Hy-Vee Approaches

It's going to be a big weekend in Des Moines! I'm flying out on Thursday morning, from O-Town to DSM, renting a car, and checking into my hotel. Like always the pre-race meeting will be at 5pm that afternoon so hopefully I can check out the course and race site between recovering from traveling and unpacking my bike.
Friday will be a day filled with pre-race jitters and preparation, like always. Fortunately, there is another meeting that afternoon for the World Team Champs to take my mind off of things. And, I'll be making a run to the airport to pick up my father...I'm flying him in as a combo Father's Day present and as my support group:)
On Saturday morning I'll be doing all my race-day rituals including getting a good breakfast, a good warm up, and trying to stay relaxed. The women's World Cup event starts at 12:30pm, smack-dab in the middle of the day! My only hope is that it can't possibly be as hot out there as it has been in Central Florida for the past 4 weeks...I might have a chance of being properly acclimatized!
The race will be a great one, like always. The World Champ Series event in Washington, DC was amazing last Sunday. I'm so proud of my American teammates for rocking some break-aways on the swim and bike legs...check out the 5 minute videos on ITU's website! All the foreign athletes are in America for the combo of races and our start list is packed! Click here to check out who I will be racing!
After the race I'm going to have to limit my crazy cheering of the men's race like I always do...whatever energy I have left will need to be conserved for Sunday's event. I am on a relay team with Matty Reed, Andy Potts, and Laura Bennett for the World Team Champs. ITU posted a fun press release about the potential team line ups for this event. Although the World Team Champs has been hosted before, it will be an entirely NEW format this weekend. We will have men and women on the same teams...the order must be F-M-F-M. Each person completes a 250 meter swim, 7K bike, and 1.5K run (about 15-20 minutes of ALL OUT Sprinting)!
That is on Sunday, also starting at 12:30pm. I have no idea what our team order will be...we will discuss in a Top-Secret-Team-Members-Only-Behind-Closed-Doors-Meeting sometime before the race:)
Don't forget, you can check out race coverage online at www.triathlon.org. I don't know if the event will be shown live, but live splits are likely and results and photos are always posted shortly after completion! Wish me luck:)