Ironman 70.3 Branson - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

It was a running, wave starting, so that was interesting for me. I did get kicked and jostled a little, but just keep trying to find some romm to swim. There was still a wonderful fog across the lake which made it hard to sight to each bouy. It also didn't help that I didn't realize my goggles were scratch up as bad as they were.I was pretty good at doing a straight line to each bouy and keeping it between 5 and 10 feet away from me. There was sharper turn to head in to the longer home strecth swim. I did swim a little out of my way becasue I lost the bouy I was looking for and went to wards one on the home stretch. It was only an extra 20 yards. Getting through the waves that went before me was tough too. They should of kept the 5 minute wave start times just to spread out the swim.

Get some new goggles.

The swim exit in to transition was really narrow, maybe between 6 and 10 ft wide at the most. This made it hard to run through it because everybody was walking in front of you. You had to walk up some steps which made it even slower and then were finally able to get into transition after another 20 meters of running. Once I got into transition, it was smooth sailing. My time doesn't really say that but I just took my time to make sure I got everything in my bag, so it could be transported to T2 and I had everything I need for the fun ride coming up

My first thought coming out of T1 was, wow look at the beautiful fog. I hope going down hill doesn't hurt to much when you can't see to far in front of you! It took it easy and told my self to not push anything till I was almost completed the bike. Once I got out on the closed highway section for the 2 and a half loops, it was smooth sailing. Yes this course had anywhere from 4000-7000 feet of climbing, from whatever one has said and what I heard. Yes it was a brutal mountainous terrain course. No these were not your typical rolling hills where if you forgot to shift into any easier gear you still could crank it out. But other than that you might have wanted a sissy gear or two, which at times I wish I had. I had a 50-34 chainring with a 12-27 cassette. Going up hill actually was two bad. There were a few spots were I wished I had an easier gear, but I pushed through it. Downhill I wish I had a harder gear to take advantage of it. I maxed out at 41 mph downhill, so that was a scary new sensation for me.

I meet a nice guy out on the first loop, that claimed to have rode this course already 12 times. At least he was well prepared for it. We talked for about 3-4 minutes on the last little bit of a climb. There were 2 aid stations which you passed through for a total of 5 times. I managed to drink about 1.5 Gatorade each loop and took in about 4 gels and 2 Quaker chewy bars. I did also drink about 1 bottle of water.

The heat was that bad until about 10 am. That was when you could start to feel it beating down on you with that sun. You did see some people walking up the hills and you also saw some beautiful scenery. I also did see a helicopter flying over us multiple times.

Compared to my kansas bike time this ride was 3 minutes faster. I also had no mechanical malfunctions or oil spills to walk around which made me happy! :)

Train with more hills, if i could find some.

Good T2 for me. It was quick and I got everything I needed from there.

This is were it all either hit you or it didn't from that bike. I felt great coming off that bike and going into the first 4.63 miles. I think I didn't take in enough nutrition this first couple of miles which only affected my my second 4.63 miles. Jsut before mile marker number 5 was were I started to do a walk run for the rest of the race Then I started to feel much better and the last 3.84 miles was much easier. Yeah I said MUCH EASIER!! With a little over 3 miles to go and me feeling much better, I looked at my watch and realized I could still salvage an under 6 hour time if I kept my pace under 12 minutes. So I mental built myself up and did it!

RUN SPLIT 1 - 4.63 mi 4.63 mi. (38:59) 8:25/mile
RUN SPLIT 2 - 9.26 mi 4.63 mi. (49:59) 10:47/mile
FINAL RUN SPLIT 3.84 mi. (40:51) 10:38/mile
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (2:09:49) 9:54/mile

It was a flat run course. There was a sharper turn were you made did about 20-30 feet of climbing and that was it. There were 15 aid stations on the course so that was nice. They only served gels, power bars, gatorade, water, and ice. It would of been nice to see some oranges or something else to help motivate you along a little. It was great atmosphere with great spectators.I slapped high fives to a lot of the little kids you say holding out there hands for them. A couple of people on the run course had there hoses out and were spraying you down as you went. It wasn't as hot as Kansas had been a d was definitely much flatter than the kansas run course.

I got my medal took some water and Gatorade and found some shade to stand in.


The mountainous terrain and the heat.


For the first ever race put on in Branson, they did an exceptional job. I didn't see a nice display of food at the end which was a bummer and I wish they would of had a more things on the run aid stations to motivate you through.

I think that this is must do race to experience and complete. I would not plan on coming in and setting a PR. I would just worry about finishing and having a good time. Don't under estimate the Hills becasue they will kick your a@* if you do. Take it easy through them and them hope that you can survive the run and then you should have a great race.

My mom texted me while she was tracking me on line. She told me I missed 7th place in my Ag by .01. Yeah I really didn't care. I was just happy to have finished this race at this awesome venue and enjoyed it at the same time!!!

My time compared to Kansas was only 6:05 off of this time. A lot of people were much further off from there Kansas times, so I was quite thrilled that I was this close to my Kansas time.