Hero Hustle Sprint Triathlon 2023

This morning I competed in the Hero Hustle Sprint Triathlon in Manchester, IA. Last night I stayed at my parents house to cut 2 hours off the drive this morning. I got a good nights sleep which was even able to sleep a little extra since the race didn't start until 9:00. the Hero Hustle Triathlon is in its 8th year and raises money for the Firefighters, EMS, and Police Officers in Delaware County. Some of my favorite races are those found in small town Iowa put on by the communities. Just like so many other races I've done, the town showed up to volunteer, race, and cheer on the athletes all morning. It was amazing!

With the later race start, I was very happy that the hot and humid weather of last week was behind us. We were greeted with temperatures in the mid-50s, very little humidity, and light winds out of the NE. Parking was right next to registration and transition which made setup a breeze. A short walk to the beach for the pre-race meeting, the national anthem, and we were off. There were about 180 athletes total between the triathlon and duathlon but the time trial/rolling start went very quickly. 

The water was quite warm (81 degrees) and I felt pretty good on the swim. I was a little disappointed when I got out of the water to see 10:40 on my watch and still had to run up the hill to transition. My official time in the swim was 11:40 which is pretty darn bad. I really need to spend time working on my swim this off season. 

Once I got into transition I took a play from my last race and sat down to get my socks and shoes on. Once again it paid off as I got out of T1 in a time of 1:35 which is a season best and one of my best all time. I got out onto the bike course quickly. The course headed South with a partial tail wind. It was an out-and-back course with a turnaround at 8 miles and some rolling hills with no big climbs. I pushed hard from the start as I wanted to take advantage of the 6 miles with a partial tail wind. At the 5 mile mark I was averaging > 19mph which made me very happy. I lost some time once I was headed back into the wind but still was able to finish the 16 mile course in 51:52 which was an 18.5mph average. Another season best time. 

I thought I had used my legs a little too much on the bike as I had caught myself mashing the pedals several times on the bike, but it turned out I was wrong. I got through T2 in 1:07, another season best. There was a water station about 1/4 mile into the run course and they were handing out small water bottles that were being kept cold in a cooler. I was overjoyed. I kept the bottle with me and decided to take the GU gel I had thrown in my tri suit. I don't normally take in nutrition during a sprint triathlon but I was feeling low on energy and knew it would give me some extra pep for the last 2.5 miles. As I hit the turnaround at about 1.25 miles I really pushed hard down the hill. My 2nd mile came in at 11:09 which is my fastest mile of the year. As I got into the park, the run finished with a lap around the lake on a gravel trail. The gravel did slow me down a little bit but I ended up finishing with a time of 34:44 (11:11/mi average). This marked my fastest 5k of the year, beating out the Rexy Run 5k last weekend by 11 minutes!

Very happy with how I raced today!

Transition all set up nice and early

Spacious transition meant everyone had plenty of space

Beautiful view of the swim course

After the race I got everything loaded up and made the 2 hour and 45 minute trip home. I stiffened up a little bit on the drive so after a quick shower Bridget helped me out with some PT. 

"Don't worry daddy. I've got this!"

I know that I still have a lot to work on, but everything really came together today and I am extremely pleased with my performance. My next race will be the Gateway Challenge Sprint Triathlon in Marengo, IA on September 16th. I'm really excited to see what improvements I can make in the next 3 weeks.