Oh man where to start...I left Friday evening for Burlington to pick up my race packet, find my hotel and hopefully try and get some rest before my biggest test in triathlon to date. I made it into to Burlington around 7:30 picked up my race packet from The Drake and got my first exposure to the wonderful volunteers of this race. They were extremely accommodating letting me pick out my shirt size (I typically choose XL cause I never know how they will fit) and they even had me model it for them. This was the first incident I wish I had taken pictures to document the experience, I always want to but I generally forget when I'm in the moment and then regret it later. Not only do you get the standard bag of goodies, T-shirt, couple of snack items but they also gave you a cool pair of socks with the race name and logo on it and a water bottle, which I always need more of. Afterwards I found my hotel and to my surprise and delight found I was right next door to a Mexican restaurant, my favorite pre race food, sorry Pizza Ranch!
After checking in and unloading everything I went for a quick shake out run and then headed to dinner. I browsed the menu and then just asked the waitress "What's the biggest burrito you have?" and this is what she brought to the table.
I will have to say this was one of the best burritos I've ever had and if not for the fact that I would be racing the next day I probably would have attempted round 2.
Race Morning:
I woke up at 4:30 after getting maybe 4 hours of sleep, to much excitement to sleep the night before, went through my routine and got ready to head out to the race. Driving into the park I got a taste of some of the hills we would encounter on the run and bike and quickly determined why the race has the word Challenge in it's title. Not that any of them where huge but by Iowa standards and most where on winding narrow roads that would be sharing with cars during the race, this could prove to be interesting. After getting my transition set up I headed out for a warm up run and bike and got my first taste of the hills, first hill was right after leaving transition area. When I got back from the bike warm up, I found someone had set up shop right where I was stationed even though I had my towel, shoes, bag and the rest of my gear all laid out the people next to me kindly shifted their stuff down so I could squeeze my bike in with out having to move everything. Speaking of the people next to me in transition, I ran into some people I had seen at Bluff Creek, I only recognized them because the guy was wearing a Bluff Creek T shirt and one of the girls he was with raced for the University of Iowa Tri Hawks, anyway I heard some amazingly outlandish stories of things they have seen and or done at Tri's. Every good transition story should start with, "At least I didn't get as wasted last night as the last race, I probably could have gotten a DUI on my bike that day" and I also heard a story about a girl getting buck naked in transition in front of everyone at an Ironman event after the swim before changing into her bike clothes. Easily the highlight of my day was listening to them share some crazy stories.
Headed down to the beach to get a warm up swim in before our pre race meeting. The water was very warm, no wetsuit for this race which at first made me a little nervous but after my warm up I felt very confident and ready to go.
Swim:
Nothing I say in this section is going to be as interesting as one particular item so I'm just going to get this nugget out of the way now...I threw up in the water during the swim...now back peddle for just a minute. The swim started in 4 waves, 3 minutes apart and I was in the second wave. I started off nice and easy but quickly found myself swimming alone with 4 or 5 guys from my wave ahead and the rest behind me. I was going along pretty good and got into a very comfortable rhythm early, I even passed a couple of people from the wave ahead of me which surprised the heck out of me. After the turn around at half way my stomach started feeling a little tight and queasy, I had eaten my regular breakfast but I grabbed a bagel from the hotel before leaving and I think that little bit extra was too much in my stomach and that's when I first thought I might vomit, I was just hoping to make it out of the water. With a quarter of the swim left to go I pushing a little harder and when I turned my head to breathe it just happened, I threw up in the water, not much but enough that if there had been anyone behind me they would have been in for a surprise. I instantly felt better and powered my way into the beach. I finished up the 1500 meter swim in 24:37, which I was extremely happy with my goal was to come out in 30 mins.
Transition was a lot easier with out a wet suit to deal with but I took my time to collect myself and make sure I had everything before heading out T1 was in 1:27 quick but easily could have gone faster, but happy none the less.
Bike:
Like I said earlier the bike starts of with a pretty good hill that really kind of zapped me right away, but after recovering for minute I was able to put in to a big gear and get cranking. There was one more good size climb shortly after leaving the park after a big down hill where I hit a top speed of 41 miles per hour, when I saw that on my bike computer I got kind of nervous for a second but just held on for dear life and didn't even think about touching my brakes. The majority of the course was flat and on some of the stretches I got into my biggest gears and was hitting speeds of 25-27 mph I was worried that I was going to gas out for the second half of the ride and be left in a world of hurt for the run but the effort level was not the high. I shifted way forward on my seat which took a lot of the tension of my quads, hurt my under carriage to sit that far forward, but I can see the benefit of a tri bike putting you in a more forward position and saving your legs, can't wait til I can invest the money in one.
I passed quite a few people on the bike which really surprised me and didn't get passed my very many either, I was able to pass a couple of guys on one small hill towards the end before coming back into the park where there was probably the most dangerous downhill section. I knew it was going to be bad when I say the hay bails lining the side of the road, I slowed way down and made no attempt at hitting that turn at top speed especially with returning bikers making that same turn coming from the other direction. Coming into transition I felt really good and was hoping for a great time. I glimpsed at my watch and knew I was under 1:15 which was my goal, I officially finished the bike section in 1:14:19.
Transition 2 was uneventful and I was in and out in 1:07
Run:
I started off the run feeling pretty good, took it nice and slow up the first hill and then after start to pick up some speed I got passed right away by a younger kid and I pretty much rode his coat tails the whole way. On the run course I really got to experience how wonderful the volunteer staff was, they were super supportive yelling out encouragement and evening running along side of you to hand you water or gatorade so you wouldn't have to break stride or move over into a crowd. There was an aid station every mile or more and each had water, gatorade, bags of ice, cold sponges or towels, simply amazing support by this race.
The run itself went great, I never felt like I was pushing to hard even though as the race director described it was a very technical course with over 400 feet of elevation gain and loss. My goal was to run in 52 minutes or just under 8:30 pace and every time I would look down at my watch I would see my pace right where I needed it to be or under and that just fueled me to move a little faster. I ended up passing the kid I had been following at mile 5 and I told him I followed him the whole way now don't let me pass you now, he kept up with me towards the end and finished just after me. The last hill (which was the first) I was just in a controlled fall going down I topped out at 5 min mile pace which is smoking fast for me and darn near dangerous going down hill but I carried that momentum all the way through the last turn and passed the finish line in a run time of 51:05 and a total time of 2:32:35 which was good enough for 45th overall and first in the Clydesdale Division.
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I'm really happy with this race, my goal was to go under 2:45 and I blew that out of the water, I never felt like I was pushing to hard and felt comfortable (well as comfortable as you can be in an endurance sport) throughout the whole race. I know I could have pushed harder if I had too, but it wasn't easy by any stretch.
This was truly an amazing event and it will be a must do for the future. I will say I was nervous and intimidated by the Olympic distance but after having done what I've been told is a very difficult course I can honestly say I really enjoyed it and can't wait to do another one.
Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.
