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.

QC Triathlon Race Week

It feels like forever and a day since I last raced, even though Tri By Knight was only 5 weeks ago. I have come a long way in the past 5 weeks and I am now less than a week out from the Quad Cities Triathlon. This race will be my last warm up leading into the Door County Triathlon in July and I am hoping to knock out at least one more of my goals for the year.

Last year I had a rough day in the Quad Cities as the heat and humidity got to me. I will be going into the race this year in A LOT better shape then I was last year. The race will consist of a 600 yard open water swim, 15 mile bike, and a 5k run course. My goal for the race is to improve on last year in all 3 disciplines. In addition, I am planning to push hard on the bike in an attempt to average > 20mph and check off another goal for the year.

With my challenging training schedule over the last month, I'm really looking forward to racing again. The doldrums of the mid-training cycle have started to set in and I am in dire need of a confidence boost that can only be achieved by racing.

Tri By Knight

This morning I raced in the Tri By Knight sprint triathlon at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. It was a big day as my friend, Justin, was racing his first triathlon. Justin and I both arrived at 6:30 am to get our packets picked up and set up transition. It was great having someone to hang out and chat with while waiting for the race to start.

PRThree set up and ready to role

Justin getting things ready for the race

After the close of transition, we headed into the "W" Pool area to line up by expected finish time. The swim was a 300 yard serpentine swim in the pool and it took about 40 minutes before I actually got into the water to start. My swim was not great as I ended with a time of 7:29. I got through transition and out onto the bike pretty quickly. This is the first race that I rode my new Quintana Roo PRThree and everything went very smooth. I managed to log a pace of 19 mph on the bike finishing in 47:14 which was good enough for the 69th fastest bike split out of 248 racers. 

I felt pretty good as I headed out onto the run course. The run course was 3 laps around campus ending with the finish line on the track inside the football stadium. I didn't run super fast but I did keep a consistent pace under 10:00 min/mi. My official time was 1:28:22 finishing 113/248. It isn't often that I finish in the top 50% of racers at a triathlon so I am super proud of this finish today. I raced very well and knocked off the rust from a long off season. I felt very comfortable on the new bike and am looking forward to seeing what I can do on it at the Quad Cities Triathlon next month.

Official Result

Proud Finishers

For now, my focus is back on the grueling half Ironman training schedule. In fact, after the 2 1/2 hour drive home I headed back out on the bike for a 2 hour training ride. I am 6 weeks in and have 10 weeks to go but I'm already seeing some good results. In 6 weeks I will be racing at the Quad Cities Triathlon as my final warm up before Door County. I had a horrible race at the QC race last year so I will be looking for some redemption there this year. 

Drake Relays Road Races 10K

It was another beautiful spring day for a race! Temperatures started in the low 40's with clear skies and no wind as we lined up for the 51st annual Drake Relays Road Races. My biggest take away from the race today is that I need to work on my confidence going into each race. My original goal for this race was to set a new 10K PR but with that already accomplished during my half marathon last month, I set a new goal to run this race in under an hour.

Finishing strong on the blue oval

A quick glance at the clock as I cross the finish line

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind of emotion and change, so I honestly did not know what to expect today. I started out slower than I would have liked as I struggled to weave in and out of people for the first mile logging a split over 10:00 min. Knowing that I was already behind I picked up the pace. My splits remained sub-10:00 min for the remainder of the race and as I turned into the stadium my watch showed my time at just over 58 minutes. I gave the last quarter mile everything that I had left and finished with a time of 59:49. 

First 10K under an hour!

Beat my previous 10K PR by 50 seconds

With this race in the books, I will be shifting my focus to triathlon for the next few months. My first triathlon of the year will be the Tri By Knight in 2 weeks and we are only 12 weeks from the Door County Half Ironman Triathlon. My weekly training has really started to ramp up and will only become more time consuming and challenging leading up to the race in July. I don't do this enough, but I wanted to take a minute to say a big thank you to my wife, Erin, for all of the encouragement that she provides and for all of the extra work she takes on that allows me to train and race as much as I do. I certainly could not do any of this without her. 

For now, it is time to rest up before hitting the trails for a 2:15 ride tomorrow and a 1:30 run on Monday. 

St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon

It was a great morning for a race. Temperatures started out just below freezing but the sky was mostly clear and winds were light. With most of the original race course under water due to flooding on the Raccoon River, the race directors had to scramble late in the week to find a new course route. They did a fantastic job adjusting and the race was top notch.

This was the first of 3 "A" races for me this year and I had 1 goal only, set a new half marathon Personal Record (PR). I knew that I was in great shape coming into the race and adding a flat course with good weather put me in position to reach my goal.

My previous half marathon PR was set at the Drake Relays Road Races in 2017 when I ran a time of 2:16:18. At that time I was actually training for my first full marathon and the PR came as a bit of a surprise. Today I actually crushed that time by shaving off over 8 minutes and finishing in a time of 2:08:14.

Very proud of this time

Modified Race route to avoid flood waters

2nd Goal of the Year Completed!

Looking back over the race, I don't think I could have run any better than I did. I started off the race with the 2:15 pacer (which happened to be another Corteva employee). I did not stick with that pace group very long because my legs were feeling so good. I ended up catching the 2:10 pace group around 3.5 miles and stuck with them for about a mile before moving on. My best mile was mile 5 where I registered 9:28 minutes. I kept my miles fairly consistent between 9:40 and 10:00 until I hit mile 10 with a time of 10:22. I put my foot back on the gas as much as I could for the last 2.1 miles and finished with in a time much better than I had expected.

At the finish line I was able to meet up with my coworker Megan and her husband Dan who had just run his first half marathon (and did an amazing job!) After taking a couple of pictures I headed for my truck to drive home with a big smile on my face. 

Posting for a picture with Dan
after the race

A fitting race for me to run

Finishing a half marathon should be enough to make anyone proud, but this one was a level above for me. Those who are closet to me know that I have been having a difficult 2019 so far. I have been dealing with some difficult things in my personal life as well as at work this year. On top of those things, I suffer from seasonal depression for a couple of months every year from mid-late winter. I'm just wired to be outside (just look at all of my hobbies) but with this winter it was literally impossible to enjoy the outdoors for nearly 2 months and it took a huge toll on me. It was also fitting that the weather took a turn for the better over the last week leading up to the race. 

To put some icing on this cake, after uploading my run to Garmin Express, I quickly realized that I completed a 3rd goal for the year at this race. I ended up breaking my previous 10K PR as well!

I broke my previous 10K PR by nearly 2 minutes

The next race on my calendar is the Drake Relays Road Races 10K on April 20th. Even though I have already completed my goal of setting a new 10K PR, I am hoping to improve on that time by running that race in under 1 hour. 

I do have 3 races on my calendar over the next 3 months, but my next "A" race will be the Door County Half Ironman. I have 1 week of recovery training before beginning my 16 week training program for that race. My 2019 racing season has gotten off to a fast start and I'm hoping to keep that momentum rolling through July. I have a long road ahead, but with good weather in the forecast I should be able to train and prepare in a way that will help me to crush more of my goals this year.