Kansas 70.3



My Cheering Squad!

Kansas 70.3 is one of my favorite races.  I get to visit some family and race in warm weather on a fair and challenging course.  What could be better?

We arrived at my uncle's house on Friday night and the rest of the cheering crowd (my 3 aunts) showed up the next day.  We were all set!

Race morning I woke up around 3:30am and ate a Luna bar and a Clif bar for breakfast.  I took 4 salt tablets (in addition to the 4 I had taken the night before).  I dressed, packed up my few remaining items and sipped a bottle of Gatorate and First Endurance Pre-Race as we headed out to the park.  The line was long getting into the park, so I had less time that I would have liked to set up my transitions.  After some rushing around, I was ready to go.

I headed into the water with the other girls and made sure to start at the front of the line in the middle of the pack.  My goal was to get out better than the last week and try to hang with the group vs. going out on my own.  Mission partially accomplished.  I got out ok, but ended up swimming alone as I lost track of the other girls.  I ended up swimming through people from waves ahead of me and having to dodge some traffic.  All in all, I swam a pretty straight line.  I came into the finish and got stuck in a bunch of traffic that caused me to go to the outside of the boat ramp.  I slowly stumbled through some rocks before reaching the ramp and running out.  I got to my bike fairly cleanly and headed out to the bike course.  My goal was to remain aero on all down hills and not break (as I had done in the past because of nerves).  I was a little nervous going down the first hill, but after that it was a piece of cake!  I felt strong and rode well until I started to feel a little tired on the last 10 miles.  I had to pee pretty badly, but was unable to do so without stopping pedaling, so I opted to wait.  This caused me to have a bit of a stomach ache, so I just did the best I could and kept going.  Once I re-entered the park, I got stuck in a bit of traffic coming into transition.  The bike area was narrowed to a single-file area because the run also came out about a mile on to the bike course.  I was unable to pass and had to ride slowly behind other riders. 

I got in and out of T2 ok and then started to run.  It was starting to heat up a bit.  I reminded myself to run easy the first 2-3 miles as it was mostly flat and/or downhill.  I had to actively encourage myself to keep running as it was warm and I felt tired.  The splits on my watch weren't too bad though, so I kept pushing on.  Around mile 3-4 a woman ran past me in the 40-44 age group.  She was running really well, so I pushed to hang with her.  She was really strong and just kept building into the run.  After about a mile or so, I decided to let her go as I knew I had a long way to run yet and didn't want to blow up.  I focused on running and had to ease off a bit at times, but my goal was to just keep running.  I faded a little bit on the last couple of miles (even though my effort felt stronger), and was pleasantly surprised with my run split. 

Overall, I had a great early season race and I was pleased with my performance.  I enjoyed the course, seeing my extended family (who even managed to make the front page of the sports section the next day!--see the link below), and the nice warm weather.

Thanks to my Uncle Ed for letting us stay at his house and taking care of us!  Thank you to my Aunt Mary Lou, Aunt Nancy, and Aunt Donna for driving from IA to watch the race and cheer!  We had an excellent time and I will always remember the fun I had that weekend with you guys!

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jun/09/ironman-703-kansas-triathlon-attracts-thousands-cl/

Leon's Olympic

This race was a warm-up for the Kansas 70.3.  Conditions were quite chilly for June.  The temperature while setting up for the race was 61 degrees and by the time we got to the run the temperature had fallen to 49 with a misty rain. 

It was good to get out and race again and dust off some of the mental cobwebs.  I remembered to bring all of my gear, but somehow left my common sense at home...

The race was a "Best of the U.S." (BOUS) race, so there were a lot of fast athletes there.  They combined the BOUS and the elite wave for the swim start.  Somehow, at the time, to me, it made sense to line up near the far buoy as it appeared that I had a straight shot out onto the swim course.  Never mind the fact that everyone else (except the other 2-3 guys who lined up with me), were starting closer to the other buoy.  They started the race and I worked at swimming fast.  Somehow, I swam to the right a bit, hit a sandbar, and had to dolphin dive 4-5 times and then angle to the left to get back on course.  It was terrible!  Lesson learned: start in the pack and stay in the pack.  I ended up swimming the entire race alone and exciting the water quite a ways from the lead women. 

According to my race plan, I rode HIM watts on the bike course, which felt pretty hard to me.  I had a difficult time catching my breath and pushing that hard, but I achieved my goal watts.  It was really cold and by the time I got into transition, I couldn't feel my hands.  I tried to take off my helmet, but really had a hard time given the frozen fingers.  I asked a volunteer if they were allowed to help me, but they said they weren't sure, so we didn't risk it.  I contemplated running with my aero helmet on, but figured that would not be too cool.  Eventually something clicked and I was able to get my helmet off.  PHEW!  I headed out on the run course.

I ran the first mile with another woman and both of us remarked how we couldn't feel our feet.  She seemed fairly distressed about it.  I encouraged her to keep going and told her that after 2-3 miles I thought the feeling would come back.  I cheered her on a bit and then dropped back as I needed to stay to my "training" pace for 4 of the 6 miles of the run.  It was quite weird to sit back and not race the run.  I enjoyed the scenery and cheered people on.  Even the spectators commented on how I was one of the only athletes smiling on the course.  I finally reached the 4 mile mark where I was allowed to "let 'er rip" for the last 2 miles of the run.  I picked it up, but had a hard time "letting 'er rip" like I thought I could. 

I finished the race 9th OA, which was ok considering my disasterous swim, my HIM paced bike, and my relaxing run.  I was not a fan of the weather and would take 98 degrees, sunshine, and humidity any day over 49 and misty rain!