Ironman Kansas 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Treading water start, and I somehow ended up SMACK in the middle of the mayhem. Gun goes off and it's insane. Immediately, my heart rate skyrocketed, I could not breathe and I was gasping for air. Literally. No room, no air. I would classify it as a "mini panic attack" because I knew I would eventually be fine and I wasn't completely freaking out, I was just really, really uncomfortable. Which is very unusual for me. I love the swim. The swim loves me back. I'm fine with mass starts and such. So I have no idea what happened here.

I was breathing every stroke because I just could not calm down. For I'd say... the first 900 yards. Seriously. That bad. I FINALLY found some open water and just slowed my stroke down. A lot. I knew it would mean a terrible swim time but I had to do something to calm myself down.

On the way back in, I was feeling much better, but still swimming slower than I usually do. Got pushed and groped unnecessarily by some dudes from the waves behind us, but that is par for the course.

I finally felt like I'd hit my groove in the last 200 yards. Then it was over. Popped up on the boat ramp and saw 39:50-something. Ballz.

I'd say "not panic" but I didn't do anything different than I ever do. Maybe start more to the outside? I don't know. I really don't know what happened.

No wetsuit strippers and mine was a sun-of-a-gun trying to get off. Everything else was business as usual.

nothing

About 2 seconds after I mounted, a loose water bottle came rolling toward me. My front wheel missed it but it rolled under my back wheel and I almost slo-mo crashed into the guy next to me. With that drama out of the way, off we go on one of my favorite bike courses ever. Love love love this course.

Couldn't have asked for better weather here. Completely overcast so no crazy sun, and NO WIND. Shut the front door. I know. It was surreal.

I really enjoyed the entire ride. It seemed super easy to me. Coredump and Linda passed me very early on. ZJones and I think Barkeep did too. I lost track of who was saying HI to me.

Pretty uneventful till miles 30ish when we had to mandatory dismount for an oil slick or oil spill or something in the road. Couple of jokes about BP and the Gulf of Mexico that made me chuckle. I was actually grateful to walk a few steps since I usually get hotfoot and walking around helps... never did get it today which was awesome.

At the last aid station (I think), something random happened right in front of me. A guy was reaching for a water bottle and CRASHED hard. If he hadn't have bounced left, I would have hit him easily. He popped right back up but didn't look so hot. Not sure what the end result was but it shook me up pretty bad for the next few miles. I've never seen someone crash in person and it rattled me. I thought about how dangerous this sport can be, and how easily one mis-step can change your whole day. Hope he was okay.

The hills were fun as hell, and while everyone else was bitching about them, I absolutely loved them. Even the loooooong one at mile 50. Passed a lot of people there.

Draft marshalls were in FULL EFFECT - horray! I saw them probably 15 times on the course. Good for them. One time they hung out by me for longer than I'd have liked. I wasn't near drafting, but I backed way off just in case. Coredump said when he passed one of the penalty tents it was PACKED. Day-um.

So rolling back into the park there were a number of cars and trucks pulling boats. I was surprised they let them on the roads with so many cyclists but the volunteers just said to "watch for cyclists and slow down" - people on their cell phones and such... really?

Overall this was a great bike for me. Easy, comfortable, and exactly at my goal pace. Nutrition was spot on - 2.5 servings infinit and a ton of water. Couldn't have executed any better.

Not a dang thing.

Very standard transition. Pulled on my pink tutu, new visor, shoes, and grabbed my sparkly wand. This was gonna be fun :)

Nothing.

Gaaa-Linda the Good Witch was hilarious to pull off (again). I got so many comments I can't even count. I waved my wand around a lot and granted a few wishes. So much fun.

Ran the first two miles in 10:30s - felt good! Got to "the hill" at Mile 3 and decided to walk it. From then on out it was a run/walk. And I'm okay with that. Obviously it would be nice to run the whole thing, but it wasn't happening today.

The sun had come out and was beating us into submission. I was really glad I'd brought a sweat towel, it helped soooooo much. Gatorade and water at every aid station. GU at miles 3 and 8ish. Whatever aid station it was by T1. I'd finish it right before I got there so I could get some water to wash it down. Pottied on the first loop and saw Barkeep coming out of the other side, that was funny.

Really not a whole lot to say about the run. It is what it is. And it was slow. Saw tons of friends out there and tried hard to keep my spirits up.

Ran into my buddy Trish at the 8-mile aid station and we leapfrogged each other till the end. Her calfs were cramping and I felt bad for her. She ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead of me.

Running down the finish chute was fun as usual... I waved my wand around and the announcer said something about childhood obsessions with the Wizard of Oz... ha. Finished 'er up and saw Whizzzz and gang right there - woot!

Practice in heat.
Get better.

Went to get some food by myself. Which was honestly kind of depressing. I sat on the ground with some chips and a water, feeling a little sorry for myself but I'm not sure why. Finally pulled myslef off the ground and went back to the campsite.

Since I can never eat post-race food they offer (pulled pork sammiches today), I had the foresight to cook my own dinner and bring it! I was looking forward to my basmati rice and pan fried tofu but when I pulled it out of the cooler I realized the tupperware lid had not snapped all the way shut. My diner was floating in water :(. Epic Fail. I finished my leftover pasta salad and then fell asleep for a little while. Really exhausted.

Talked with the gang when they got back from picking up gear, including LindaKC and Diamedic. Good people. Finally dragged my butt to get all my gear and that took forever since I had stuff at both T1 and T2. So hot. Kind of out of it. Still in my tutu :)

Got back and everyone was leaving. Went for a shower and then packed up all my stuff - took forever. Did I mention I was tired?

The drive home was not as bad as I thought it would be, but I had to blast the A/C and drink a lot of caffeine to keep from dozing off. Finally home and exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep.


Mini panic attack on the swim.
Run endurance.


Love this race and course. They've tweaked a lot of things in the past 3 years and it keeps getting better and better. Highly recommend!