Before I recap my weekend, I'd like to ask everyone reading to say a little prayer for the family of the man that lost his life during the swim of the Hy-Vee Tri this weekend. Jim Goodman, 46, signaled for help and by the time the boat reached him, he was going under. They were unable to revive him. He is survived by his wife and 3 daughters, 11, 7, and 3....please say a prayer for them!
This weekend was the big Hy-Vee Tri. Saturday I went out to the kids races as I knew some of the little ones participating. They kept their event as a duathlon as the swim venue was still slightly flooded and there wasn't a good low depth area for them to swim in. These kids worked hard and did great. It was VERY cool to watch!
On Sunday I woke up at 3:45 to get some food in my stomach and do one last check of my swim bag to make sure I had everything. My biggest debate of the day was if I should wear my wetsuit or not.
Kyle dropped me off at the swim venue about 4:45 and I headed over to get marked and get the timing chip for our team. I hear the official announcement that the water is 75. I've already decided that since I'm not 100% on swimming this mile, I'd wear the wetsuit for the buoyancy in case I needed it....well, I think that ended up being the wrong choice!
6:00am - they finally get everyone out of transition and headed over to the start. The first wave is off at 6:18, we are the 4th wave out. As we line up for the swim I am really second guessing my wetsuit....too late now!
Off we go!
About 300yds into it I hear a bunch of yelling and my lifeguard instincts kick in, I see a group about 30yds to my right holding a person up and yelling for help, another gal next to me and I start yelling and pointing, they see them, so off we go again.
Round the first buoy and a HUGE gulp of water! YUCK! I'm totally disgusted as I know that the water is even dirtier because of the floods...I tried to do a little breastroke to get my composure, but felt like I wasn't moving. How about sidestroke...GREAT...it's faster and I can cough and get over my icky feeling!
Back to freestyle. Just before the next buoy I start to wheeze and feel really hot! I think I'm overheating in my wetsuit!! Back to sidestroke and use one arm to move the wetsuit a little to get some more water in it to cool me off.
I then round the last buoy and am in a good rhythm and WHACK, I get smacked in the head...the guy even apologized! Once again a little sidestroke to get my composure.
Almost done...about 400yds to go! Kicked it in a little and made it pretty close to the edge before I stood up. I RAN as fast as I could, without falling, in transition to get to Kristin Reese and she took the timing chip and was off on the bike leg.
So, decision made, wetsuit is ONLY for training purposes. I have had issues in my last 2 races wearing it. If it's cold, I'll deal with it. If I'm not 100% in my head, I'll just talk myself into it!
After waiting for Julie G to exit her swim, she did the whole tri, I changed and took a little jog up to T2 and found Kelli, our runner, and we waited for Kristin to come in on the bike. After Kelli left on the run, we went over and got some food and drink from the participant tent and went over to watch all the other athletes. Some of the people were amazing! Kelli had a great run and we felt pretty good about how our team ended up.
Official Results:
My swim - 33:32 - 1.5K or 1 mile
T1 - me passing to Kristin - 1:04
Kristin bike - 1:12:34 - 40K bike or 26 miles
T2 - Kristin passing to Kelli
Kelli run - 1:02:42 - 10K or 6.2 miles
Total time was 2:51:18 for 9th of 38 all women teams. We did AWESOME and had I personally had a TON of fun!!
Monday, June 23, 2008
My first open water mile swim...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Swim is on...
it's official age-group and Elite will be swimming on Sunday. I have to say I'm kind of disappointed, the original press release made it sound they were just trying to find a venue for the Elites and I was ready to run!
I know a lot of people are happy the swim is back on, but I know others are tired of the back and forth.
check here for more info.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Another Update...
At noon while at the Y and at the swim meet tonight, I've heard they are testing the levels of bacteria in the water at Raccoon River Park. So does this mean they will change everyone back to a true Triathlon if levels are OK.
OR
Will they change just the Elites so they have their Olympic Qualifying and leave the age-group as is. My vote...leave age-group as is. I know many people that have changed their mindset for a different event, or have dropped out all-together.
Definitely change Elite back to a true Tri if they can....they need that Olympic Qualifier if they can have it!
I guess we'll know in about 36 hours....stay tuned!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Update on Hy-Vee Tri...
...looks like I will now be running a 5K as the last leg of our team! Freaking out, a little, my running still needs work! I guess this will be good training for me for my sprint Tri's later this summer!
more info here....
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Hy-Vee Triathlon
OK...so I'm supposed to be swimming at Gray's Lake on June 22nd for the Hy-Vee Tri. Well, it is currently closed due to the flooding and we have rain in the forecast for the next 2 days.
I emailed the race director and the Hy-Vee marketing director and asked to have something posted on the website as there are TONS of rumors going around about what is going to happen.
I got the following response:
Julie
When I know then everybody will know. With a changing situation - will not place wrong information on the site until I have correct info. Nobody wants to know what's going on more then me and I'm working with state and city officials to figure this out so please just tell folks to site and pray that the rain stops.
BB
Guess it's going to be awhile before we know if there will be an event!