Ironman Kansas 70.3

It is hard to sum up the whole experience, but here is the short version: It was a great day and a horrible day all in one. Read on. . .

My triathlon career (hobby) has been going strong since 2007. I started to get back into them in 2005, took 2006 basically off and then signed up for Ironman CDA in 2007. So I would consider this my third year or Triathlon training. While I have done numerous sprints, couple of Olympics and even Two Ironman races, I have only completed 2 half Ironman races before coming into Kansas Half Ironman race. And one of those was during the 2005 season as the last race to see how far I could push myself. My time in that race was 5 hours 48 minutes and some change.

So coming into this race, I had high expectations for myself. It seems that my sprint races came together well, my Olympic distance race at the KC Tri, proved to be not what I thought I could do and seemed to play a little with my confidence. So this race was a chance to redeem some of my confidence and to show myself what I was capable of. . .for me. . .it would always come down to the run.

My race strategy was to float the swim, just not go out real hard and then to allow my body to get into a natural rhythm. This would allow me to keep the HR low and to glide through the water. The bike strategy was to keep the heart rate in check no matter how much I could push the bike and then to have plenty in the tanks to run a 1:50 half marathon. . . at least that was my goal.

Let me begin the actual report by saying this. If you have never been to a sactioned IRONMAN event, then you need to go. There is truly something magical about them and there is a buzz in the air the days leading up to the race in the registration and expo areas. Don't belive me? Then ask anyone who has gone and they will confirm. This race was a sactioned Ironman race (meaning that World Triathlon Corp is putting it on) and it was done beautifully.

Saturday I headed over to check in and immediatley felt the excitement. I saw Hugh Ryan and Tim Freeland, so after checking in I met up with them at the bike check in and ended up even eating lunch with them back in Lawrence at Jason's Deli. It is good to have friends that you can chat with and laugh with, it makes the nerves go away.

Ok, I have typed a lot already and we aren't even to the race, so let me get going here.

Sunday started early at 3:45 AM. I checked the radar and it showed massive rain/storms that were going to roll through Lawrence at about race time or shortly after. Amy and I made the executive decision that she would just stay home and avoid the hassle of rain. Well, long story short it turned out to be a beautiful day. Little cool in the morning but warmed up nicely and the sun even came out.

I was to meet Hugh and Tim off of 470 and we would caravan over together. Well, I was a little late so I caught them on the on/off ramp as I was coming in, they were leaving, so I just hit the gas and brought up the rear. Note to self, don't be 1 minute late when dealing with Hugh. :)

We drove to Lawrence then sat in a traffic jam getting into the lake of about 1-2 miles long. I expected this, so all you can do is sit there and watch the skies.

We made it to T2 (Bike to Run transition) and got everything set up. Most everyone wrapped their stuff in plastic bags as everyone fully expected it to rain. Then we walked down to T1 (Swim to Bike transition) and got things set up there. It was a half mile walk to T1 and someone didn't bring flip flops or extra shoes, so someone had to walk barefoot. . oops!

As I was walking into T2, they announced that T2 will be closing in 3 minutes. Great! That gives me zero time to get water bottles/nutrition set up and everything laid out and then to get wetsuit on and out of T2. Oh well, there were about 200 other people in the same boat as me.

We watched the pros go off and the age groups before me, then it was time to go.

I lined up to the left side of the start and at the front. The gun went off and we were on our way. I grabbed the feet of one guy in front of me and held that for about 500 meters. Then we started to run into the heats that went before us and I soon lost him. I also had a little problem navigating around the other swimmers and swim buoys. For the most part the swim was uneventful besides me running over or hitting a couple of slower swimmers. I did feel bad about that especially since I know the female heats were mixed in there somewhere. I don't mind drowning a guy but a girl is a different story.

Swim Time: 26 minutes 27 seconds

Coming out out of the water, the strategy was to be about 2 minutes or less in transition. T1 was huge and not a lot of room, so just getting out alive would be win/win situation

T1: 2 minutes 15 seconds

The strategy for the bike was to keep the HR in check and to come off of it feeling like I had plenty for the run. I forgot my bike computer so I had no idea how fast I was going during the race, but in reality that is not a bad thing. The speed is what it is and the HR is what really matters at this distance. I knew that I would be passing a ton of people on the bike since our age group was second to last to go on the swim. At one point I looked up and saw about a mile in front of me and the road was covered with cyclists. . .This should be fun! I took it easy coming out of the lake and tried to get my HR to settle down a little and just spin up the hills and take advantage of downhills for the next uphill.

Out on the course, I knew I would see some that started in front of me and thought I could catch some of them and others I would not. I just kept my HR in check and tried to keep a steady cadence throughout the bike. Right before the first turnaround I saw Tim Freeland and he was looking good. I tried to gauge how far back I was but that was hard to do. I was able to guesstimate my speed because they had mile markers every 10 miles or so, so some quick math, told me I was right on pace for my goal bike time of 2 hours 30 minutes.

At the last turnaround, I knew that there were a couple of more good hills to go and then we would go down to the flat section before climbing back up to the lake. I passed Tim right before that turnaround and told him, that when he caught back up with me on the run, I was going to pace off him. . or at least that was my plan. I was starting to get out in front of the main field and was out with the leaders for each respective age group at this point. The last major hill up to the dam was tough, but wasn't bad. I was definatly ready to get off the bike and get the run going. At mile 55 they have a mile marker and I could do without that, because that last mile seemed to take forever. Coming into T2, I could hear friends shouting my name and knew that I went sub 2:30 on the bike and still felt great. . now to hold the run together.

Bike Split: 2 hours 26 minutes 27 seconds

T2: I got in and out pretty quick. 1 minute 20 seconds

Time to RUN!!!! I felt really good coming off the bike and tried to keep my pace at around 8 minutes. With little effort, I was able to hold around 7:45 or so and was happy with the way I was feeling all around. The sun was coming out, so I knew that it would get hot/humid really fast, but just running along knocking the miles off 1 by 1. I was able to see some others at this point who started about 16 minutes in front of me and they looked good. I was hoping that Sandy Cohen was going strong and able to get that Clearwater (World Championship) slot that he wanted. Barry Ogden looked really strong on the run and I knew he had a strong chance at qualifying for Clearwater.

Long story short is that I held the run together, I did get passed by Tim at about mile 10 and tried to stay with him, but he was just moving to fast for that. My pace had slowed, but overall I knew that I would break 5 hours (my goal) and at the point, thought I had a shot at breaking 4:45. Now the only question was how many guys in my age group had passed me? I wanted to go to Clearwater too. . ..

Coming into the finish, I got some high fives from some friends and took in the moment. It was a great race and I executed exactly (actually a little better) as I had planned.

Run time: 1 hour 43 minutes 45 seconds

Overall Time: 4 hours 40 minutes 14 seconds

Ahh, nothing better than being finish and grabbing a DR THUNDER (generic Dr Pepper). I was pumped. . as you can tell by my finish picture.

I checked the results shortly after and saw I was 15th in my age group and there were 5 slots to Clearwater (World Championships), no way was I getting a slot for rolldown. . .well, what do you know. .. I did get a slot, but the thing is, is that you HAVE TO BE THERE to get it. . and of course I decided to go home instead. . . Dumb mistake on my part. . BUT, I had a PR and no one can take that away. . and I am right on track for Louisville. AND. . .after that, maybe a shot at the Half Distance one more time this year to try and get to Clearwater for 2010.