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Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course - Triathlon


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Shawnee, Kansas
United States
Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 56m 51s
Overall Rank = 2/186
Age Group = M4044
Age Group Rank = 1/22
Pre-race routine:

Normal pre-race routine involves a mini taper: avoid long or hard workouts the day or two before an event but get some good intensity in the week before, this time I rode 41 miles the day before the race, granted we rode easy but normally a couple hours on the bike leaves me with heavy legs the next day. I race for the fun and health benefits and getting out on a ride with some friends is fun and healthy, so be it.

Had my mom over for dinner Saturday night, grilled salmon and burnt broccoli, one of my favorite pre-race meals, along with the requisite couple beers since I was grilling. Then I loaded up the van and was in bed by 10.

Breakfast was bowl of cereal & banana. Another banana and an apple in the car on the way to the race, then a shot of gel about 30 minutes pre-race.
Event warmup:

Road bike down to transition, mostly downhill but also spun easy to loosen the legs, no ill effect felt from yesterday's ride. Ran a half mile of run course, hit the bathroom, ran back to transition. Swam over to the beach and took the long route to get some extra yardage (meterage?). Did a couple dolphinish dives in the swim area while waiting for my heat to line up then they lines up real quick while I wasn't looking.
Swim
  • 08m 58s
  • 500 meters
  • 01m 47s / 100 meters
Comments:

They had the new, barely announced Time Trial beach start, not a fan but if it is safer for new swimmers, okay. I intended to start near the front, maybe 3rd group of 2 but was a little chilly standing out of water so was messing around with dolphin dives and whatnot trying to stay warm then I turned around and everybody was lining up so I got in line mid pack or a little further back. Saw Ryan was first to go and Jim was up near the front too, we were mixed with M45-49 so it was a pretty good sized heat.

Got to the timing mat, started watch, jogged into water and sort of dove in, settled in right away to a nice even stroke sighting for the dock, then started running into guys in my wave, caught up to the tail of the first wave before the dock, so I was sighting for bouys to stay on course and swimmers to zig zag around and through, it was a little frustrating at times having to go very wide when there were 3 or 4 people already jammed up together. Swapped sides breathing a couple times just to give the neck and shoulders some variety and then toward the end for navigation along the shore.
What would you do differently?:

Seed myself towards the front of my heat but I'm not sure how much that would help since I was into the previous heat real quick, it was just a continuous stream of swimmers. Though I swam pretty well, I was a few seconds slower than last year but I'll attribute that to the traffic on the swim and the fact that I'm probably not any faster of a swimmer than last year, just doing enough for maintenance.
Transition 1
  • 01m 36s
Comments:

3AG/8OA

Had trouble getting helmet buckled, strap was twisted, took 3 tries, felt like forever. Transition area was particularly tight with bags, bikes, and whatnot due to new bag security regulations, getting my swim cap and goggles in my area and not destroying my and adjacent areas required lifting bike from rack over the layout.
What would you do differently?:

not fumble helmet. Not sure what was up with the racks but my bike was tighter than I've ever experienced to the bikes on each side and we were all lined up on our stickers as well as we could be.
Bike
  • 23m 57s
  • 9 miles
  • 23.09 mile/hr
Comments:

Not much to say, I tried to pace the flats and descents better than in the past to arrive at each hill ready to climb and pace the dam hill to go all the way to the tower and get up to speed before running out of gas and needing to recover, think that worked well. I believe this is the first time I've hit 2 laps in a row under 12 minutes. Jim blasted through in 22:46 and caught me halfway through the second lap, so there should still be some room for improvement. He put a fair amount of distance on me in the slight downhill section on the east side. I carried a drafter through this section on the first lap, passed him right after the sharp turn on the east end and he slipped in on the downhill, with the sun behind us I could see his shadow very clear relative to mine. My strategy was to spend this section recovering as much as possible so I didn't drop him until the short climb right before transition. Cheaters suck.



Pavg=257W/Pnorm=266W about where they should be
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Transition 2
  • 00m 44s
Comments:

2AG/8OA

After bike dismount my shoes were dragging, bouncing, and spinning the crank while I ran through transition, kept looking back to make sure I didn't lose a shoe.
What would you do differently?:

Wore socks and shoes, slow to get them on, should start running without socks.
Run
  • 21m 38s
  • 3.2 miles
  • 06m 40s  min/mile
Comments:

A good run, Jim and Ryan were both ahead of me going into the run but I also knew they both started near the front of the wave so the virtual placing were less clear. I caught and passed Ryan shortly before we turned to cross the dam and could see Jim up ahead. About this time a young guy (20-25) caught & passed me but I was certain he was in the long course, he was moving. Got up the dam hill well and was able to get back up to speed in the parking lot loop, also got my first good look at the gap to Jim, just under 20s, I was thinking 20s was enough, 30s might be pretty close to our TT start stagger. Got a couple more splits along the creek as we went over the bridges or around well defined corners and Jim added a few seconds to the gap before he disappeared as we went back up hill to the finish. At the top of the dam, the first of 3 hills to the finish, there was a group of guys, mostly Raging Bull, helpfully reminding us that there were still 2 more hills to go and that, boy did it look like we were working hard, thanks guys. Hung on to the end and finished the last couple hills strong.

A better run than I deserved given recent training levels.

What would you do differently?:

nothing
Post race
Warm down:

Re-lived the highlights of the race for awhile with my fellow triathletes and drank chocolate milk. I managed to screw up my Garmin when changing from bike to run mode and missed the first minute or two of the run course so I didn't have a total time so me and Jim would have to wait until results were posted to figure out who gets bragging rights until the next race. Then Jim's results weren't posted because they had him in the 30-34 age group and had to fix the results by hand but his Garmin time was faster than my chip time so though he had it, that would put me at 3rd, an overall podium my best finish yet at Shawnee Mission, but we had to wait until the awards ceremony to get the official results. So had a couple plates of Chris Cakes before they started the awards, naturally long course was first and they did top 5 overall, then women's short course, then finally men's short course but they only did 1st place overall, okay we'll have to wait for age group awards, then they go from 35-39 to 45-49 and skip our age group, I'm thinking "are they trying to drag this out", finally they double back around and hit the M40-44 and, surprise, had me 5s faster than Jim.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Limited run volume due to glass legs, only swimming enough to maintain, and I think I could bike faster with more volume. Yep, if only I could be faster, then I'd be faster.

Event comments:

Overall another excellent JCPR event. I wasn't a fan of the run course change they made because it eliminates historical data for performance comparison but I think the extra distance makes the run easier, allows more recovery after the dam hill, the finishing hills didn't seem so long this year. I also don't like the time trial start because I enjoy heads-up racing but if it is safer for new swimmers then great, but I've seen other races address the swimming safety issue with a last wave option. JCPR used to offer an optional first wave but that got squashed by USAT rules.




Last updated: 2013-07-02 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:08:58 | 500 meters | 01m 47s / 100meters
Age Group: 1/22
Overall: 18/186
Performance: Good
Suit: Desoto Liftfoil
Course: rectangle, a third from beach to end of dock, a third to the turn, and a third to the finish.
Start type: Run Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Below average
T1
Time: 01:36
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:23:57 | 09 miles | 23.09 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/22
Overall: 2/186
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: 2 laps around SM Park, 4 notable hills, 1 long slightly downhill section. Wind out of east.
Road:   Cadence: 92
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:44
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:21:38 | 03.2 miles | 06m 40s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/22
Overall: 6/186
Performance: Good
Course: They extended the short run course to follow the long course minus the out and back. This actually increases average running speed since the short course already had all the hills, they just added .8 miles of relative flat trail to it.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2013-07-15 2:45 PM

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New user
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10025
Overland Park, KS
Subject: Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course


2013-07-16 8:54 AM
in reply to: #4804690

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Extreme Veteran
516
500
Olathe, KS
Subject: RE: Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course
Well done, Mike. Another solid race.
2013-07-16 9:14 AM
in reply to: Barkeep

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Master
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20001000500100100100252525
Overland Park, KS
Subject: RE: Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course
Nice job Mike, way to hammer the bike, then bring it home on that difficult run course. That awards ceremony was atypical of JCPR but they do give out a lot of hardware, much more than any other race org. around here.
2013-07-16 11:46 AM
in reply to: #4804690

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Veteran
627
50010025
Prairie Village, Kansas
Subject: RE: Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course
Nice job Mike! Hammered that course!
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