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My family and I traveled to Des Moines, IA on labor day weekend for a full weekend of racing. The kids were set to race in the IronKids qualifier on Saturday, and my wife and I on Sunday in the HyVee. Sadly, the IronKids race was cancelled due to thundershowers, but Sunday was predicted to have near perfect racing conditons. First of all, a little background on the HyVee triathlon. It is actually 3 races on the same day. First is the ironman 5150 series US championship and the HyVee age group triathlon which are run together on the same course. Thirdly is the HyVee Elite Cup race which are the pros in a draft legal event. This race is the richest in all of triathlon with a purse of just over a million dollars. This year's event attracted many of the top level pros including both current male and female Ironman world champions Chris McCormack and Mirinda Carfrae. All althletes must attend a race briefing prior to picking up their packets. This is a very well organized event. Held downtown in the expo center, the briefings are held every 30 minutes and last about 20 min. each. After attending the briefing, your hand is stamped and you are moved into the next room to pick up your race packet and schwagg bags. From there you exit into the race expo where you have the opportunity to buy race related gear and pick up a lot of freebies, and by a lot of freebies, I mean we left there with tons of free stuff, from jars of peanut butter, to a case of Myoplex, bottles of 5 hour energy drink, and much much more. Bike check in takes place on Saturday and must be checked in by 8:00 p.m. The transition area is very long and narrow, maybe 250-300 yards in a grassy area. Due to the rain on Saturday, it was more of a muddy area.

Sunday, the alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. A bagel with peanut butter (from the expo), a banana, and a cup of coffee got me rolling. Parking was across the street from the swim start/transition. The air temperature was 60 degrees with a light breeze. Water temperature had been at 82 in the days leading up to the race and the race director had sent out an email stating that it would not be wetsuit legal. Well you guessed it, the cold front that had moved through on Saturday dropped the water temp down to 75.4, wetsuit legal. My wife and I decided not to wear out wetsuits because we left them at home. It didn't matter to us anyway, we had already decided that we weren't going to wear them regardless of the water temp. Thankfully, we had bought jackets prior to race day to wear on race morning. Race was scheduled to go off at 7:00, but my wave wasn't scheduled to go off until 8:12, and we had gotten there around 5:00. Many athletes stood around shivering in their race kits and bare feet. I downed a GU Roctane about 45 minutes prior to my scheduled swim start with a little water.

Swim: Waves by age group in a time trial start with 5 athletes leaving every 10-15 seconds. My wife's wave had left about 12-15 minutes prior to mine, and I wondered if and when I would catch her. Run in from a sandy beach into Gray Lake. The warm water felt good, visibility below average probably due to the rain the day before. Single loop swim around 5 bouys. One right turn around a small peninsula, then 4 left turns. My goggles fogged up almost immediately. I felt really good in the water though, and did not want to stop to fix them. I could barely see, but thought I could make it through OK. They did a good job of placing sight bouys in between the turn bouys and I relied on them heavily. The longest leg of the swim turns you straight into the rising sun. Not good with foggy goggles, now I had glare to add to my sighting. I think the saving grace on this leg, is that you follow a long foot bridge on your right with the sighting bouys on your left. Anyway, I made it through the swim and felt I had swam well when exiting the water. I felt I had swam better that what my time showed (33:18) which I probably did, but I think I must have weaved left to right quite a bit trying to sight a bouy. I know I can swim 1500 meters sub 30 minutes, but that's just part of it I guess. After exiting the water, you have a long run down the beach running parallel to transition. Again, muddy from the rain, and somewhat slick in bare feet. My bike was racked almost at the very end of transition at the swim in end. So I had a long run out with my bike through a muddy transition area with my bike shoes on. I was a little concerned that my shoes would not clip into the pedals from all of the mud on the bottom of them, but was able to clip in without a problem.

Bike: The bike is pretty flat and fast compared to southwest Missouri. Wind picked up to about 10 mph with light gusts. One bottle of Gatorade is all I carried on my bike, and one Gu Roctane gel in my pocket. Steady small climb at the beginning, but nothing bad. The course is closed to traffic. They shut down all four lanes on most of the bike course leaving more than enough room for manuvering around slower riders. One down hill on the first half of the ride where you can open it up and hit speeds in the upper to mid 30's mph, but ends with a crossing over railroad tracks covered with carpet which helps a little, though I still found it unsettling at that speed. It also has a left hand turn and levels out after crossing the tracks which cuts your speed pretty quick. You actually cross RR tracks 4 times during the ride, but all are covered with the aforementioned carpet. The bike route is also one loop. Not too technical either, a couple of sharp turns here and there, but well marked and controlled by police. On mile 21 of the bike, I heard the words "Hey you schmuck!' I knew right then and there I had just passed my wife. I smiled and went on my way knowing she was OK. Mile 22 I downed the gel and cruised into T2 feeling pretty good. Kept my cadence high on the bike in prep for the run. 40K bike split of 1:12:14. Again, a long run all the way down to the end of transition. I took the last swig of Gatorade from my bike bottle and headed out on the run. Also, just a note, no aid stations on the bike course.

Run: Again, flat and fast, at least 99.9% of it is. The first half of the run takes you out around the lake on paved bike/running trails which are well shaded. Aid stations every mile offering water and Gatorade. Legs felt strong and quick. Cardio felt good as well. The run is point to point ending in front of the Iowa state capitol building. The second half of the run takes you through the city streets of Des Moines. This is the only time I set my watch so I could pace myself. The miles seemed to click off pretty quick for me. I thought maybe I had not pushed it on the bike hard enough, but ended up feeling pretty good about it. The last half of the run I parked myself behind a 20 year old girl who was keeping about the same pace as me. I ran through all of the aid stations keeping my pace. The last half mile of the run starts an uphill climb to the capitol. There is about a quarter mile of it that turns sharply upward, then levels out down the blue carpeted finishing chute in front of it. Finished the 10K run in 48:41. I felt good about my run. Again, I thought maybe I hadn't left it all out there on the course. It really didn't matter much though. It was a beautiful day, and a near perfect race for me. Could I have pushed it a little harder? Perhaps, but I guess I'll have to come back next year and try to beat it. With transitions added in to my time, I ended up at 2 hours 40 minutes and 19 seconds, a new PR for me at the olympic distance by almost 16 minutes!

The HyVee triathlon is a very well run event that is very well supported by the whole community. HyVee and other sponsors dump a ton of money into this event making it a first class race. I look forward to coming back to it in 2012, it's well worth the drive from my home almost 6 hours away.