Kansas City Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The swim course was changed from its usual 1 loop course to a 2 loop course. This was done ahead of time in anticipation of the winds and weather. Mark Livesay assured us that we would really like the two lap change vs. the alternative one lap. Overnight the buoys got blown out of place by the heavy storm so there was a bit of a late start as the folks in the boats repositioned them into their proper spots. It was later acknoledged that the course was long.

I lined up right up front, knee-deep in the water, and slightly to the left. My wave was the third to go off and there didn't appear to be too many people interested in starting up front with me. When the horn went off I had clear water ahead with no one to my left or right to challenge me. I was a little surprised by this, but I'll take it - keeps me from pushing my eart rate too high at the start of a race. One the way out the water conditions were easy to contend with, despite the wind, the swim traffic ahead was light, and I hit each buoy nicely.

Coming back to shore on the first lap was when I noticed much more chop from the wind. I had to make sure I kept breathing to my right. A quick left turn of my head got a bunch of lake water in my mouth. As I neared the shore I saw that a guy from my wave caught up to me. His stroke looked controlled, smooth, and strong. Mine felt frantic and chaotic. It was a bit of a wake-up call, so I adjusted my stroke accordingly to mimick his control. Since he was slowly going by me I dropped back a bit and drafted off of his feet, allowing him to do the sighting for me and lead me through the crowd of slower swimmers.

On lap two I ran through the arch and back out into the water. I lost that guy's feet and draft, and I really could've used him because once I hit the first yellow buoy I swam smack dab into a pack of yellow caps that not too long ago began their wave. I had momentary fit of frustration on how to handle this as the only way around was to swing way outside to go around. At that moment I became a non-fan of the two loop option. Instead I refocused and swam through them all. Somehow I made it through with almost zero contact. The rest of lap two was was the same as one, but with more traffic to swim through.

My pace slowed/relaxed a bit on the second lap. I needed to maintain a bit more intensity here.

Decent transition. Not sure how to improve here. Maybe one day I'll go back to leaving my shoes clipped into my bike.

3/48
29/330

The first 5 miles were with a tailwind or crosswind, so I started out relatively comfortable and not having to get too worked up early on. The couple of hills after the second turn around, to head south on Raytown Rd, seemed harder than I remember from previous years. I recall being able to power up them pretty nicley before but not this time around. However, the 20 mph headwind may have had a little bit to do with that. The wind made that south bound stretch of road last quite a while, but on the upside my speed din't dip down as much as I was expecting it to.

I had very few people passing me, meaning that either most of the speedsters were in the wave ahead of me or that I that they started far enough behind. Still, despite the wind and not having a stellar time, I felt pretty good about how I performed.

As always, keep training and hoping for small improvements.

I had a good dismount and shoe exchange. I momentarily lost where my rack was and that cost me about 3-5 sec. Or, as it seemed at the time, 15 seconds. I tried something new with my race belt today. Instead of clipping it around my waist as I'm running I had it pre-clipped together beforehand and slipped it over my head and arms as I ran out of T2. I got the idea after watching highlights from a pro race. I'm not sure if it saved me from any extra fumbling, but I lost one of the spring cord locks in the process - so my race number was dangling at my waist before I tucked part of it into my waistand.

Surprislingly, after the race, I walked through transition and found the spring cord lock.

6/48
51/330

Know my transition spot.

I just didn't have that extra gear I wanted for this run.

The first two miles I was feeling things out and seeing what I could produce, but it wasn't looking promising. Coming in on mile three I started to think about slowing down and walking. I talked myself into waiting until I ran well past transition on lap 2, but in the end I never succumbed to that bit of weakness and I kept moving throughout.

On that back stretch of road I got passed by a guy in my age group. I suspected at the time that I might be near the top 3, but I couldn't be for sure not knowing who was who passing me on the bike. As it turned out, that pass was for first in the AG. Sadly, I had to let him go on by as I didn't have it in me to match his speed. I settled into something manageable for the rest of the race, even 7min/mi splits, about 30/40 secs off of previous years. By the time mile 5 hit I convinced myself that "this sucks," I'm in pain, and I'll be promptly downgrading from the 70.3 race I have in 3 weeks to the shorter Olympic race.

Can't say.
I'm not sure if I rode too hard into the headwind on the bike (I don't think so), or if I didn't properly fuel myself in the days leading up until the race (maybe), or if doing too many treadmill runs at moderate paces this spring caught up with me (quite possibly). Or maybe it was just one of those days where things just didn't happen.

Chit chatted around, mostly with a buddy from work who has now fully converted into a triathlete.

After about an hour I was trying real hard to recall that feeling of pain I had on the run and then rejustify bumping down distances for my next race. Its funny how that pain leaves you.

I did have a post race breakthrough. Usually, I can NEVER drink a beer after a race. As much as I sometimes want one beer just doesn't sit well in my stomach the first few hours after a race.
Well not today. Today I triumphed and had 2 whole beers. My stomach didn't not leave me curled up on the asphalt. I'll take my victories where I can get them.


Another well-run Kansa City triathlon. The crew was well aware of the possibilites of storms before the race and planned ahead accordingly. Speaks to their preparedness.