Sunday, June 13, 2010

Des Moines HyVee Triathlon - 5th place

It's the richest triathlon in the World which makes this triathlon so special. The best come prepared for this race, of course; it makes it so so hard. Everyone vying for a share of the ONE MILLION DOLLAR prize purse!!
The course isn't tough, it's flat, there aren't many turns on the bike. There are 3 u-turns in the run which upsets the rhythm but being so flat makes it fast.
After the swim I was in the main bunch of 20 or so. There were 2 ex-swimmers in the field, so they were out in front but we had nothing to worry about as they wouldn't class themselves as runners. The only situation we were trying to prevent was letting Emma Snowsill AUS catch as she was in the small group 30sec behind. The bike situation didn't change much, so into T2 we took off on the run with a 30sec gap back to Snowsill. It wasn't enough. She caught the group of 6 I was running in by the 7km mark and then it was up to us to stick with her. I tried for a km but when Emma Moffatt AUS couldn't follow I overtook her to keep the pace high. I couldn't hold this pace and dropped back and back and back again to 5th place. I had no speed to follow anyone in the final 1km. It's ok, I know the feeling I had at each stage during the run and I know my pace dropped off a lot during the final lap.
Still, 5th place I am close again.
I have a month now before my next race in Hamburg in July.

Results:
1. Emma Snowsill AUS 1.59.35
2. Emma Moffatt AUS 1.59.51
3. Helen Jenkins GBR 1.59.51
4. Paula Findlay CAN 1.59.54
5. Andrea Hewitt NZL 2.00.01

Full results are posted HERE