Kansas City Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon

I positioned myself in the middle of my wave. The water temp was cold, but not an issue at all. As we took off, my left goggle immediately filled with water. Crap. The same thing happened in Alton back in October. I never have goggle issues. But that was a cold water swim, and so was this. Perhaps the cold water caused them to not fit right....something to consider before I hit the Bay-area waters.

I swam a hundred yards, and the stopped...emptied goggles, and proceeded. After 2-3 times of this, I finally mashed the goggle hard into my face and felt it seal. They were pretty good after that point. I tried to get into a group but the current was pretty strong. I swam to the right so that I could use the current to get around the buoys. The fast swimmers were gone, and it was just the steady folks in view.

Paced myself pretty well. At the end of the 1st lap, I checked my watch... 16:30...ugh...not what I wanted. Course is long.

Back in the water, I was determined to have a better lap. I wouldn't have to hassle with the usual head games I deal with at every swim start. The problem is that upon re-entry, we were approximately 25 yards to the left of where we started. Since I wanted to be right of the first set of buoys, this meant I need to take a sharp angle against the current. Not a big deal, until I saw the pontoon boat creeping into my path. I had to decide to whether to go left of the boat, or to the right of the boat. For some reason, I thought the boat was going to be stopping (why I thought that, I have no idea). I decided to go left. Bad decision. The current pushed the boat further and further in front of where I was trying to swim. As I passed the boat, I was amazed to see a parade of people being pulled out of the water. I guess the current was really a problem for many people.

I ended with a slow time. In looking over everyone's results, even the fast swimmers seemed to be timed at about :15-20 seconds slower than normal. My Garmin shows a total distance of 1891 yards...a little over 1.1 miles. So my "adjusted" time would be about 1:51 per 100. Still quite a bit slower than my training speeds, but more about what I would expect.

I could have made better navigation decisions. Also, I chose not to do a swim warm up. If I had at least tested my goggles, I may have eliminated the leaking issue which would have saved me some time.

After I came out of the water, I was pleased that the woman directing athlete traffic unzipped my wetsuit. Nice. I took off my watch (first race with the Fenix 3 and I was paranoid about hitting any extra buttons). I held it in my teeth while I ran into transition.

Wetsuit came off easily enough. I had planned to wear socks, because of the rough surface in transition, however decided not to do that at the last minute. Since I forgot to bring rubber bands, I borrowed one from a neighbor in transition and just had my left shoe banded up. This didn't cause too much of a problem but it did take me a little longer to get my feet in.



8/48

Remember the rubber bands. Remember the body glide (chafing on the back of the neck!).

There was a lot of wind on the course, making it pretty tough. I spent most of my time passing and was only passed by 3-4 other athletes, that I remember. I bombed down the big hill on the 1st lap, but had to pull back a big on the 2nd laps as there was congestion in front of me with people riding on the left.

I paced myself pretty well. I could have probably hammered a bit harder, but with the tough conditions and the roads being a little wet, I was fairly happy with the effort. In hindsight, when you have a slow swim, and then spend lots of time passing, it's fairly easy to get satisfied with the effort, when you can actually perform a little better.

For some reason, I decided to put my socks on here. I can't recall what my thinking was. The main reason I brought socks to begin with was mainly just for running through transition. What an idiot time wasting move. I don't need socks for only 6 miles. I was 28th in my AG at T2...not good.

Don't mess with the stupid socks.

The run remains my biggest weakness, but I feel I'm making steady progress. This was decent run for me and I'm getting a little faster each year. It may have been a bit faster if I could have latched onto someone to pace off of, but it seemed I was either alot faster or alot slower than most people.

At the 4.5M mark, my run was abruptly interrupted by my left hamstring cramping into a tight ball. I was stopped in my tracks. I massaged it a bit and walked and it looks like it only cost me 20 seconds. I had not other cramping issues for the remainder of the run.

Not much

After the race, I met Jamie who had finished her sprint about 10 minutes earlier. We milled around a bit and checked out the booths before packing up and heading home.


A few things: overall focus. I did't approach this race with a clear cut goal. My mind has been on Alcatraz and the challenges of that race. I was not as fit this year (having done a 70.3 in April of 2014) . Overall, I was happy with my performance. If the conditions were comparable to 2014, I'm sure my time would have been slightly improved.


I really like the KC Tri. I think they do a good job. The bring a good vibe and buzz. The offer good swag (however it was a bit less this year).

This is not a complaint, however I find it funny: The day after the 2014 Tri, KC Tri sent out an email about the 2015 race and the new things they were offering: "carpet in transition area!", "KOM competition!", "Fastest Rider Competition!", "Slip and Slide finish line!".

They didn't have any of these things. I'm glad they didn't....(the slip and slide sounds stupid) but I find it funny when race directors continue to promise things and then don't deliver. Perhaps this was an overzealous marketing intern that made these statements. Perhaps an insurer saw this list and knew how risky it was.

I think the Kansas City Triathlon is the best race in KC. It doesn't need gimmicks. Overall, a very good race and I'll continue to participate in it.