It was a time trial start for all AG'ers so I went off with the men 40+ (blue caps). They sent off groups of 4 at a time so I think I was in the third group. There was no pause between the men 30-39 and our wave so it just ran all together. I ended up going to the left of the other 3 in my group and eventually had to veer right as I got closer to the turn buoy but I had smooth water in front of me. There was very little opportunity to draft in this swim, turns out I had the fastest swim split in my AG. I ended up having to weed through the M30-39 group and a few of the wave before them as well.

Heading east right into the sun was interesting. Actually my goggles fogged up jsut enough to where I stopped to rinse them out with about 300-400 meter to go. I couldn't really see where I was going that sun was so bad, I ended up just looking to my left at some other swimmers and kept going in that general direction. Pace and siting were not even close to my best in this swim although it wasn't a disaster being a non-wetsuit swim.



Put some anti-fog stuff on my goggles which I forgot at home this time.

Typical transition for me. Had trouble with one of my bike shoes which added a few seconds.

I"m too laid back to practice transitions.

A pretty good bike leg for me. I don't do a running start nor have shoes already attached so I ran the bike to the mount line, stopped, clipped in left foot then right and passed a couple guys rolling slow trying to secure their shoe straps. I guess they like to brag about quick transitions without regards to the added time to their actually rolling time......

I quickly started passing guys as we rolled out of the Grays Lake area. Once I got to Waterworks Park there was a pack of 4 in front of me, all within draft zone distance of each other. NICE! They were moving pretty good, probably 22-23 mph so I burned a match passing the 4 of them all at once. They were all in the M30-39 age group I noticed.

The one, maybe only noticeable climb was West on Thornton Ave for about 3/4 of a mile where I passed a couple more 30 something year olds and a 20 something year old. I stayed down on the bars and just spun up most of the small climbs on this course.

The most memorable part of this ride was somewhere on that State highway 28 where I again, came up on a 4-man "pack". The three in the rear were surely in the zone they shouldn't have been and sure enough, the sound of the motorbike was coming up behind me. I am not familiar with ALL of the USAT rules so to avoid be cited for drafting I rode to the LEFT of the pack. As the motorcycle passed me the passenger was looking long at me. Hmmm, maybe I was in the wrong. Anyhow as he rode up front there was some clip board writing going on so for sure I thought it would be for the pack in front of me. About a minute or so later I sped up and passed all 4 of them, again all in their 20's or 30's. I was wondering "aren't there anybody in my AG up here???? My swim was over 27 minutes so surely there's a fish up here in my AG to catch...

For the rest of the ride I just tried to stay down like a turtle and power through and try not to burn too many matches. I would pass a few more 20-30 year olds but I never did see anyone in their 40's so I figured whoever was ahead of me were going to stay there as I wasn't going to run anybody down with my 7:45 pace.

Oh, I almost forgot, the 2nd most memorable part of this bike leg was when my chain came off. I was on what was probably the longest descent coming back towards Waterworks Park and I was shifting to my highest gear and all of a sidden I hear the clankity clank of my chain coming off. It actually came off the big ring on the crank side. WTF!!! ??? I was probably rolling at 30+ mph so I was pedaling in reverse trying to get the chain to re-engage and wouldn't you know it about the time the descent started to flatten out that sucker came back on to the ring. I lost a few seconds of time but I was sure glad I didn't have to get off the bike. Not sure why that happened. I'll consult my friends and teammates on any theories of why that happened when I get a chance.

Well, ultimately know the rules a little bit better. More to come later.....

I rolled off the main road into Grays lake and there was a rider in front of me. That road is pretty narrow and you have riders just starting their bike leg coming the opposite way. I stayed behind him for a few hundred yards but he was in his cool down before the run mode and I was still "racing" so I went by him as there was still a third to a half mile to the bike dismount.

I don't do any of those fancy flying dismounts or anything so I stopped, got off the bike and run with my cleats to my spot near the big tree. There were virtually no bikes on my rack (see picture). A lot of the guys around me in transition were in my age group so I must have had a pretty good bike leg comparitively. My daughter was looking for me but couldn't see me coming out of the water so when she got near transition all she could see was my bike there all alone (she took the picture)

I couldn't find my sunglasses quickly, I must have chucked them pretty far before removing my helmet so I finally gave up and headed out without them. That probably cost me 5 seconds or so. No big deal.

Not much, maybe tuck my sunglasses in my jersey instead of chucking them on the ground.

Well, let's see, I've averaged under 7 miles per week running over the last 3 months so I wonder how this is going to turn out. It's interesting to see how run fitness can hold up if you're keeping your weight in check and riding a lot. I started out at what felt like a 7:30-7:40 pace as I headed west on that unshaded path between Grays Lake and the parking lot. It was basically a mile west to a turnaround then a mile east back towards transition. A couple of those 20 & 30 year olds I passed on the bike returned the favor in this out & back section. I took gatorade at the first aid station as I only had water during the bike. I usually have some electronlytes of some kind on the bike but this time just went with water.

The run course was mostly unshaded and it started to get warm, it was already humid. I dumped water on my head at most of the remaining aid stations. Every know and then a younger athlete would pass me but not one person in his 40's would pass me on the run. I glanced at my watch a few times, figured for most of the run I was around 7:30-7:40 pace until that big hill near the finish.

This run course is a real teaser because you run east towards the finish line where you can hear the cheering but then you make a u-turn and head back west again. then you make a final turn and head back towards to capital back to that nice little hill. Talk about a death march. I must have slowed to a 9-10 minute pace going up that thing. I didn't even look behind me as at that point I just wanted it to end.

I made the left turn and finally saw the finish line and finished as strong as I could on what little I had in the tank. It was fun finishing on that nice blue carpet and the really cool race atmosphere.


Nothing, I ran within my abilities and wasn't around any competitors in my division to where I was challenged mentally.

Met my daughter right after getting my finishers medal. We walked over to the food tent then over to the chocolate milk tent which is what I really wanted. Downed a couple of those then walked around for about 10 minutes. I finally sat down in the shade. I comtemplated getting a massage but that line looked too long and didn't want my daughter to have to wait around even longer. I went to the timing tent to get my results and it showed I was first in my age group! Based on my time I couldn't believe it but I guess you never know who's going to show up.

I went back to the shade to eat and drink some more and wait for the awards ceremony then it was announced that penalties have been posted near the results tent. HImmmm, I needed to make sure I wasn't tagged for something so much to my surprise my bib number was on the list! Oh no there goes my AG victory! The referee was standing there to answer questions so I asked him what I did wrong. I think the penalty was 5.10f which was a position violation. When I was behind that 4-man draft pack and veered left to avoid the drafting penalty that put me in a position for the position penalty. If you're left of a pace line for more than 15 seconds that's a penalty. I wasn't clear of that rule especially since it isn't enforced at the small local races I do. The ref told me I would have been better off staying in the pace line then accelerating past them.

Anyhow I learned something new. The cool part is 10 minutes later I went back to the timing tent to get my adjusted results which included the 2 minute penalty and I was STILL first in AG! Turns out I was first in AG on the swim by over a minute and had the second fastest bike split so off the bike I had a pretty good lead and nobody could make up the difference on this day.


Mainly run training.


My daughter said it all as we were walking from the Hy-Vee food tent towards the finish line ... "Now THIS is how you put on a triathlon". This race was a first class event start to finish. Having pros in this race was a real treat, meeting them at the Expo, seeing them off at the swim start and watching them hammer effortlessly on the bike course. Cam Dye averaged 28.4 mph on that bike course after crushing the swim and Rinny averaged 6:02 miles on the run which was not enough with Sarah Haskins exiting T2 with over a 4 minute lead but looked good in prep for Kona. Just fun seeing this stuff live and in person. Hat off to PEM and the people of Des Moines to make this event so enjoyable. I hope the pros continue to come back and the sponsorships continue enabling this race to remain in place.