Midwest Meltdown in Paola - Who is in?

I'm signed up for the Oly.  I've done the sprint the last two years.  Normally my last race of the season but I've got Branson HIM to finish this summer's suffer-fest.

I've been busy with actual work type stuff lately and haven't been working out as much, so the Jackson County race has kindly provided me with a strange walking gait...

I'm pretty sure I'll recover by the weekend and actually have a BETTER race, but time will tell.

Interesting weekend, I'll tell you what.  I hurt my back on Thursday and put a brace on the next day. We camped out at Longview lake Saturday night and only made check in by 5 minutes. (Useless website said NOTHING about hours.) Then I ran out for missing supplies and apparently drove the wrong direction after discovering the nearby CVS was NOT 24 hours. When I finally found a store I decided that there should be a familiar highway path for a faster return, nope.  I don't have a smartphone yet so no GPS.  I drove past 2 cops that were occupied already and when I spotted one in a parking lot I turned around to go ask directions only to see him pull out to pull someone over, sheesh. I finally took the meandering path back that got me there.

75 minutes to run out for ketchup, mustard and graham crackers...and then the kids were asleep already when I got back.  Sigh. 2 hours sleep before breaking camp and heading back around the lake, but at least my back was almost back to normal.

Crazy short swim, ok bike and then cramps on the run. I can only surmise I was cramping because of lack of running lately since I downed some Powerade before the race, 10 oz or more on the bike plus a Gu and some shot bloks.  Oh well, great race considering the disorder leading up to it...

Still working the kinks out of the camping thing, but at least now I've got the family interested in tagging along to races.

The campground at Paola is close to the race site, so now we just have to see if my wife is off on Sunday or not.  I'll be there either way...

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   1st in age group, and 2nd overall in the sprint distance!!!!

Perfect weather.  Nice setting.  Had to swim into the blinding sun most of the way, though.  Met some great people.

I learned a lot from the Shawnee Mission Tri.  With the aid of a much better bike, I saved myself a bit and left enough for the run to bring it home stronger than expected.

750m swim 11:00

T1 1:13  (ugh, needs to be faster)

10.5 mi bike 27:45 (22.5 mph ave on my bike computer, I think)

t2 1:00 (still too slow)

5k run 19:19

Now on to the Weatherby Lake Tri I have listed in a separate thread.  Hope to see some of you out there!

Great job out there, great swim and run splits.  Get some good time in the saddle this fall/winter you'll really kick a$$ next season if you keep the swim and run in check.