The Team Vardo Tri Group (acutally I coach all these folks but Kecia!)A free entry to the Hy-Vee Triathlon fell into my lap a few weeks ago. The only thing that had been holding me back from signing up on my own was the cost. I’ve done enough big races (and spent enough big money to do them) to know that at the end of the day, it’s still just an Olympic distance race. And, while Hy-Vee does hand out a lot of schwag, the quality isn’t enough to warrant the high price tag. Craig and Jenny put on awesome races with better schwag for half the price!
The original plan was to work the Zoom booth at the expo and take in all the rest of the events of the weekend without having the headache of actually doing the race. I was so excited to get $150 worth of free entry to the race that I grabbed it without really thinking about all the other inconveniences that go along with a race of this size – namely the parking, the athlete meetings, the bike check-in the day before, etc. Reality hit once the weekend rolled around.
On Friday I headed to West Des Moines to kill a couple birds with one stone. I hit the expo, chatted with Matt and Dustin at the Zoom booth for a little bit, then Dustin and I filed into the mandatory athlete meeting to hear a bunch of stuff that we either already knew or turned out to be misinformation! After the meeting and packet pick-up, I went back to the booth and ended up staying there for a couple more hours than I expected. We had a ton of our athletes come by, but we also talked to a lot of folks about who Zoom is and what we do. It seemed to be worth the extra effort to stay and spread the love!
Because Hy-Vee has so many connections in the food industry, there was free food all over the expo. I think that part of my undoing of the weekend started right there on Friday night. It seemed as though I was always snacking on something. Chips from the Doritos booth, granola bars from the schwag bag, “vitamin” water, etc. I spent more time than I had planned at the expo, and that meant I had more time to eat a lot of junk.
After the expo, Cam and I met Matt and some of his athletes for dinner. Pizza wasn’t the greatest choice I could have made (but, man, was it good!). Cam headed out early on Saturday morning for his race in Mankato, so I hung around the house until about 11am, then headed back to the race site to watch the pro races for the afternoon. I took in lots of water, but it was still blazing hot, and sitting in the sun from noon til about 7pm might not have been the best idea either. Kris, Kirstin, Kecia, and Tim were all down for some of the races, too, so we hung out and ate more free food.
Really the amount of food that was given away at this race to the spectators was like nothing I’d ever seen. The green movement meant that there were a bunch of vendors handing out reusable grocery sacks, and the people walking through the expo looked like they’d just done all their grocery shopping for the week. I basically ate lunch and dinner there, plus had tons of free water and other beverages whenever I needed. At one point, one of the vendors just started bringing free sandwiches into the stands and passing them out.
The women’s pro race was a blast to watch, but it was the men’s race later in the day that was the real nail-biter. Going into the last lap of the run, it was a 6-man race. The sprint to the finish was awesome, with the difference between 1st and 3rd place costing the losers over $150,000! Very exciting, and I’m glad I was there to witness it!
At 6pm, they finally let us start checking our bikes in for the night. By that time, I would guess that I’d walked about 5-6 miles in the heat and humidity of that day. Again, not the best idea the day before a big race… I had to get home and to bed early since the raced started at 6am the next morning! I’m so thankful that I was able to stay at Cam’s the night before. The rest of the Team Vardo folks from Ames doing the race had 3-3:30am wake-ups - I got to sleep in til 4!
It was a cool morning, and I tried to do everything the same as I always do before a race, including what I eat. My stomach is usually iron-clad, and I rarely have any sort of problems with it. For that, I am very thankful. I parked and walked to the race in the dark, just as the sun was coming up. I easily met up with my athletes and the Vardos in transition. We shot the breeze, took some pictures, then huddled together on the beach to keep warm!
The swim was not wetsuit legal, and not one of the worst swims I’ve been a part of. My swim training this year has consisted of about 6 weeks of swimming in February and March, then nothing (at all!) until a week before Copper Creek. I managed 3 open water swims before taking on the one mile swim at Hy-Vee. Not exactly what I would recommend to my athletes, but at least all that Ironman training stuck in my brain and allowed me a decent swim.
I got out of the water feeling good, had a great transition, and was very thankful to feel that the temperature had risen enough that I wouldn’t freeze my ta-tas on the bike. Again, I wanted to see what kind of damage I could inflict out on the bike course. There were lots of Des Moines cyclists out cheering (heckling) on the course. I put the hammer down on the first half, making sure I didn’t get passed by any other females. The course was pretty packed, but that is just what you get in a race this size. I was going back and forth with a couple of guys, most notable was the guy wearing his old tri shorts with the spandex rotting out of the rear seam. Yep, the view of his crack gleaming in the morning sun nearly burned my retinas right out of my head.
About mid-way through the bike I started to notice a little twinge in my gut. I thought it might just be from riding in aero, as I’ve been riding primarily on my road bike lately. It didn’t get worse, though it didn’t get better either, so I sort of just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I also decided not to take any nutrition (gels) during the ride so I didn’t upset my gut any further.
After a decent ride, I easily transitioned off the bike and headed out into the heat of the morning on the run. The first mile was fine, but as my effort increased with the first incline, my gut started to revolt in anger. Quickly my race plan turned from finish strong to run the downhills and flats and take it easy (read: walk) on the uphills. Bummer.
I tried drinking water, I tried not drinking water. I thought about trying a gel, but was pretty sure my stomach wouldn’t tolerate that. I ran/walked nearly the entire 10K. Thankfully the last mile or so is all downhill or flat, so I did my best to make it to the finish line without embarrassing myself!
Regardless of how you feel at the end of Hy-Vee, it’s still a pretty cool experience to run on the bright blue carpet through the grandstand area to the finish line. I got my finisher’s medal and ran right into Ric Jurgens (Hy-Vee CEO). I thanked him for putting on such a great race right here in Des Moines.
The original plan was to work the Zoom booth at the expo and take in all the rest of the events of the weekend without having the headache of actually doing the race. I was so excited to get $150 worth of free entry to the race that I grabbed it without really thinking about all the other inconveniences that go along with a race of this size – namely the parking, the athlete meetings, the bike check-in the day before, etc. Reality hit once the weekend rolled around.
On Friday I headed to West Des Moines to kill a couple birds with one stone. I hit the expo, chatted with Matt and Dustin at the Zoom booth for a little bit, then Dustin and I filed into the mandatory athlete meeting to hear a bunch of stuff that we either already knew or turned out to be misinformation! After the meeting and packet pick-up, I went back to the booth and ended up staying there for a couple more hours than I expected. We had a ton of our athletes come by, but we also talked to a lot of folks about who Zoom is and what we do. It seemed to be worth the extra effort to stay and spread the love!
Because Hy-Vee has so many connections in the food industry, there was free food all over the expo. I think that part of my undoing of the weekend started right there on Friday night. It seemed as though I was always snacking on something. Chips from the Doritos booth, granola bars from the schwag bag, “vitamin” water, etc. I spent more time than I had planned at the expo, and that meant I had more time to eat a lot of junk.
After the expo, Cam and I met Matt and some of his athletes for dinner. Pizza wasn’t the greatest choice I could have made (but, man, was it good!). Cam headed out early on Saturday morning for his race in Mankato, so I hung around the house until about 11am, then headed back to the race site to watch the pro races for the afternoon. I took in lots of water, but it was still blazing hot, and sitting in the sun from noon til about 7pm might not have been the best idea either. Kris, Kirstin, Kecia, and Tim were all down for some of the races, too, so we hung out and ate more free food.
Really the amount of food that was given away at this race to the spectators was like nothing I’d ever seen. The green movement meant that there were a bunch of vendors handing out reusable grocery sacks, and the people walking through the expo looked like they’d just done all their grocery shopping for the week. I basically ate lunch and dinner there, plus had tons of free water and other beverages whenever I needed. At one point, one of the vendors just started bringing free sandwiches into the stands and passing them out.
The women’s pro race was a blast to watch, but it was the men’s race later in the day that was the real nail-biter. Going into the last lap of the run, it was a 6-man race. The sprint to the finish was awesome, with the difference between 1st and 3rd place costing the losers over $150,000! Very exciting, and I’m glad I was there to witness it!
At 6pm, they finally let us start checking our bikes in for the night. By that time, I would guess that I’d walked about 5-6 miles in the heat and humidity of that day. Again, not the best idea the day before a big race… I had to get home and to bed early since the raced started at 6am the next morning! I’m so thankful that I was able to stay at Cam’s the night before. The rest of the Team Vardo folks from Ames doing the race had 3-3:30am wake-ups - I got to sleep in til 4!
It was a cool morning, and I tried to do everything the same as I always do before a race, including what I eat. My stomach is usually iron-clad, and I rarely have any sort of problems with it. For that, I am very thankful. I parked and walked to the race in the dark, just as the sun was coming up. I easily met up with my athletes and the Vardos in transition. We shot the breeze, took some pictures, then huddled together on the beach to keep warm!
The swim was not wetsuit legal, and not one of the worst swims I’ve been a part of. My swim training this year has consisted of about 6 weeks of swimming in February and March, then nothing (at all!) until a week before Copper Creek. I managed 3 open water swims before taking on the one mile swim at Hy-Vee. Not exactly what I would recommend to my athletes, but at least all that Ironman training stuck in my brain and allowed me a decent swim.
I got out of the water feeling good, had a great transition, and was very thankful to feel that the temperature had risen enough that I wouldn’t freeze my ta-tas on the bike. Again, I wanted to see what kind of damage I could inflict out on the bike course. There were lots of Des Moines cyclists out cheering (heckling) on the course. I put the hammer down on the first half, making sure I didn’t get passed by any other females. The course was pretty packed, but that is just what you get in a race this size. I was going back and forth with a couple of guys, most notable was the guy wearing his old tri shorts with the spandex rotting out of the rear seam. Yep, the view of his crack gleaming in the morning sun nearly burned my retinas right out of my head.
About mid-way through the bike I started to notice a little twinge in my gut. I thought it might just be from riding in aero, as I’ve been riding primarily on my road bike lately. It didn’t get worse, though it didn’t get better either, so I sort of just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I also decided not to take any nutrition (gels) during the ride so I didn’t upset my gut any further.
After a decent ride, I easily transitioned off the bike and headed out into the heat of the morning on the run. The first mile was fine, but as my effort increased with the first incline, my gut started to revolt in anger. Quickly my race plan turned from finish strong to run the downhills and flats and take it easy (read: walk) on the uphills. Bummer.
I tried drinking water, I tried not drinking water. I thought about trying a gel, but was pretty sure my stomach wouldn’t tolerate that. I ran/walked nearly the entire 10K. Thankfully the last mile or so is all downhill or flat, so I did my best to make it to the finish line without embarrassing myself!
Regardless of how you feel at the end of Hy-Vee, it’s still a pretty cool experience to run on the bright blue carpet through the grandstand area to the finish line. I got my finisher’s medal and ran right into Ric Jurgens (Hy-Vee CEO). I thanked him for putting on such a great race right here in Des Moines.
My athletes all had great races. Their accomplishments actually mean a lot more to me than my failure!
That is probably it for my 2009 triathlon season! Next up is eight days in Colorado with Cam, a week of work, then on to RAGBRAI! Following that will be two and half more months of mountain bike racing!
That is probably it for my 2009 triathlon season! Next up is eight days in Colorado with Cam, a week of work, then on to RAGBRAI! Following that will be two and half more months of mountain bike racing!
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