Ironman 70.3 Kansas - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I improved my time by over 3 minutes from last year, but this is still disappointing. I spent a lot of time in the offseason working on my swimming, so I was hoping for a much bigger improvement. I set my goal at an obtainable (and VERY slow) 45 minutes and still didn't get it.

The chop was nearly directly against you on way out and it broke my will a little bit. I think I got fatigued and let my stroke get lazy. My navigation was also terrible. I felt like I was sighting ok, but I'd take 6 or 7 strokes and suddenly be way off line.

I've said it before, but I just need to spend more time in the pool. I have been doing 4-5K yards a week, and I need that number to be higher.

I haven't worked on transition much in training this year, and it showed. I got my suit down to my waist on the way to my spot, but I didn't have my goggles or cap off. Suit came off slowly. Socks went on slowly. I took the time to put everything into my morning clothes bag so I wouldn't have to walk back down to T1 after the race.

Pre race practice.

What a difference a year can make! It seemed like a completely different course this year. The weather was cool and wind speed was in the single digits for the first 2/3 of the bike.

After the choppy swim, I assumed that I would be queasy when I got out of the water. Luckily that wasn't the case. There was a slight tailwind pushing us out of the park, so those first few rollers were no problem.

Once I got out of the park, I used the flat dam section to take some nutrition and settle into a rhythm. Around mile 7 or 8, the course turns West, which on this particular day was straight into the wind. I had mentally prepared myself for major headwind suckage, and I was pleasantly surprised at how manageable it was. That was probably the point I realized that this was going to be a good day.

The next section of the course was mostly into the wind, with some short sections of cross winds. At mile 22ish, though, there's a turnaround. The next 12 or 13 miles were mostly tailwind and it was pretty awesome.

The section from miles ~35-40 didn't get any flatter since last year, but without the stiff headwind it was considerably less terrible. When I reached the turnaround last year, I was completely spent. Nothing left in the tank. This year I felt great.

The last 15 miles were pretty uneventful, with the exception of the dam hill that took a lot out of me. The hill right before the park entry doesn't get as much hype, but it's a SOB as well.

My goal power was 150 and I hit it to the watt. I took a GU at 15 minutes, 1 hour, 1:30 and then every 45 after that. Salt tabs every 30.

In the end, I improved my bike time by a few seconds less than 15 minutes from last year. I am extremely happy with that.



I can't think of anything. I felt like I had a really well executed bike.

Uneventful. I didn't rush, but didn't waste much time. I tried to put on some sunscreen, but apparently I did a bad job because I got FRIED. Note to self: just let the volunteers slather a thick coat on you next time.

Nothing Much

My only real tactical error on the day came on the run, which is extremely frustrating. The run is my strength, and the fact that I screwed it up irks me.

I felt pretty amazing coming out of T2, and I let my pace get way too fast. I bet I looked at my watch 4 or 5 times in the first mile and told myself that I needed to slow down, but I never did. My heart rate was a bit high, but my RPE was low. So I just kept cruising. The result was a 7:15ish first mile and then a subsequent blow-up.

My second mile was about 7:45 and then everything went to hell. This didn't approach the suffer fest from last year, but I put myself through a lot of unnecessary pain out there. If I could have just run 8:00 to 8:15 for the first few miles I would have had a more enjoyable run and probably finished much faster.

Despite my error, I cut about 5 and a half minutes off my time from last year. So at least I have that.

PACE YOURSELF YOU IDIOT.

Got my medal, got my hat, got a chocolate milk and peaced out. The wife was nice enough to watch the kids all morning, so I wanted to get home as quickly as I could.


Mostly just my failure to execute on the run.


25+ minute HIM PR, so I'm pretty happy overall.

I love this race and I love this course. Just a top notch event.