This race in Des Moines, Iowa can be HOT. The humdity there is unbelievable. The morning before the race, I went out for an early morning run and I was dripping wet before I hit the end of the parking lot! Quite impressive for me, I must say. I had the opportunity to work the PowerBar booth at the expo for a few hours that day and talk with people about some of the great PowerBar products! Then to drive the course and check out the venue. I was so excited for this race! The course was amazing and it had been awhile since I had raced on a fresh new course. Something that keeps racing very fun and exciting for me. I had just come off a pretty decent performance at Sprint Nationals 2 weeks earlier but I have been working to get my body back to a happy place since July. I was not responding well to training and was not recovering AT ALL! I decided to go into this race, ultimately training through the race and continue on trying to get where I need to be for my A race at the end of the season. I had low expectations for this race.
- Photo Courtesy of Ali Engin / Endurancepicture.com
I opted to swim without a wetsuit with the temp coming in at 76.9 degrees. I wore my awesome swim skin from BlueSeventy. As much as I love not swimming in a wetsuit, I am not sure it benefited me like it did at CapTexTri. I think the bottom line looking back, I was just tired. It was hard to rev the engine that day, even though I was so excited for the course. A big shout out to my friend/photographer Ali Engin for snapping this one of me. He never misses a thing and is so talented!
- Photo Courtesy of Ali Engin / Endurancepicture.com
The bike felt like I was able to push a solid effort, however, given the course, I was disappointed with at 1:13 split here. Once again, I think I was just tired. What was the highlight of my bike? Having World Renowned photographer Paul Phillips have his moto ride next to me for a solid mile or two while while he took some amazing shots!
- Photo Courtesy of Paul Phillips / Competitive Image
The run was what the run could be given the day, I am pretty convinced at least 5-6 people passed me in my Age Group. After seeing what my first mile split came in at, I knew it was just a "get up and finish" kind of a day. It is always a little dissappointing, but I just took in the venue and gave support to others as they passed. A big thanks to Nick Morales of TriJuice for this shot!
- Photo Courtesy of Nick Morales / Competitive Image
The day finished and at least I was able to celebrate the win of my client, Alex Willis placing first in the 20-24 AG with a 1:58 finish. The success of my athletes are far more rewarding than my own. This season has been an interesting one, I have been very hot or cold. I am typically hot or luke warm. This year, when I am off, I am really off! I ended up with a top 15 finish, which is respectable at this race, but I know I am capable of much better. This week has already proved to be better. I am responding well to training and recovering like a champ! I just need to keep it all heading in this direction! And if you were wondering, race morning was NOT SO HOT. It was perfect racing weather and the humidity was quite low, actually. Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com
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