The Kansas City Triathlon

This is a race that I have been looking forward to for a long time. Last fall, I heard that some local friends and triathletes were going to put on a Triathlon. They were going to do it first rate and with the athelte in mind, which cannot be said for other triathlons in this area. So. . . all I had to do now was wait.

Saturday (day before race day) came and I decided to go ride the course and run the course. Troy and I did 3 loops of the bike course and then ran 1 loop of the run course. I could tell right away that I was not fully recovered from the previous weekend's 100/20/100 endeavor. My heart rate shot up to over 170 on the run very quickly when normally it should be high 150's or low 160's. Oh, well, not much I could do now. The rest of the day was spent looking at used mini-vans. . .something I would not wish on anyone. :)

For some reason my mind was not focused on the race on Saturday. Normally that is all I can think about, but I just had other stuff on my mind. Plus this race started the first of three races in a row for me. And my main focus for 2009 is of course Ironman Louisville. Not sure what my deal was, but even though I was looking forward to this race, I wasn't mentally preparing for the race. . .

Sunday morning rolled around and I set the alarm for a little later than normal, because I heard (got a text) the day before that we would have assigned transition spots. As I drove to the lake, I noticed that the ground was wet and the sky looked dark and stormy. I figured this would make for an interesting bike if the streets didn't dry up. I drove the long way around the lake to avoid the LONG line of cars that come in from the north. As I got to the entrance I noticed that about 95% of the people were already there and parked, I was a little late to the game, but hey. . no worries . . .assigned transition areas! :)

As I got up to transition to set up, I quickly could see that we did NOT have assigned transition areas. Oh well, life goes on. . . so I set up at a decent spot and got everything ready to go. Saw some friends and chatted for a while, then Troy, Tim and I went for a warmup run.

Not long after we were done, it was time to head to the lake. Got the wetsuit on and did a quick swim to try and warmup, but didn't have much time. It was a mass start (which I love) and everyone lined up and was ready to go. My first 200 meters or so were decent, and I was in the lead. I was sighting ok at this point and figured that Riley would be close by. As I looked up again I noticed that I was a bit off course. I tend to pull to my left when I open water swim, as I can't see the lane lines on the bottom of the lake. :) I got back on course and got off course throughout the swim. I lost a lot of time to Riley as he tends to stay on course better than me. I made a mental note to get on his feet and stay there, but by the time I was back on course and could see him, he was too far ahead.

Extiting the water, I figured I was 3rd or 4th out of the water and would have some people to catch on the bike. I had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off and fumbled with that for a bit. Finally got everything together and grabbed the bike and headed out of transition. Coming out of transition I could see that I was the second one out. Riley was ahead of me by about 50 yards or so. I tried to catch him, but seemed to be making very little ground. As we came to the back side of the park, a guy came by me on the bike. . I was trying to figure out who it could be. I know most of the fast swimmers and good bikers and I didn't recognize this guy. After he passed me, I passed him and then he said "Hey, Jared, how is it going". Now I recognized him, it was Mark Carey. Didn't remember that he was racing but he has a very good swim, awesome bike and blazing fast run. Yes, he was the overall winner of the race. Anyway, we chatted for a second and then he finally got ahead of me for good. I saw him catch Riley on the big hill at mile 10 or so.

My legs during the first loop of the bike were dead. . I didn't have that normal pop that I have and was not able to climb that well, which usually I don't have a problem with. Again I caught my mind wandering thinking about other stuff and my body just didn't want to do anything. I finally started feeling better at mile 13 or so and caught Riley soon after that. My legs did start to feel better and I believe that I probably did the second loop faster than the first. Overall, I wasn't happy with my bike, but not much I could do about it going into Transition for the run.

I was second person in (after Mark) and he yelled at me when I was in transition. Something along the lines of "let's go!". Mark is a great guy and likes competition. . I probably would have said, sit there and take your time. :)

Coming out onto the run course I could see some of the other guys coming in off the bike. . I saw Bob Schloegel and Ben Schloegel and I knew at that point that second place was going to quickly turn into 5th place before long. The first 200 yards or so felt ok on the run, but my body just didn't want to go. I was running semi ok, but it felt as though I was going nowhere. Some Bike Stop guys/gals were there cheering me on which is always nice, but i just didn't have anything in the legs at all.

My first mile was around the 7:15 or so range, which wasn't too bad. I wanted to be 7:30 or faster as an average. Shortly after mile 1, Ben Schloegel comes flying past me, yelling something about 1 hour of sleep in 48 hours. He was wearing a speedo and talking crazy, so I figured he wasn't all right in the head. :) But, I wish I could run like that at any mental state. (he ended up getting second).

At about mile 2 or maybe a little sooner, her come Bob Schloegel. .. I can tell it was him by his breathing (he sound like a horse). I gave him a time check on how much he was down by. He wanted to know who was in the lead and so on, so I told him. Quickly he was out of sight.

To make a longer story short, I got passed by 17 people in all (well, 18, but one was a team runner). Chris Yows caught me after the first loop and he looked strong. I could see Tim Freeland and Hugh Ryan as I headed out on the second loop and figured that they would soon be on the train to run Jared down (seems like everyone else was).

I have never been so glad to be at the finish line. . . . I really had no idea what place I was in or really cared. . I was just happy to be done. Something about the Olympic Distance Triathlon. It is just long enough to make you suffer and short enough to make you go faster to have pain set in.

I finished 18th overall (1 team beat me, which put me at 19th, but they have 3 people so they shouldn't be counted in overall results). Time was 2 hours 16 minutes 22 seconds. I improved upon my Olympic time of last year by just over 10 minutes.

With the big training weekend I had prior to this race and the lack of mental awareness, I was happy with the overall result. Now I get to focus on KC Corporate Challenge Triathlon and then Ironman Kansas 70.3

After that, I am not sure what is on tap till Ironman Louisville, but I am sure I will do one more race as a tune up.

This race was an awesome one! It was well run, organized, marked, staffed, etc. If you are only going to do one Triathlon a year, then make this one it. Very well done!!!!!