Quad Cities Triathlon (Iowa)

Alright Alright.. I'm like A MONTH late on this race report... but I knew I'd get to it EVENTUALLY!

I decided to do the Quad Cities Triathlon last September after the OKC Redman. I qualified (barely) for Team USA for the Long Course World Championships in Immenstadt Germany at that race... but since I BARELY qualified and since I vowed never to do a long course race again (well at least in 2010), I turned my attention towards something I love... Sprint Races. I found out that the Quad Cities Tri (QCT) would be the Team USA world championships qualifier for 2010. So... I registered and several months later I was hopping a flight to Davenport Iowa.

My buddy Karen came along. Now something you should know about Karen. She's not only the best sport psychologist EVER.. she's the defending Masters National Time Trial Champion - two years in a row in fact - in cycling. She was an Age Group phenom in swmming in her home state of Indiana... and oh ya.. she ran competitively in distance events in college. Yup. She's amazing. Karen's hubby Sam hails from Iowa so she thought it would be a cool race to attend... and I was ecstatic to travel with her!

We flew into Moline IL.. with EPIC lightning shows outside the left side of the plane! We checked in to the ROACH motel... okay it was the Clarion but it might has well have been the Roach MOtel... it stunk.. had serious mold issues.. and our door never worked.. and the next day we went to ride the course (Friday). So there we are.. riding the 15 mile course... in Iowa... with black clouds to the west. Now keep in mind these aren't your typical black clouds... they are BLACK clouds. And we were trucking along at 25mph.. and they were catching us.. QUICKLY! It started to rain on us with about 2 miles left to go... and within 2 minutes, the storm was over the top of us. Now... again... keep in mind with these atypical black clouds came your not-so-typical storm. Imagine if you will 70 MPH SUSTAINED WINDS with gusts to 90 MPH. Yep. This was a "holy shitter". I was absolutely petrified. Karen, being from Indiana an all, was used to some pretty big storms.. but even this one scared her. We still had a mile to go before getting back to our car.. and Karen ducked in to a storage yard with some shelters. I kept riding.. thinking she didn't know where the car was parked. I remember her yelling .. "What are you DOING??" To which I replied, "The car is THAT way!!!!". She came back out on the road and at 3mph we continued to ride forward.. leaning about 30degrees to our left! We got back to where the car was parked and immediately went to a picnic shelter to sit out the storm. Unbelievable I tell you! Craaaaaaazy storm! Hail... heavy heavy rain (3" in all in about 30 minutes)... and very very strong winds. We found out the next day the same cell killed two people in Minnesota (tornados were everywhere in the storm.. but we didn't see any funnel clouds). That night more Tstorms struck the Quad Cities area. Every TV station was warning people to "take cover". I've never seen radar maps that RED and PURPLE.

The next morning was race morning. Perfect weather... although it was quite humid... and hot. And the ground was muddy. haha.

The swim was at West Lake Park. Lots of waves... and a time trial start. I wasn't a fan of this in the beginning. I figured by the time my wave got around, there would be 2,000 obstacles in front of me. But actually it worked out fairly well. It was organized... and I only had trouble getting around a few people. My sighting was pretty good I felt... and my time was fairly decent. For the 600 yards I was under 10 minutes... so I was pretty happy with that. Fastest time in the 40-45 age group and one of the top 5 fastest for all females.

T1 wasn't so great. I think I was 2-somethin... but I was okay with that. Had some trouble getting the new wetsuit off. Forgot the Body Glide! Definitely room to improve!

The bike seemed to go pretty well for me too... It was an out and back... and I seemed to pass a lot of people - men and women. I was only passed by 2 women total... and only one of them was in my AG.. so I was content with 2nd place heading into the run.

T2.. okay... a pretty quick transition at 1:10ish. could be faster.... but it was a pretty big transition area!

Now the run. I suck. I really suck. It was super hot... and muddy... and the trail was pretty narrow in parts.. and getting around the water holes was a task. This dude in front of me totally bit it... huge splash! :) The humidity was totally kicking my fanny too. I did NOT have a very good run .. had to walk a couple times to get my wheezing under control (note to self.. bring inhaler to race!!!!)... 9:10 mile pace. Definitely know what to work on, eyh? I ended up 5th in my AG... qualified for Worlds.

Oh.. and in case you're curious.... Karen kicked ass. She beat a couple of the pros... en route to 2nd in her AG and 5th overall female. Yup... I keep fast company! She's so awesome!

So... I'm registered.. and I'm going to BUDAPEST HUNGARY in September. I figure I had to be top 15... so placing top 5 is a little more respectable. I've got a lot to work on between now and then, though.... I need to get faster... My Budapest goal is to not get last... and to RUN the RUN. :)

One last thing... ERIC SARNO is the BEST RACE DIRECTOR EVER. Period. Period. Period. The attention to detail in this race and the race management was EXCEPTIONAL. This is the MODEL for which I will instruct my students!!!! Safety was a paramount concern... and every detail was directed towards that end.. which made for an INCREDIBLE race experience!

I'm out.