First Olympic Distance Tri in the books: The HyVee Triathlon (Moments of Clarity)

The Hy-Vee Triathlon is in the books folks. The race went as planned. I think the most satisfying part of the deal is that it was "boring" with nothing in particular to overcome. It felt like I was training and while executing each piece, simply zoned into training mode. I knew that my quads would be a bit crampy after a couple miles on the run...so I knew the feeling, sucked down some gator aide and it subsided...just like training.

My only goal starting out was to FINISH and NOT be last in my age group. I can say proudly that I was 150th out of 168...36-40 year old men. I was 707th of 857 male finishers. These numbers make me very happy.

After the race we quickly made our way home, got ready and drove out to watch the the Iowa Corn 250 Indy race at Iowa Speedway. What a day!

I'm really not certain if I'll do anymore triathlons. When I began this quest last October, I had no idea that triathlon is almost a "lifestyle" and that there are probably 30 more triathlons around Iowa alone of various distances. The training demands of 3 distinct sports are pretty stressful on schedules and family. Not to mention the body. There are really no excuses though since I spent most of my day getting passed by people much older and in better shape than I. The organizers write your age on the back of your left calf. Nothing is more (motivating?) humbling than watching 52, 61, 48, and 59 cruise by you while you're lumbering up a hill.

I've been tossing around the idea of switching into weight lifting and martial arts mode as the next longer term challenge/goal. I've had great luck setting a new "off in the distance" physical goal and executing a plan to reach it. That mode has given me the mojo to stick with a healthy and active lifestyle. I hope I'm setting an example that our kids will latch onto.

Thank you
As always a special thanks goes out to my lovely wife for encouraging me and putting up with my training schedule/demands. She has found her way into a women's cycling club and is pursuing her own healthy goals as well. Thanks to my little munchkins for always being interested in what I'm doing and for coming along to "Their Gym" (ie the play area at Aspen).

Thanks to Steve Reese and all of the team at Fitness Together in Clive for training me from day 1 when my goal was simply to get in shape for RAGBRAI of 2007 and for the magical stretching/sports therapy that gave me "Happy Legs" that were eager to swim/bike/run! Thanks also to Ryan and Bill from Nutri-Sport/Full Potential Training who helped me with my nutritional needs and my last burst of weight lifting circuit training to cut fat and gain endurance.

Times

Swim: 1.5km = 33.20
Bike: 40km = 1:23:40
Run: 10km = 1:04:17

balance of time was transitions.

Update: Official Time 3:10:30