Ironman Kansas 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I actually finished swimming in a little under :37. Unfortunately, they did not start the transition time until you entered the transition area. It was a LOOONG run to from the beach to T-1 plus no strippers.

The water was very nice. I did fine with the wet suit, but it did stress on my triceps which showed up on the bike. I did not sight consistantly. I can't tell you why I did not swim faster. My pool times are not translating very well.

Sight better and spend time in the wet suit!

No strippers! So, I sat down and got it off myself. No big deal. I had a great position for transition. I was right by the bike entry and exit. So, I did not have to run very far with the bike shoes on.

Overall, this was a slow transition if you add the time from water to T-1, even with the long run from the beach, it was slow.

run faster from beach to bike.

Things started off great. First hour was 20 MPH average. Then my gears went crazy. I had two that worked on the small ring and the middle four on the big ring. Oh, brother. So, I had to grind the big hills and it stressed the hurt quad. I slowed down in the second hour a little, but generally on track. BAM! massive quad cramp hit as I stood up to grind out a hill. As a crested the hill, BAM! Head wind from hell. No small gears to spin it out, I am officially in bike hell. I slowed down to 10 mph for it seems like miles. I promised myself at the turn around (ie head win becomes a tail wind), I would get back to hammering. BAM! I cranked out the next 10 miles at over 25 MPH or more. I slowed down a little as we hit the park, but all the people that make "nice ride, stay with it" comments got the same back when I caught and passed them. Gotta find motivation some where and I was in mental hell. Not nice, but I was in a foul mood at that point.

Get the bike checked by a proffessional after shipping just to be 100%sure? It would have saved my whole race.

Got off the bike and hammies went south right away. Left one locked up as i was placing my bike on the rack. I wanted to quit. Then I heard a little voice...suck it up butter cup...hell yes it hurts it is an ironman. So, I got my mind around it was just going to hurt to finish, but there was no option but to finish. With my time goal shot, I took some extra time to settle everything down.

I was hurting for the first 3 mile. I got a E-cap down at the first aid station. It seemed to help the cramps by aid station 2. However, I was in that dark tri mental place that you should never go in a race. I found someone ont he course hurting as much as me and we started to run walk at the same pace. He died, I continued. I started to pick up the pace some, but cramps started again. So, I knew I could only do so much. Hooked up with different guys from time to time to help get my mind off the pain.

2 Miles before the finish line, they guided me into the finish shoot and it was over. Weather had rolled in looked bad, but no weather actually it. Just rain for maybe 30 minutes. No official time!

It was raining, so I gathered up my stuff and headed for the car. No food at the site and wife and friends wanted to get home. There was no love in Mudville on this day.


I was very stupid from mid-May all the way to race day. Raced the May OLY to hard which eventually translated into the strained quad. You can't do sit for 18 days, with no workouts, and be ready for a 70.3 effort. The biggest idiot move was not having my bike checked out by the on site support. A two minute check would have saved my part of the race. Second idiot move was being so confident in my swimming that I did not spend time in the wet suit. Lastly, I was a mental puss during the race. yes, I manned up and "finished". My mental game was piss poor. 7 months of effort, lots of money invested, relationship with the wife stressed. It is very frustrating I inflicted this much on myself.


Water under the bridge. Mentally, I have to move on.