Topeka Tinman Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Started off in the male 39 and under wave, which meant that it was a little nuts in the water until you got around the first buoy. I was a little annoyed at the start. The direct line from the start of the swim to the first buoy runs slightly parallel to the shore for a few yards. And despite being asked not to do so, several people ran on the beach until the landscape forced them to enter the water. That didn't make me to happy to see people running next to me while I'm a few feet away swimming. I don't know, seems unfair.

Anyway, I didn't get my normal breakaway from the pack that I can sometimes enjoy so I had to endure the big bottle neck rounding the first buoy. However, once I got around it and got rid of the guy swimming on top of my back I had clear water in front of me shortly thereafter. In my attempt to go fast and break away I noticed my swim technique was absolutely horrid. My straight arms may have even resembled a windmill at one point. But once I got into that clear patch of water I re-focused on executing some proper stroke work. That helped a lot as I was able to get into a manageable breathing pattern and get some long and strong pulls through the water.

The whole swim I was operating under impression that I was maybe in place 10th place, figuring that some guys must have gotten off to a better start than me, and considering the size and scope of our wave that seemed reasonable. But to my surprise I emerged out of the water in second (but a good minute and a half back from the first guy out and overall winner of the race).

Pleased with this overall. Should've lined up a little better at the start to get a better position.

Out of the water and up the hill to the transition parking lot. I had my TYR suit ready to pull completely off by the time I reached my bike. Helmet, glasses, shoe, bike, GO!

22/O
2/AG

Heading out of the park I got passed by two guys who were not too far behind me on the swim. I passed one of them back after a couple miles and then got caught up with the second a little later and we went back in forth with each other for a few miles. At this point we had caught up with some of the slower short course racers. Now, I can appreciate the fact that there is a desire to have everyone race on the far right side of the road and maintain their line, but that doesn't always happen. In fact, with this race having a fair number of beginners, you'll very likely encounter people who don't know the proper way to ride. Now, the aforementioned second rider I mentioned above had no appreciation for this fact and seemed to make it a point to yell at each rider as he went by and how they were not obeying the rules. I get it, and I think he was just young (20-24), but he was not very friendly, especially if you're a first timer. In turn I tried to throw out encouragement to those who looked like they were struggling or working hard. I also think I've been having too many conversations with my two-year old daughter about being nice and being mean and some of that is carrying over into my racing.

After I went by the short course turn off, and I got myself clear of Mr. Friendly, I had open road in front of me. As far as I could tell I was up front leading on the bike at that point. Turns out this wasn't true, as there were two or three guys 2 minutes ahead of me, but at least the thought of that was nice. I was riding pretty hard when I gotten overtaken by three new guys at the turn north on Stanley. I just don't ride enough outdoors to feel comfortable enough to really attack the turns, thereby allowing them to blow by me. There was a bit of an uphill climb after that and I lost manageable contact with them.

Riding back west to the park the roads had signs on them that simply stated "Hill." Thanks for the head up. The hills were short with steep descents followed by a similar steep climb. The final 3-4 miles were on a sweet flat/downward incline which made for some comfortable fast speeds.

I wasn't too aggressive on some of the hills, which let some of my close competition get away from me.

27/O
3/AG

I didn't feel great, didn't feel horrible to start the run, but usually I feel awesome because I can't wait to free myself of the bike. The first two miles ticked off at 7:02 and 7:04, but as I made my way around the ball field and up a few short hills I could tell that this pace wasn't going to last for another 5+ miles. The air was still just as humid as when the race started and a bit warmer as well. In spite of this I didn't feel too overheated yet. However, I could feel the beginning of spotty leg cramps appearing.

I started taking short ten second walk breaks every now and then, but those gradually got longer. I was concerned that my calf of quad would turn itself into a ball of muscle causing me to limp to the finish line, so I made the extra effort to get my fluids in at each station. If not I used the opportunity to get some water poured over my head. Thankfully, things never got bad and I was able to ward off the leg cramps. But my short walk breaks continued and as such my mile splits kept growing longer, I think getting as high as 8:45. It's hard to tell if the walking helped or if I was just being a pussy and I failed to HTFU.

With all that said this was a great run course, I really enjoyed running around the lake. Great support on a mostly shaded walking path. The course is advertised as 7 miles but in truth its actually closer to 8. My Garmin had it at 7.74 miles. Based on the comments of the Ultramax folk, this is a known fact (the announcer almost alluded that it might be an ongoing joke??). Not that the distance would've changed my mind about switching to do the long course.

HTFU and keep running.

Walked and then sat down with some water. A gal who did the duathlon was sitting next to me and we chatted about our day. Once she left I felt a little human again.


I'll probably say this for every race report I write this year, but my lack/inability to put in some "serious" SBR miles in training this year. I'm consistent enough to stay in shape, but I'm missing some core sessions that will help me step up my game. Case in point was today's run. It wasn't a terribly difficult course, but I haven't had a long run over 6/7 miles in a month/month-half. That doesn't set me up for a lot of success on the run.


Great race. I like the overall feel and atmosphere of it. I also think they do a good job of being accommodative to the first timers that show up for the race. The post race food options were lacking in that there was only pizza and soda, but I never do a race based on what they offer after I finish so not a big deal for me. It sounds like they are trying to convince the powers that be to move this race a week or two later on the calendar to get participation up since this race runs so close to KS 70.3.