Ironman Kansas 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Best swim I've ever done. Dropped 12 minutes from last year's time, had a wetsuit this time and drafted well too.

Nothing.

Transistion went fine under the circumstances. Bikes were side to side so there really wasn't room to leave my shoes clipped onto the bike. I had to jog about half the length of the transition area in the bike shoes. Since it was such a crowded space I packed my gear bag so the race voluteers wouldn't miss anything when they brought it to the finish. I could have shaved about a minute or so without those extra challenges, but otherwise went well.

Nothing under the circumstances.

The bike went well for me, no issues what so ever. It was overcast out which probably helped my time. Was averaging better than 20 mph for the first 25 miles and thought it was too good to be true....I realized it was when I hit the first turnaround and started back into the wind. Slowed down after that but still improved. I dropped over a half hour from last years time, but still am only a middle of the pack biker at best. Need to continue to work on this event. I ate 5 gels and drank about 50 oz of water over the bike.

Nothing, it went well.

I was a little frustrated here. The two guys on either side of my rack space beat me in and racked side by side by their handle bars, so there was no room for my bike. I had to set my bike down and move their bikes just to be able to get mine on the rack. I thought you were always supposed to rack by the seat... This cost me a couple minutes. Put some sunscreen on and also waited in a short line to hit the john before leaving transition.

Hold it for a john along the run, the lines were much shorter there.

Sun was out in full force when I started the run. I did something wrong on the run. Kept to the HR plan for the first couple miles, hit the hill the first time and spiked to 160. Still felt good so just tried to maintain below 160 HR. Second lap was good until the hill. HR climbed to 165 and started having some light headedness. I slowed up and let the HR come down to the 140s and felt better. Tried to maintain a slower pace, but kept speeding up without realizing and get light headed again. Hit every aid station for water or gatorade and a cold sponge. Made it through the first 9 stations running, started walking at 10 to help lower the HR. The last 3 miles of the run were very slow. I was around a 1:52 pace until then.

Stick to the HR plan and maybe get more sodium and fluid throughout the day. Didn't really get much sodium on the bike. Need to find out causes for the light headedness to prevent that issue in the future. (I ran a fairly hilly marathon in April at 8:40 pace and felt I had more in the tank when I finished so I thought I'd be able to come closer to that in the HIM run.)

Walked around a little, stretched the legs, checked out the Expo and ate and drank a lot. Then a walk to the car.


Lost a few minutes in transisition #2. The final 3 miles of the run did not go well. Haven't trained running much in full sun and heat. Need to get more of that in to get acclimated to the heat and put more effort into hydration and nutrition needs during the competition.


Overall was a good race. Plenty of aid stations and great volunteers. Course was very clearly markd and well done. Two transistion areas was an extra challenge, but was done fairly well. Needed more rack space in the first transition area, I thought the second had enough if bikes were racked the right way.