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 Swim
Comments: My heat was all women, which there were 40 in the long course. The gun went off and I tried to start my HRM watch but it wasn't in chrono mode. I wasted about 6 or 7 seconds fumbling with it and never got it started, oh well. I had put myself up towards the front and didn't want to waste any more time. The swim was fairly uneventful, but I felt pretty good about it. I didn't feel super fast, but I was definitely holding my own. I remembered to bi-laterally breathe, which worked out pretty well. This swim required us to do two laps, which meant we had to exit the lake and run the length of the beach to get in for the second lap. I couldn't figure out why with such a big lake why they would have to do this, but it really wasn't that big of a deal I guess. My only complaint about it was that it probably slowed me down, having to run out of the water (you know how you just sludge through until you can pick your feet up), and I have to say I didn't think to incorporate beach running into my training! The second lap I tried to pick it up a bit, but I was conciously holding back because being my first long course I didn't want to bust it all out on the swim, not knowing how much energy I'd need for later. Coming out of the swim was pretty cool... all of the spectators were cheering and yelling. People were saying "Good swim 11" (my bib number) and I didn't realize at the time, but I was out of the water ahead of a lot of people. What would you do differently?: - Bust it all out on the swim! - Start my HRM. 4/11 in my age group, my best performance of the three sports by far.  Transition 1
Comments: Wow look at that awful transition time, what happened?? OH YEAH I was wiping sand off my feel for about 30 seconds. I'd also left my water pan for my feet in the bag in the car, D'OH! I wasn't about to do the rest of the race with sandy feet, so I took some time to clean up. Mountain-Bike-Girl (also in my age group) was in transition with me and I headed out about 10 seconds ahead of her. What would you do differently?: -Bring the water pan for a beach swim exit race. 10/11 in my age group.  Bike
Comments: This was a two-loop long course, with a wood plank bridge in the middle. They made sure to tell us a million times we'd have to dismount and walk across the bridge for safety reasons. Fun. Started out the bike riding on the wrong side of the median and had to turn back to get on the right side of the road. I wondered why none of the volunteers said anything as I went past them, then learned they weren't actually volunteers, they were just spectators. I lost about 10 seconds doing this and Mountain-Bike-Girl passed me here! I immediately made a point to pass her on the first stretch (but she would pass me later for good). The first lap I stood out of the saddle on every hill, they were tough. Tom had taped my GU on my stem (I looked like a pro or something!) so I could rip it off on the bike. I did this about 2/3 of the way through the first lap. I started to eat the GU and it was awful. I wanted to spit it out! But I had to finish it becuase I had already opened it and had no pocket (bra top)and was planning on stuffing the empty packet down my shorts. Each squeeze into my mouth was just as awful and I had to work to get it down. One mouthfull I just sat there with my mouth open and contemplated spitting it out, yicky-yicky! Drank a crapload of water after that to wash 'er down. There was a lady with a cowbell standing at the turnaround/transition area and it was awesome. I love cowbells. The second lap seemed better than the first, I stayed seated on all but one of the hills. The downhill coming in was awesome, I maxed out at 31 mph, pretty fast for me. This is probably TMI, but since I was wearing a short top today, I had sweat dripping down my back... INTO MY SHORTS! Down my crack! HAHA! I really enjoyed the course - it was just lovely and the weather was perfect. I am still incredibly slow on the bike, but I was pretty pleased with my time here. Even more elated that I didn't flat (I was stressing over the possibility of this for about a week). There was a horrible-looking wreck on the course just after a hairpin turn. When I passed, I counted at least 4 people on the ground, their bikes were everywhere. I hope they were okay, it looked pretty bad. What would you do differently?: - Practice more real hills. - Start on the right side of the median. 10/11 in my age group. Transition 2
Comments: No idea why it took this long. I was astonished to see I was last in my AG for T2. Wow. What would you do differently?: Um go faster? 11/11 in my age group.  Run
Comments: The first part of the run was so cool... I saw everyone I knew coming back in and everyone said "HI LISA!" I loved it. I stopped at every aid station to get both water and gatorade, and just ran and ran and ran. I had to stop for 2 seconds twice to knock my knee around, because it was giving me a little bit of trouble. Didn't have to stop otherwise though, which made me happy. When I started to hear the crowd, I said to the guy next to me "you hear that? We're getting close." He said the last time he thought he heard the crowd it ended up just being a bullfrog, so he didn't believe it till he saw it. But it was the crowd, and we were close. After that I took off sprinting for the last .3 of a mile or so. Coming up to the finish, it was pretty fun. Lots of people cheering and yelling, this is my favorite part of it all. I sprinted and booked it like I never had before up to the finish - heard my gramma yell at me from somewhere. I crossed the finish line and about lost it, I was a tad emotional inside. It was my last race for the year, and my first long course. I thought about how far I'd come and all I'd done since about March. I really wanted to see Tom so I could bury my head on his shoulder or something, but he wasn't there (he ended up looking for me on the short course run and didn't see me come in). Not that big of a deal, but I had to try pretty hard to stop myself from breaking down. What would you do differently?: - Learn to run faster. It will be a focus in the off season for sure. 11/11 in my age group. Post race
Warm down: I couldn't find Tom, or my gramma, or Lori's mom, or anyone I knew for a little bit. So I got a bunch of water/gatorade and then ran into LindaKC and some BT gang. Talked for a bit then went to find Tom. Watched the awards ceremony and I WON A DOOR PRIZE! Not a hat or t-shirt, but a Rudy Project helmet! I was so stoked... it even matches my bike and is my size, how perfect is that?!?! Drove to Hotel-Gramma and chatted with my grandparents, then hit Chipotle on the way back to Wichita. I love the Chipotle tradition... it hits the spot every time. What limited your ability to perform faster: This was my first long course; I wasn't sure how much energy I'd need to save or how much I'd spend. I played it a little cautious and probably could have pushed it harder in a few places, but overall I was just so excited to finish. A year ago I made it my goal to finish an Olympic distance before I turned 30, and told myself I had two seasons to do it. And I did it in one. Not bad! I want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to TOM for being my biggest supporter and encourager this season. It's funny... I didn't officially "meet" Tom until April 1 of this year when we met up for our first bike ride, but literally since that day he's been my biggest source of encouragement. He knows when to push and when I'm at my limits, and I couldn't ask for a better training partner, friend and boyfriend. I am so, so, so lucky. :) Event comments: A great race put on by KLM, I really enjoyed it. The goodie-bag is awesome! The courses were well-marked and there didn't seem to be any lack of volunteers. I recommend. Profile Album Last updated: 2007-01-19 12:00 AM
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75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 185/209
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 10/11
Drove up to KC Saturday afternoon and went straight to Bike Source to pick up the packet. Saw my friend Lori and her mom there which was cool. Picked up the awesome race packet, which included a technical running shirt! Sweet. Tom and I drove to the race site and drove the bike course... fraked me out just a bit but as Tom pointed out - nothing I haven't done before (Shawnee Mission, Midwest Mayhem).
Headed over to the Gramma's house and went to On the Border with my grandparents for my pre-race fajitas. Went to bed at 10 p.m. and actually got 6 hours of good sleep.
Got up at 4:30 a.m. and was suprised to see my Gramma was up and wanted to come to the race - she is so sweet. We left just after 5 a.m. and got to the race site about 5:40. REALLY suprised to see probably 40 or more cars there just 10 minutes after they opened!
Didn't get such the rockstar rack space I usually do since so many people were there so early, but I racked just one spot in. Set up my stuff and ran into so many people I knew, it was really cool. A Vice President from my workplace racked right next to me, we chatted a bit about random things like body glide and another guy we work with.
The girl who snagged the end spot on the rack had a mountain bike (even though there were racks specifically for mountain bikes, grrr) and her big 'ol tires didn't fit so well. As a result, her wheels kept turning and her bike almost tipped over probably 10 times and she was oblivious. I wouldn't have cared, but her wheel knocked over my bottle of Nuun water and I had left the drink spout open, so it spilled all over my stuff while I was getting body marked. I had to go find some water and then go out to the car because I'd had Tom take my bag to the car. So now I have my Nuun. Then I realized my bike computer was in my bag which was still in the car, so I had to find Tom to get the keys again, jeez. This is why I shouldn't take the bag to the car, huh. Realized later my sweat towel for the run was also in the bag in the car but I wasn't going to make a third trip.
Tom talked me into warming up in the lake; glad I did. The water was hot, they said it was 82 degrees. When I got out it was probably still in the 60s (sun was just coming up) and I was freezing my ninnies off. So I got back in for a second warm up to, well, warm up. :)
They had a very informative pre-race meeting where we learned we'd have to do two laps of the SWIM course as well as the two laps of the bike course. Interesting!
I was in the last heat for long course, so we got to watch the first three heats take off. There was a semi-pro featured athlete who got out of the water easily four minutes ahead of anyone else... it was super dooper amazing to watch. OK! My turn to start. Here we go.