Jason and I woke at 3:35 a.m. to get ready to leave for Davenport. Yes that is early. Yes we are crazy. Yes next year we will consider a hotel closer to the event so we can get maybe another hour of sleep.
The triathlon had 700 plus teams registered, however only 577 finished. I heard that many didn't show up due to the heavy rain and winds in the middle of the night.
Jason put our bikes on the van the night before and we packed everything the night before so all we had to do when we woke up was dress, pee and leave for the race. My friend Deb showed up at around 3:50 in our driveway with her daughter and they were going to drive behind us.
We arrived in Davenport just outside the park gates at 4:50 a.m. Perfect since there was already a line that had started. I had heard a couple days prior that there are about 100 cars waiting to get in at 5 a.m. so I was super thankful for hearing that and knowing we should get there even earlier than originally planned. We had an amazing parking spot. Right next to the transition area. Couldn't have been more perfect. We got all our stuff out of the van and proceeded to set up our personal transition spots that were all ready pre-numbered.
It had started to rain again, not hard, but enough to make you not like it so we put our shoes and socks in plastic bags so nothing would be wet for later. That ended up being a great idea since later on it was dry and we had dry stuff to put on after the swim!
The weather was super bad when we drove there at 4 a.m., then by the time we arrived at 10 till 5 a.m. it was just windy and cold. By the time we got in the park, parked and the bikes in the transition area a light sprinkle on an off was happening. The skies looked real bad. During Jason's swim he didn't have rain, but had wind. By the time I swam which was a good 20 minutes later after him since I was at the back lined up, I had wind and rain during my swim. However Jason had rain while biking, I didn't have any. We did have lots of wind and that made it hard. I think had the wind not been such a huge factor then I would have flown on this course, but who knows. Either way by the end of the bike course, last 3 miles, the wind seemed to die down, or maybe I was used to it. By the run, the sun was coming out, the clouds were parting and the weather was really pretty out. During the awards it started to get real hot and muggy, so I was glad we were all done racing by 9:30 a.m.
You are started on the swim every 3 seconds. They will send 2 people at a time every 3 seconds and you swim out and back. It's a 600 yard swim, which is about 50-100 yards further than most sprint tris. Your time doesn't start until you go over the mats to the beach. I liked only have 1 person next to me swimming for about 100 yards. I felt like there was for the most part lots of spaces without people, so if only the waves weren't so bad then I'm sure my swim would have gone better, but either way, it was slightly better than last year as far as how I felt. The time is slower, but it was 100 yards further than holiday lake was.
Last year my time was 2:51 per 100 yards and this year it was 2:42 per 100 yards, so for that little improvement, that is good for me. My swim was going strong for about 100 yards until I was kicked, then water went up my nose and in my throat and from then on I wasn't able to put my face in the water. I didn't have a full on panic attack, but I did have the issue of not wanting my face in there, weird. Either way I finished the water and felt good that it was over.
During the swim it was raining and was very windy. There were waves out on the lake.
The T1 transition last year took me 3:46 and this year it was 3:23 and we had a little further to run up the beach (in my opinion) and I had a wet suit this year, so I felt great about that as well.
For the bike this year I did 57:11 or 15.7 mph average. Last year at holiday lake they said my mph was 14.3, and even last week for just the bike part of the team triathlon at Holiday lake it was 14.9 mph, so I felt good about the bike course for this tri.
Last year my T2 transition was 1:16 and this tri it was 51 seconds.
Last year my 5K run was 38:02 and this tri was 32:42 So overall an improvement on all areas.
As far as course compare from Quad Cities to Holiday lake: The bike course is similar. Jason felt that the bike was slightly less hilly, but having done the bike just last week at Holiday and then Quad Cities this week, I felt they were the same. I'll have to check my Garmin to see the elevation changes, but there was a significant hill At Quad cities that was hard. The run course at Quad Cities is mostly flat, really liked it a lot. You start out (out of the transition area) on grass and trail, but within 1/4 of a mile you are on a paved path, then a paved road, very nice run course.
Overall improved by 13:17 over my last sprint tri and felt better and fitter than last year. I am planning on doing this one again, it was so organized. You got race tattoos that you put on the night before that are really neat looking and don't rub off with anything except baby oil. So even sun lotion won't rub them off. They were easy to put on. I had a dream that my tattoos had come off on the sheets while I was sleeping, however they didn't. Everything was just fine!
Jason won the wet suit drawing. He was surprised and in total shock, that was funny and really cool. Not sure what type he will get, they are e-mailing him the types and sizes and he gets to pick it out for him.
If you want to see full results then click on this link: http://onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=11003
Here are some pictures that remember the day!
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| Jason and I taking a picture of ourselves in the car waiting for the park gates to open. This picture was after we were up for 1.5 hours. We were soooooo tired and really wanted to start the race soon. |
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| This is one of my favorite pictures. Deb is my friend on the left and Ashley is my friend on the Right. Both are girls that I met in my Body Sculpt class. I am so proud of them for doing their first triathlon. |
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| Jason before the race with his bike. |
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| Me with my bike. |
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| A picture on the beach. |
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| Me running up the beach to get to transition 1 area. My wet suit was already half way off, cap and goggles off and I was super happy I didn't die during the swim portion. |
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| Me on my bike coming in to start running. |
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| Running in for the finish. |
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| Jason and I after the race. We felt awesome. |
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