Ironman 70.3 Kansas - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

After I started i felt fine and focused on a steady stroke, nothing too hard as I did not want to get winded. I was also keen on catching somebody from my wave and not being overtook by too many. thee was some body contact early then clean water tell swimmers began to overtake me. I did focus on another white cap for most of the way out while also noticing. At the turn things began to go bad. I hate my new tinted goggles, they seal well and are comfortable but I cant see clearly. the morning sun made this worse and the waves-the wind was picking up. I found myself drifting away from other swimmers then swimming back. Several times i sensed I was alone and could barely make out arms and heads some distance to my right-swim back that way. Twice kayakers intervened to steer me back on course, one even thought i was in a later wave and should be out bound! As I began to hear the race sounds I did speed up some and finally spotted a dock and heard volunteers yelling to go "that way", not that i could see "that way" but I finally saw someone stand and found the boat ramp exit, and happily began my uphill run to my bike, shaking my head at the time on my watch

Learn to swim without a wetsuit too and buy clear goggles. I will probably invest money in my swimming soon. (I said this last year too)

No wetsuite equals a fast transition, even for the monstrously big WTC transition areas. Not many bikes left helps. I ran easy up to the mount line and mostly focused on getting my HR and breathing back under control

nothing

I really wanted a good bike split and got one for the conditions. I had illusions of getting a 19avg but with that wind I let it go. The aero helmet and tri bike seemed flawless but I may have let my own need for speed and the frustrating swim drive me a little harder than I should. A 16.5 average would not have cost much time and might have left me with a better run. I did have some gas and stomach distress on the bike, usually a burb would resolve it but i really needed a bathroom break when I hit transition-not realizing their weren't any there.

Moderate my pace better. Perhaps re-test and double check my HR zones. I haven't done that since January. I ranked it as average even though it really was a good ride for me because I think I hurt my run

I went ahead and sat to put my socks on and my shoes. I knew I had a suffer fest coming and wanted to be ready. I also took another two ibuprofen, this was holding off the pain from my tibial tendonitis prety good

nothing

after my bathroom break I began running somewhat better-my ankle hurt bot not bad. It seems as if at each mile point for the first five I got just a little faster, then It got ugly. I took on water, ice, cola-put ice in my hat and down my top. I took advantage of all the spectators in the camp grounds, presumably athletes and their entourages, spraying runners down with water hoses and sprinklers-that was great. Another stomach clearing episode at mile ten pretty much killed my hopes of a strong 5k to get under 7hrs. But that episode of voiding semi solids made me a little more comfortable-ran a bit more, talked to some and felt better realizing so many others had a bad swim. Did some encouraging and accepted encouragement, by now I had surrendered but still tried to pick out someone to pass when I could or not let someone else pass-still tried to race SOMEONE

I dunno. I live in Texas, run in the heat regularly, have run everyday until Saturday -over 750 miles so far this year and have over 1500 miles cycling. My swimming is a weak spot clearly. I suppose the swim set me back physically and psychologically so much that I could not repay that debt. If that is the case then the swim was a bigger detriment than bike pacing

Teetering over the volunteer chip remover trying to chose between falling down, throwing up or standing around in a daze. Picture took with my medal, a few bottles of water, met a guy with the same name as me then slow walking to transition to begin undoing all of this and my long hike back to my truck. Took a camp shower which was nice and put on clean clothes


Im going to say swim fitness and conditions. AT Branson I did a 45 minute swim, take 22 minutes off this swim and I am under 7 hours. Adjust for possible fatigue and maybe I have a better run? I was tempted to call it a "bad" race below, but I did have fun, maybe learned something and I found out I can swim a pretty good ways in rough water without a wetsuit-I just don't like it


I say the course is just right, the wind and water temperature were variables this weekend that would make it on the edge of too hard. I "rated" it low based on my finish time in comparison to my only other 70.3 and what I think i should be able to do.