My race report for the Hy-Vee U.S. Championships located in Des Moines, Iowa actually begins in St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay, Florida. Back in April, my family flew down to Florida to race in the St. Anthony's triathlon, which served as a qualify event for the Hy-Vee Triathlon 51.50 U.S. Championship. Placing top 15 in a 51.50 qualifying events secures a spot for the U.S. Championship.
Travelling to Des Moines, we decided to fly to Chicago to pick up sister and drive west to Iowa. The drive was pretty tough with the torrential rain making visibility difficult. Thankfully, the rain eased up eventually and we made it to Iowa safely. Thank you to my Dad for driving the whole way!
Pre-race meeting was pretty cool. They scheduled the elite amateurs right after the elite professionals. We got to meet a lot of the pro's (e.g., Javier Gomez, Bevan Docherty, Luke McKenzie) after their meeting concluded.
Race morning we woke up to pretty bad thunderstorms. When we got to the course parking lot, we found out that there was an hour delay. Thankfully, the weather cleared, and the race was on.
Lining up on the swim, I found myself next to Adam Webber, one of the top amateurs in the country who swam for the University of Pittsburgh. The field in general was very competitive and that was evident on the first turn with a pack of swimmers grouped together. During the turn, my goggles were knocked off slightly, but I was able to readjust and keep swimming.
Towards the last 400 yards, I felt good and was able to catch a couple swimmers before we exited to T1. Out of the swim I was in 13th position with a time of 20:28, which put me right behind Colin Riley, who was the overall champion at US Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee.
Coming out of the water, my knee felt fine, but I cautiously held back running too fast in T1 just to not cause any aggravation.
As we moved to the bike course, it was stick slick from the rain that morning. Coming out of the park perhaps 8 miles into the bike leg, there was a sharp turn. I thought I slowed down enough to take it safely, but realized my wheels were sliding out underneath me. As I was falling, it seemed like I was moving in slow motion. I could hear a race volunteer clearly say to a fellow volunteer "I guess we should have someone stand before the turn to tell people to really slow down." As I am skidding across the gravel listening to this volunteer, I am thinking to myself "great…sounds like a lot of people have been wiping out on this turn." Speaking with Adam Webber after the race, he informed me that this was the section where he fell last year, which cost him first place and a MINI Cooper car that was given to the top amateur. There was no car for first place this year, but still $5,150 worth of prizes.
I was able to get back up, and thankfully, there was no damage to the bike.
The wipe out on the bike turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My knee had not improved from an IT band injury from NJ and Milwaukee. Going into the race, I was planning on just stopping after the swim/bike to avoid any additional damage to my knee. Discussing my plans with my parents and sister the day before the race, my Dad said to me "if you are in 5th or 6th place, just go for it." Coming into T2, I was calculating my position and realized I was in 5th or 6th place. I took an Aleve before the race and with the distraction of the pain from falling on the bike, I could not feel any pain from the IT band injury...so I decided to go for it.
I'm glad I decided to finish the race. Even though my run was pretty slow compared to my times from earlier races in the year, it is always a good feeling finishing a race. I ended up being passed several times to finish 14th in the elite amateur wave (i.e., 16th overall with two age group participants beating my time).
Overall this race was a lot of fun. The gifts for athletes were generous including a nice backpack. The cost for race was very reasonable, only $99.
After Milwaukee (Age Group Nationals and Des Moines), the mid-west is growing on us. Both were very nice cities and great venues for racing.
Interesting fact about Des Moines: refueling our rental car, we used 'plus' grade gasoline. At first glance, we just thought the cheaper price for plus compared to regular gasoline was a mistake; however, we found out that the cheaper price of 'plus' was due to issues with using ethanol in the fuel.
Travelling to Des Moines, we decided to fly to Chicago to pick up sister and drive west to Iowa. The drive was pretty tough with the torrential rain making visibility difficult. Thankfully, the rain eased up eventually and we made it to Iowa safely. Thank you to my Dad for driving the whole way!
Pre-race meeting was pretty cool. They scheduled the elite amateurs right after the elite professionals. We got to meet a lot of the pro's (e.g., Javier Gomez, Bevan Docherty, Luke McKenzie) after their meeting concluded.
Race morning we woke up to pretty bad thunderstorms. When we got to the course parking lot, we found out that there was an hour delay. Thankfully, the weather cleared, and the race was on.
Lining up on the swim, I found myself next to Adam Webber, one of the top amateurs in the country who swam for the University of Pittsburgh. The field in general was very competitive and that was evident on the first turn with a pack of swimmers grouped together. During the turn, my goggles were knocked off slightly, but I was able to readjust and keep swimming.
Towards the last 400 yards, I felt good and was able to catch a couple swimmers before we exited to T1. Out of the swim I was in 13th position with a time of 20:28, which put me right behind Colin Riley, who was the overall champion at US Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee.
Coming out of the water, my knee felt fine, but I cautiously held back running too fast in T1 just to not cause any aggravation.
As we moved to the bike course, it was stick slick from the rain that morning. Coming out of the park perhaps 8 miles into the bike leg, there was a sharp turn. I thought I slowed down enough to take it safely, but realized my wheels were sliding out underneath me. As I was falling, it seemed like I was moving in slow motion. I could hear a race volunteer clearly say to a fellow volunteer "I guess we should have someone stand before the turn to tell people to really slow down." As I am skidding across the gravel listening to this volunteer, I am thinking to myself "great…sounds like a lot of people have been wiping out on this turn." Speaking with Adam Webber after the race, he informed me that this was the section where he fell last year, which cost him first place and a MINI Cooper car that was given to the top amateur. There was no car for first place this year, but still $5,150 worth of prizes.
I was able to get back up, and thankfully, there was no damage to the bike.
The wipe out on the bike turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My knee had not improved from an IT band injury from NJ and Milwaukee. Going into the race, I was planning on just stopping after the swim/bike to avoid any additional damage to my knee. Discussing my plans with my parents and sister the day before the race, my Dad said to me "if you are in 5th or 6th place, just go for it." Coming into T2, I was calculating my position and realized I was in 5th or 6th place. I took an Aleve before the race and with the distraction of the pain from falling on the bike, I could not feel any pain from the IT band injury...so I decided to go for it.
I'm glad I decided to finish the race. Even though my run was pretty slow compared to my times from earlier races in the year, it is always a good feeling finishing a race. I ended up being passed several times to finish 14th in the elite amateur wave (i.e., 16th overall with two age group participants beating my time).
Overall this race was a lot of fun. The gifts for athletes were generous including a nice backpack. The cost for race was very reasonable, only $99.
After Milwaukee (Age Group Nationals and Des Moines), the mid-west is growing on us. Both were very nice cities and great venues for racing.
Interesting fact about Des Moines: refueling our rental car, we used 'plus' grade gasoline. At first glance, we just thought the cheaper price for plus compared to regular gasoline was a mistake; however, we found out that the cheaper price of 'plus' was due to issues with using ethanol in the fuel.