Hy-Vee Triathlon

This last weekend was the Hy-Vee Triathlon in West Des Moines, Iowa. Let's just say Wow! It was a full weekend of the triathlon experience with a Kids Triathlon Saturday morning, a Women's ITU Pro race, followed by a Men's ITU Pro race Saturday afternoon and then the Elite and Age Group race on Sunday morning. The winner's of both the men's and women's pro races won $200,000. There was a great expo with lots of free stuff for both spectators and athletes, bouncy houses for the kids, the Budweiser Clydesdales were there and other things I'm sure that I missed. The swag was great for this race; a bike jersey with the Hy-Vee Triathlon logo, a visor or hat with the same logo, and a backpack full of other goodies. I've been a little disappointed in the swag at races this year. Yes I know the economy is in the tubes but the registration fees of races keeps going up and I'd like to get just a little more than the standard T-Shirt, this race definitely set the swag standard. Best of all we got to spend the weekend with our friend Ruder and his wife Kelly. It was a great weekend and I'm about 90% sure that I will put this race on the schedule for next year as the start of a summer vacation.

Here's the pictures.

That's right no wetsuit this race. The water was about 86 degrees, really warm. I thought I'd miss the bouyancy from the wetsuit but for the second straight race I had a swim that felt good. I even went faster for this race than I did during the last olympic distance race I did back in May. Those swim drills are starting to pay off.

This is me looking at my watch checking my time after the swim and going "Darn, I forgot to start the stop watch", or something to that effect. I didn't know how fast I'd gone until the results were posted on the web late yesterday afternoon. The sprint to the finish, the guy in the foreground was in my age group and I needed to get around him. I think he beat me by the length of his visor, that's what I get for wearing my hat backwards.
Ruder, Macen, and me after the race. No I didn't place, that's just the finisher's medal they gave everyone. Macen made a new best friend this weekend as Ruder spent a lot of time playing with him during the race and after I was done he didn't want to come to Daddy, but he wanted to go to Ruder, though. It also could have been because I was all hot and sweaty too.

I went into this race hoping to improve in all three events and to get my time down under 3hrs, preferrably closer to 2:45. I did get my time down under 3hrs to 2:56:41 and I was faster in all three events showing the biggest improvement in my swim by cutting more than 4 minutes off it. After watching the Pros race on Saturday I really need to work on my transition times and get those down, those guys are insanely fast in transition. Although part of my problem in transition on Sunday was my need to make a quick stop in the porta john between the bike and the run.

This was probably my last olympic distance race for the year, we'll see, how the schedule plays out in August and September though. I've got another Half-Iron distance race in August and then a marathon in late September with Jaime and Mariah. Next up for me is the Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon on July 12th, it's a little short distance than what I've been doing with only a 1000m swim/18 mi bike/4.5 mi run. I'll use it as a speed workout for my next Half-Iron distance race.

Here are my splits. Compare them to the times at the Kansas City Triathlon post.

bib number: 566
age: 35
gender: M
overall place: 827 out of 1398
division place: 117 out of 158
gender place: 653 out of 979
time: 2:56:41
swim: 44:57
t1: 3:00
bike: 1:13:42
t2: 2:29
run: 52:35

Triathlon Update/Operation Rebound

OK all of you know that I've signed up to do Ironman Kansas 70.3 and what my goals are. Well I've added another goal for the race. I'm going to be racing on behalf of the Challenged Athletes Foundation Operation Rebound. My goal is to raise a $1000 for Operation Rebound.

Here's some background:

Since the beginning of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 27,000 U.S. military personnel have been wounded, any suffering traumatic, permanent injuries. In 2004, the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), an organization with 15 years of experience supporting the athletic endeavors of physically challenged athletes, launched Operation Rebound. This program, which has touched hundreds of wounded veterans provides the training, specialized equipment and mentoring permanently injured military personnel need to get back into sports whether their goal is to simply finish a local 5K or make it to the Paralympic games.


But the money I’m raising – and the funds I'm asking you to donate – will support those athletes, who can’t always get to the starting line: swimmers missing limbs, paraplegics who use handcycles to bike and runners who race using artificial limbs. Just like me, these challenged athletes want to participate in athletics and feel the rush of competition, but they face a major obstacle. They don’t lack fitness, desire or skill. It is only a lack of funding that stands in the way of their dreams.

High-tech running prosthetics are very expensive. Learning to swim when you lack a limb (or limbs) requires special coaching. And handcycles can cost upwards of $2,500. But with our help, challenged athletes can bridge the financial gap and overcome funding obstacles blocking their path to athletic achievement. That is why I am challenging myself to make a difference in their lives. Please partner with me by making a donation through my web site link below. Join me in making dreams come true for challenged athletes. Give the gift of sports and help get challenged athletes off the sidelines – and into the game.


Basically Operation Rebound is one of the organizations that I would have to turn to if something were to happen while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and I wanted to regain the lifestyle that I currently enjoy. Operation Rebound helps those who haven't been as fortunate as I have and didn't make it back from their deployments with all of their God issued equipment. The men and women they help are those who don't want to sit around and feel sorry for themselves, they are the ones that tell the doctors, "I could run two miles before I came into the military, and I'm going to be able to run two miles when I get out of the military!"


By clicking on the below link you can go to my fundraising site. Thank you for your support.

http://orkansas09.kintera.org/james