The Kansas City Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Had serious problems with the swim start. Kept swallowing air and water, got kicked a few times (nothing serious), right eye piece suddenly started leaking water, and couldn't make any headway. I looked for the kayak a couple times and entertained thoughts of tossing in the towel, but managed to suck it up and keep going. :( Once I got behind everyone and settled down, was able to find my stroke and swim ok the rest of the way in, albeitly slowly. I wasted at least 5 minutes in the first 200m though, just getting settled down. Just awful.

Well, more open water swims if possible, maybe get used to swimming with people rather than having a lane or half a lane in the pool for 8 straight months.

Not a great transition time, but not terrible. My right eyepiece was leaking most of the swim, so by the time I hit the transition there was a nice film over my right eye, hard to see till I'd been on the bike a bit. Had to sit down to put the socks on, but other than that, not too bad.

Not much, other than check the goggles again before the swim start.

Decent bike split, no complaints about 21.2 average given the technical section of the course where you really had to slow down. May have overcooked it a little trying to make up for the horrible swim....see notes in the run section below. :)

Not too much, maybe saved a smidge near the end.

No complaints here, maybe a little faster but it was ok. :)

Well, much suckage here for me. I started out fine, was running about an 8:10 min/mile pace the first 5k, but finished with about 8:45 min/mile by the end, which put me well over 9 min/mile the 2nd 5k. I didn't feel that bad, but just had no energy whatsoeve for the 2nd loop, had to just concentrate on putting 1 foot in front of the other and refusing to walk.

Hard to say. I might have overcooked the bike a little bit trying to recover from the horrible swim, or I might just still suck a lot at the run. Maybe both. Best bet is to be in better shape on the run, probably dropping some weight would help. :)

Gasping for air, fumbling with timing chip/strap, and looking for shade.


1. I was totally unprepared mentally for a mass start, open water swim. I lost at least 5 minutes in the first 200m trying to get my head on straight and find my stroke.

2. General conditioning just not where it needs to be, especially on the run. My training has been lighter than it should be for the last month or so, especially for an Olympic distance event. Need to increase the volume and intensity if I want to do longer races.


Innaugural KC Triathlon - they did a great job. TONS of volunteers on the swim, bike, and run courses, and they were very supportive. I would do this race next year and definitely recommend it to friends.