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Friday, July 10, 2009

HyVee Race Report

Yeah, time to get my race on.

The last weekend in June was the HyVee Triathlon. It is an Olympic distance race and it starts at the crack of dawn. It is definitely a big deal in the Midwest in the triathlon community at least. Mainly, I think, due to the pro race. (The New Zealand team, Mexican team, and Russian teams stayed in the same hotel we did.)

First wave left at 6:00 am. My wave was third to last and I didn't leave until 6:50 am or so.

It is a big race with a gazillion people. The transition area is big, the fast guys are all there with there fancy bikes, the pre race meetings are intimidating. It is just one of those races. I know that fast bikes don't make the rider but it is pretty hard to ignore all those disk wheels.

Transition at 5:00 am







I was set to race. The water was a balmy 86 degrees. Significantly warmer than the air. I lined up in middle of the front of my wave. I almost never do that but I was prepared to go out fast and then just hang in as best I could. I had pretty clear water until I came around the last buoy and started catching the wave in front of me. I got clobbered. Ever been breaststroke kicked in the face by an old guy? It is not awesome. I don't recommend it. Anywho, came out of the water and headed for transition. We had to run through quite a bit of sand and had sandy, wet feet when I got to my bike. I didn't have anything to wipe them off with so I jumped into my cycling shoes and was off. The bike went well. The ride was an out and back and the out part seemed to include more uphill than down and a head wind. That made the ride back to transition faster. Ate a package of Cliff Shot Bloks on the bike and a part of a bottle of Gatorade. I think that only one girl in my age group dropped me on the bike ride. She was way fast. I am glad that I didn't try to hang with her or I would have blown up for sure. Flew into transition, ripped off my cycling shoes, yanked on the running shoes, grabbed my race belt and visor and was off again. Legs felt a little heavy but not bad at all. Had a decent run for a race and was pretty happy with it. Got boxed out by two older gentlemen at the finishing chute when I was trying to go in with a girl in my age group. Not bad at all. 12/74 in my age group.

This is actually a slightly slower time than last year but the course was different and they can't be compared. I did place better in my age group so I'll take it. I did drop about 3 minutes in transition times combined this year but part of that is due to not needing a wetsuit and only having one transition time this year.

bib number: 1549
age: 29
gender: F
location: OMAHA, NE
overall place: 586 out of 1404
division place: 12 out of 74
gender place: 100 out of 420
time: 2:46:53
swim: 31:41
t1: 1:38
bike: 1:19:06
t2: 1:20
run: 53:10
penalty: 0:00

Post race shots in our Arizona Freak Factor gear.
Me, Kurt, and Lisa








So there is a quick race report for the last race I did. Good timing since I am racing tomorrow morning (Sunday, July 19th) again. Oops. :)