After work on September 15th, I loaded up the truck and headed for Marengo. I worked hard all summer to get comfortable on my PR3 with the hope that I could ride it in this race. The weather forecast was calling for rain and I wasn't so sure I wanted to risk the time trial bike on wet roads, so I took both bikes with me. Traffic on Interstate 80 was awful so the trip took an extra 15 minutes. Once I arrived I drove downtown to pick up my packet. I then proceeded to drive the bike course and discovered that it was extremely flat which got me even more excited for the race.
When I signed up for the race, I envisioned having to get a hotel room nearby or staying with friends or family in Cedar Rapids or Iowa City then making the early morning trip back to Marengo. As it turned out, my friends Maureen and Nick lived just a few miles north of town and offered to give me a place to stay. I enjoyed the evening at their house playing with their dogs and children before getting a good nights sleep.
It was still dark when I woke up the next morning, after putting on my tri suit and filling my water bottles I headed for Gateway park. I was greeted by thick fog with limited visibility and wondered what would happen if the fog didn't lift by race time. I arrived at the park about 5 minutes after transition opened. Even with the fog, the roads were dry and there wasn't any rain on the radar, so I unloaded the PR3 and got it ready to go. I dropped my things off in transition then headed to get marked. After getting things set up I checked out the transition area and swim course before grabbing a banana and waiting for the pre-race meeting.
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| You can see the fog in the background |
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| PR3 racked and ready to roll! |
During the pre-race meeting the covered the usual stuff, an overview of the course, general rule reminders, etc. but also mentioned that they were going to start the race on time in spite of the fog hoping it would lift quickly once we were underway. As we lined up for the swim start, the fog was still thick enough that I could only see the first 2 sighting buoys. I started out pretty well on the swim and things went pretty well. It was a steep climb up out of the water to transition but I made it without issue. I didn't bother looking at my watch when I hit the button for T1 but didn't much care how long the swim took.
I had been lined up at the back of the line for the swim so very few bikes were left in transition. Things went so smooth in transition. I used the same method as my last race and instantly sat down to get my socks and shoes on instead of trying to do it standing up. In no time at all my helmet was on and I was running for the bike out. A quick glance at my watch showed a T1 time of 1:26 which is an all time PR for me.
Here is where the tricky part of the course came in. Transition was setup right along the lake in the grass and the parking area and road into the park was all gravel (and not in the best shape either). The mount line was out on the hard surface road just outside the park entrance. This meant that we had to push our bikes almost 200 yards from transition to the road and this time would count against our bike time. To make things more difficult, I had to do this wearing my cycling shoes (technically I could have done it with bare feet and put my cycling shoes on at the road as well but this seemed even more unpleasant). After making it to the road, I struggled to get clipped in before finally getting on my way.
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| The 200 yard push at the start and end of the bike really cut into my time |
The bike course was a big loop that headed north out of town, east to West Amana, south to South Amana, and then back west to Marengo. As mentioned earlier the course was very flat and pretty open. The course was open to traffic but all of the vehicles that past were very kind to give us plenty of space Once out of town I got to work quickly. I had a goal to average > 19mph on the bike and I knew that I was already behind due to the rough start. I managed to track down 18 riders on the bike course and was extremely happy with my 5-10 and 10-15 mile splits. As I made my way through town and back to the park I was feeling pretty good but was also a little disappointed because my bike time wasn't going to be what I had hoped for. I dismounted at the park entrance and pushed the 200 yards back to transition very carefully.
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| Middle 2 bike splits were fantastic |
My legs felt great but I didn't really push it very hard on the run. I opted to not take my GU gel like I had at the Hero Hustle. Even though it had made a huge difference there I really just felt like I had enough left to push through to the end of the race without it. I quickly drank a cup of Gatorade at the turn around water station and headed back towards the finish line. I pushed hard for the last half mile and felt fantastic as I finished. After receiving my medal, I had 2 other racers track me down to compliment me on how well I had done on the bike. The bike is my strength, and I know that, but all that I could think is how much better I could have and should have done. I probably just need to be better at accepting compliments.
I quickly packed up in transition and headed for my truck to get home. Overall, it was a great race. While I'm not thrilled with the start and end of the bike, the rest of the course was fantastic and the triathlon was well run. With an open offer from Maureen to stay at their house anytime, I'm guessing that I will be back for this one in future years.
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| Proud finisher! |
Race Highlights
- 1:26 T1 is an all time PR
- 1:02 T2 is a SB
- 34:50 is my 2nd fastest 5k of the season, only 6 seconds slower than the Hero Hustle
- 38th fastest bike split out of 98 finishers
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