Midwest Mayhem Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I'm never a huge fan of the swim portion and I know I could do much better in these races if I could swim faster but for now completion is my goal. I hoped maybe I could count the bouys as they went by on what was an entirely straight line course. This shape course at least help me stay on it.. mostly. I left in the first heat and after we doubled back the first time I kinda changed lanes. I started running head on into heat 2. After a couple minor collisions I was back in my lane and on the right course. The rest of the swim went prettty smooth. I switched to breast stroke every now and then to orient myself and take a breather. I hopped out of the water with my hear pounding, but happy I was headed toward my bike. I had people to catch.

I need to just generally spend more time in the pool. I need to be able to complete these longer swims without such a high heart rate.

Best T1 time yet... 2nd fastest in my AG. I felt liek a fumbled a little with the shoes, helmet and glases. I might have to practice grabbing them all a couple times. My feet were covered in sand when I ran up to my area. I had left a portion of the towel open to wipe them off on real fast and it worked pretty well. Slipped the socks and shoes on and then the helmet and glasses. Grabbed the bike and started running. Did the good old running start on the bike and pushed up the little starting hill.

Leave the glasses on the bike and put them on when I start riding.

I took off fast on the bike course with intentions of passing the swimmers that all left the water before me. I hammered out for about the first six or seven miles and passed a lot of people. I was ecpecially using the hills which I tend to climb a little better but I may have been a little too ambitious. I was pushing my HR higher then I should have up the hills and had to back off a lot more then I would have liked going down hills to try to bring it down. I began to feel the hills seriously wearing on the legs as well and I had to back off. I had real good speed coming down a few hills that was often killed by the turns, especially when turning to aviod shot course riders on the way back in. I did't pass many after the first 7 or 8 miles because I had to back off. I was also drinking watered down gatorade which needed some more water. It left a sticky sugary feeling in my mouth that I needed some water to wash out. I started feeling the I'm almost back energy about the time I hit the short course folks and I also knew I had climbed most of the hills. The last windy mile in was good and then I remembered I still had to go run.

The lack of riding in the previous two weeks really hurt me. It kept the HR higher then I would have liked and the legs were a little unacustomed to the climbing. Next time I need to make sure I'm following a good workout and taper plan in the two weeks prior to the race.

I tired to get unclipped as I neared the finish line to speed up the transition but couldn't get it right and did the usual stop and get off. Had a slight issue getting the bike in the rack but once I did the running shoes popped on fine and I was off. It seemed soooo far to the other end of the transition area where the run started. I was still happy with the time.

Practice getting off of a moving bike, maybe getting out of my shoes and leaving them on the bike.

I took off running and my legs felt like lead like usual. This was the worst they've felt at the start of a run though. My HR was still a little higher then I would have liked and I was beginning to reach completion mode. I saw a few long course folks a little ways ahead of me and was a little surprised to see I was gaining on them since I knew I wasn't moving very fast. I passed a couple folks and noticed a guy in my age group just ahead of me not long after I passed the fisrt mile mark. I was not happy to notice that it took me about 9 minutes to hit that marker. I figured I had been gaining on this guy and I could catch him, maybe beat him if I raced smart. Another guy in my age group flew by both of us, niether of us made an attempt to catch him. I continued to stay pretty close to the guy ahead of me and decided to pace off of him for a while and maybe save a little energy to beat him. We both hit another hill and put our heads down and started charging up when a guy behind us yells "Worng Way, you missed the Turn!" The turn was hardly marked but there was a small arrow on the road pointing at an overgrown trail in the woods. I turned and tried to pick up my pace a little because I knew the guy ahead of me would see I was chasing him now and didn't want him to think he could catch me. The well covered trail in the woods kept things cool and the old pavement and weeds kept things a little softer on the knees. Any sign of a road dissappeard a couple times but eventually the road came back. Turns out my competitor behind me had a little fuel left in the tank and about quarter mile later passed me pretty quickly and slowed down enough that I could keep with him. My body was hurting but this had become a race. I passed him once again on another poorly marked turn that I figured out first, but he didn't let that last long. At mile 3.5 he started to pull away a little and I picked it up a little. He conitnued to look back to see where I was but I didn't have the juice to catch him. I tried to make up time when he wasn't watching and it worked a little until we were about a half mile out from finish. The hot dam had taken a lot out of me and he had started to pick up the pace. I didn't have much of a kick left and he did. I came up the last couple hills still running cause I didn't want to walk this close to the finish line. I finally finished, 50 seconds behind the guy I was chasing.

I was hurt a lot by the lack of running in the previous two weeks. It ran a slower pace then I wanted to although it was much better then it may have been since I had a race to run. It was only the second run in two weeks and I could feel the lack of miles.

I walked as much as I could and stopped and talke to the guy I had been chasing. Turns out this was his first Tri, I was impressed. He had just graduated the naval academy and was headed to submarine school soon. We were the same rank. Got a mountain dew and then more water and some grapes. Found some shade to watch the awards with Lisa. I was pretty sure I didn't get one but I could always hope. I knwe of two people in my AG that finished ahead of me to the chances were pretty slim. Watched a couple people from work cross the finish line, one proudly sporting a bud select. I guess he believes in starting early. Lisa and I decided the beer sounded good so we each grabbed one. It definatly didn't help. I started feeling a littel weak and sick by the time we were on our way out. We stopped at Chipotle in Lawrence to eat :), that definately helped.


I didn't train well coming into the race. A week trip to Chicago erased a week of training and in events like running I only got one short session beforehand. I could have been in better shape going into the race.


The race was a decent small race. I wasn't super impressed. The running course lacked volunteers and the bike course needed some more signage. Both comments that Lisa left with the RD on the way out. The courses were challenging and pretty to run. The finish/transition area was severly lacking in a place to spectate from and a sign that said "Finish". the crowd might as well been napping all morning. Not sure if its a race I'll do again but I was glad I did it this time.