Pigman Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon

This was a time trial start by age group and one of the most pleasant starts I've ever done! They sent someone off every 5 seconds - I started just ahead of Linda and as soon as I hopped in I felt AMAZING! Every positive thought and confirmation about how much I love to swim came rushing over me and I was smiling from the get-go.

Apparently Linda was swimming right next to me the entire first loop, but to my left so I didn't see her - ha! Just before the turnaround I saw her in front of me, how fun! I tried the whole rest of the 2nd half to catch her but never did. She came out of the water just 11 seconds in front of me. My right foot cramped 2x and my right calf once at the very end, annoying but nothing I could do about it.

I was a bit surprised at my time though, as I'm usually more of a 40-42 minute swimmer, but to be fair that's always been with a wetsuit. My last 70.3 non-wetsuit swim I cam in at 49 minutes so I guess this wasn't so bad after all, especially considering how dang good I felt the whole time.

Nothing - I really loved this swim, despite the overly-complicated course. The water was warm but felt good, and I was steady the whole way.

Long run to the rack and I was on Linda's heels, then we were at T1 together the whole time - that was fun! I unapologetically stuck my hands down my shorts with some Udder Butter, not sure when else I could have done it as it would have come off in the swim if I would have applied before.

Moved pretty fast here and headed out ahead of Linda, but knowing she would catch me soon!

Nada.

This was a strange little bike course for sure. After you rode out of the state park, the course was FOUR LOOPS up and down one single road. Felt a bit like a hamster on a wheel, but it is what it is.

The first two loops I was shocked to see my average was over 18 mph (!!!!) - I thought for sure I would start to fade but I just barely did. After the third loop my average was 17.8 and then the last hill on the 4th loop + the hills coming in to the park dropped me to 17.6 but THIS IS A 70.3 BIKE PR FOR ME WOOOOO!!!

I was SO happy and having SO much fun on this bike - despite the roads being open to traffic (some sketchy situations with trucks pulling boats and one RV that was the size of a tour bus) having to cross a railroad track with a makeshift ramp 8 times total, and all of the 180-degree turns. I saw Linda like 10 times and it turns our we were riding the exact same pace so she never caught me.

On the last loop I was on such a high, I told myself out loud how great of a bike I was having and I cried just a few happy tears. The bike has always been where I've felt the most out of place in triathlons, and for one of the first times in 10 years of racing I felt good, I felt fast, and I felt validated on the bike.

For starters, I drank my Infinite too fast. It was almost gone at 2.5 hours and I was burping some of it up in my mouth so I had to back off. My other takeaway is this may have been my "could" pace rather than my "should" pace knowing I had a half marathon to run. Undecided on that one.

At the dismount I took off my bike shoes and ran with them in my hands - good decision I hate clip clopping so far in cleats. Racked and did all the normal things - felt good!

Oh my goodness you guys, it was 90 degrees by now and full sun. I started running and immediately knew this was going to be ridiculously hard. And it was.

Ran most of the first loop and was like OMG I have to do this 3 more times?! The heat, the sun, the people. It was too much. I melted so fast and so hard. Linda passed me around mile 4 and I couldn't even match her pace for a little bit. Nope. Nope. Nope.

On loop 2 the aid station said their ice had been "taken away" so everything was warm. I even heard someone come up and tell the volunteers to stop giving athletes what ice they had left. What?? Warm water and warm knock-off Gatorade was unpleasant to say the least. Some kids here had well water that was 55-degrees they were dumping on people but I didn't want to have sloshy socks for 9 more miles.

Loop 3 I started walking so much more. I just couldn't even. This loop was really hard, knowing I had one more to go. I tried very hard to keep my spirits up. I talked and joked with people when I could, but at one point I just broke down and cried. I want so badly to do well on the run and I kept telling myself that Louisville will be like 20-30 degrees cooler so it will be totally different - but I was just so discouraged here.

The last loop was mostly walking, trying to run 20-30 steps here or there. They had finally put some unofficial aid station volunteers at the far end of the camping loop with ice and water, I'm guessing since they realized they didn't have nearly enough water or ice spread across the loop. Campers were offering us ice out of their coolers. Large groups of people weren't even trying to run anymore. Around me people talked about how this was the hottest year for this race ever. No one was happy here. It was brutal.

I finally got to round the corner to the finish chute and I just shook my head - what a miserable running experience.

I severely regretted not bringing my Cool Wings and not wearing my sunglasses with my hat. Other than that, I couldn't control the weather and I couldn't control what was available on the course. I did bring a hand held water bottle but it just kept getting filled with luke warm water.

Linda was right there and I had to sit down in the shade. I was kind of out of it. Covered in thick salt. Spastic leg cramps. Cranky. Ugh. A guy with his two dogs sitting next to us lifted my spirits, the dogs were so chill and so sweet, that made me smile. Got up and drank some chocolate milk and headed to pack up the cabin and the car.

After we showered we got on the road and I didn't feel very well at all. Linda was so nice and drove all the way to Kansas City. We stopped in Des Moines to eat at Chipotle and I felt a little better after that - and that was the first time I had peed (7 p.m.) since 8 a.m on the swim. Yeah.

I stayed at my grandparents house in KC because we didn't get there till 11:30 p.m. Woke up and had breakfast with them, then drove the rest of the way home.


Heat, heat, heat.


This is a small, strange race. A too-complicated swim course, 4 loops on the bike (open to traffic and over railroad tracks) and 4 loops on the run (zero shade). Not enough aid stations on the run and not enough cold beverages or ice. If you live in the area it may be a good "local" choice, but I won't be driving 9 hours to do it again.