will have opportunities to learn and improve with a quick turnaround time. Since it is a sprint triathlon fueling won't be a huge issue so I plan to have 2 bottles, 1 with regular Gatorade and the other with water and possibly 2 GU gels just in case I need them.