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/