Jackson County Triathlon - Long Course - Triathlon

Having the smaller wave made for a pretty uneventful start. Instead of going out super hard, peaking the HR and then settling down, I just took it nice and smooth from the start and found someone to draft off of. There was probably a group of 5 at the front the first lap, with me being on the tail end. I stuck right on the feet of some guy in a BlueSeventy wetsuit, and tried not to get dropped off the back.

Heading back for the second lap included a short stretch across the beach area that we were allowed to swim. I was pretty happy with this, as I thought running along the beach would skyrocket my HR. I just stayed in the zone and kept right on the feet of the guy in the BlueSeventy, who seemed to be going right at the pace I was confortable with.

As soon as we got going on the second lap, I could tell we were hitting alot of traffic in the water, likely from the short course waves starting. The second lap sucked, and was 750m of constant zigzagging around slower swimmers, who were spread out quite well. No contact, but still not a straight shot.

Soon enough, we were out of the water, with me about a few seconds behind the BlueSeventy guy, who I silently thanked for pulling me 90% of the swim.

I was surprised by the split, as I thought I was working relatively hard for the distance and my workouts had been amazing leading up to the race. Regardless, I felt like my HR was right were it needed to be. Maybe push a bit harder on the back stretch of the 2nd lap, but navigating around other waves made this difficult.

3rd in AG, 13th OA.

I thought this transition sucked. I forgot to take my swim cap off, had the suit get stuck on my watch and heels, and fumbled around a bit with my helmet. by far not my smoothest effort. Also had trouble mounting my bike, which made me look quite stupid...

remember my cap, compose myself a bit more before getting to my rack.

After finally mounting my bike, I set off to track down two riders in front of me. While I was struggling getting on my bike, I was passed by someone in AG, and I wanted to keep him within sight. My plan was to ride fairly conservatively the first half of the first lap, including the first climb. Everything went to plan, which was fairly surprising. Normally, I say F the plan and hammer, but kept the HR low z3 the first 15 minutes.

I soon saw Pete behind me after the climb, and we rode together and tracked down the two riders in front of me and sort of formed this group of 4, with no one really breaking off for probably 20 minutes.

While going of the rickety bridge on the first lap, I had a bottle eject while going over at high speeds. At first, I thought it was my watch, then maybe my gels, and lastly a water bottle. Luckily, the bottle I lost had only water in it. After realizing I dropped it, I turned and said sorry to Pete, who probably thought I was trying to "drop" him in an alternative way.

The remainder of the first lap went well, with very little traffic on the course. The second lap was also fairly uneventful, but I pushed the pace a bit more. Once we got to the backside of the hill on the second lap, I picked up the pace even more and distanced myself from tiny group, although I'm sure they weren't far behind.

Overall, I was hoping for an ave HR of 155, but definitely settled for a 152, as my legs were in great shape still. I was definitely conservative on the bike, but since this was my longest race this year (crazy), I made more of an attempt to pace myself to see how the remainder of the day would go.

Open up the legs a bit more on. But I am pleased with the results.

1 in AG, 12 OA

Long run out of transition. I thought it went well, though.

Nothing, maybe skip the hat, but I didn't take time to put it on

Don't know where the hell this came from, but I'm definitely okay with it...

I started out the run just behind Pete and the guy in my AG, who I likely thought was in 1st. I was about 15 seconds behind them, and was content with this starting out. I kept checking my watch initially, and saw the 7:00/mi pace and thought WTF Mark... But I was feeling damn good coming off the bike. The plan was for a 7:30 ave, maybe 7:20. But nothing in training led me to think I'd be doing anything faster than a 7:20.

The 2.5 out was great. I was feeling good, concentrating on keeping my cadence high, a good arm swing, and keeping Pete and the AG within 15-20 seconds. At the turn, I verified I was 2nd in my AG, and about 6 or 7th out on the course. I quickly saw Mark and Reese (Mark would later fly by me doing about a 6min mile...) and prepared myself to keep up the now much harder pace.

I definitely slowed a bit on the back half, but overall my HR and lungs were feeling good. My legs just couldn't muster anything faster than the already fairly fast pace they were maintaining. Pete and the AGer eventually pulled away, about 30-40 seconds in front of me and I couldn't catch them.

I eventually crossed the finish, about 20 seconds behind the AG winner, who was I chatted with after as he had a Cervelo p2 as well.

Hell, I wish I knew what I did for this run so I could replicate it! Nothing!

Walked a bit, Pete handed me a beer immediately (haha), and stuck around for the raffel which I did not win.


I think the biggest thing would be a conservative approach to pacing on the bike, but I think this contributed to a great run split. I will attempt a faster time next weekend in Paola and see where I stand!


While I ranked this as Average, I thought it was really well done, despite the longer swim and CLEARLY short bike course (come on, no way I averaged 23...). But, I thought the course was fun, everyone was in great spirits, and overall had few problems. The one complaint I do have is there was no one monitoring the turn around, just a sign the said turn around. I didn't see anyone cutting it short, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen....

All in all, a good small local race on a gorgeous day.