Ironman Kansas 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Nice start. A little more jostling than I can remember for a wave start. It thinned out by the first turn. The wind at this point was coming out of the south. When I made my final turn to come back into the shore, the wind kept pushing me away from the buoys. It took me awhile to figure this out...duhh. So I had to angle my body and swim a diagonal line away from the shore. This seemed to work well. Although I was 100 yards away from the buoys, I never had a kayaker come to tell me to get back on course, and I know a lot of us were "out there."

I finished the swim in 45:05 by my watch and ran to transition. I stopped just short of the timing mat to take off my wetsuit. This took me about 2 minutes as it got stuck on my timing chip, and the zipper was full of sand.

Recommend to the race director to utilize volunteers for stripping.

I was on the very end of my rack, furthest from the main aisle. But, this had its benefits too. I set up my transition area right next to the fence, and could talk to the family to get needed support before the bike and the run (but especially the bike).

Nothing.

I drove this course, especially the northern arm, several times before the race day to get to town. It totally had me worried. I did not sleep well, I thought about not even starting, I was upset that I didn't bring my road bike with the triple rings...on and on. So at the transition area, my husband said, "just go comfortable and have fun. You have plently of time." So that is what I did. Although the roads looked really bad from the car, they didn't seem as bad from the bike. As I was approaching the last and toughest hill of the first arm, an ambulance was taking away one guy, who I later learned was BT's very own Veganman, and another was on the side of the road bleeding everywhere and appeared to be unconscious! You just never know when that will happen to you. With fast speeds, bridges, and equipment being flown all over the road, I'm amazed that these were the only crashes I saw.

The second arm went rather smoothly, but I could tell the wind was picking up. By the third arm, the wind was 16-20mph and into our faces. I was pedalling constantly in the lower ring and mostly in granny gear. I averaged 11 mph on this part. Many guys were on the side of the road puking...seriously one every mile. I really felt like I was bonking. By the turn around, however, the wind was at my back, and my average mph increased to 23 mph. I did this whole last part in my biggest chain ring, even up the hills.

When I got back to transition, I couldn't believe that I did it in 3:15!! My optomistic goal after driving the course was 3:45.

Nothing. Hydration with carbo pro 2.5 scoops, 2.5 endurolytes, ice tea mix and 24 ounzes of water eorked perfectly. No GI issues whatsoever.

I got off my bike and could barely walk. Guys were jumping off and running. It took me a bit longer to get loosened up.

Nothing

It took ne about 2 miles to loosen up after the bike. The first two miles were at a 12 minute pace. Our camper was on the first half mile. My family had made signs including one BT sign. They said they got many comments about the BT sign with weveral paople calling out their call names. After mile 2, I picked up the pace to about 9-9.5 minute miles. I used a concentrated mixture of the bike nutrition, and chased it with water at every aid station. It worked beautifully. Every ile I felt stronger and faster. By mile 9, the weather front moved in, and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Boy, that felt good! I had to take off my sunglasses because the clouds were so dark. I never saw any rain, lighning or hail. I only heard a few distant runblings of thunder. By the time I made it to mile 10, the could separated, and it became much lighter outside. There was still no rain. I was running 8.5 minute miles by this point. When I ran by the transition area again to finish my last 2 mile loop, I was stopped by a volunteer who told me they were pulling out everyone. When I asked why, his reply was that "they evacuated all of the volunteers due to the weather." I was disappointed to say the least. This was my first HIM where I actually felt good and was running a great pace. So......I took off my timing chip, threw it into the big pile, and finished the race myself. Total time was around 6:17 by my watch. Oh yeah... and there were still vounteers out catering to my needs for ice, water and gatoraid. They had no idea the race had been called, and were surprised when I gave them the news.

Nothing.

The finish was quite crowded. I'm not sure if they were handing any swag stuff out here, but I didn't get anything because of the mass of bodies. I gathered my transition stuff, and ran....yea...ran back to the campsite, that'a how good I felt. Then, the sun came out!!! One and a half hours after I finished we were pulling out of our campsite, and there were still runners going past the aid station beyond mile 10!!! And they couldn't have let the people finish who were on their last lap?!?!?!


Age, genetics, family, work, and motivation.


There was plently of activities and a great expo before the race. The navy seals were awesome. The swim was beautiful, and the bike was challenging. The run was spectator friendly. I just wish that there was something published that stated "we will stop the race under X circumstances." I felt then and still feel now that it was a VERY soft call.

Overall, had weather not been a factor, this race would have been rated a little higher on my scale. There was a lot of thought and organization that went into this. I may be back in future years.