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...