Kansas 70.3 Triathlon
June 14, 2009
Clinton Lake--Lawrence, KS
Overall time: 7:06:26
Pre-race:
I was working in Dallas the week before the race, and instead of driving up to Kansas after work on Friday and arriving in the wee hours of the morning, my friend Tim graciously agreed to pick me up at the Kansas City airport about 45 minutes away from Lawrence, so I was able to take a quick 90 minute flight from DAL to MCI instead. He had arrived on Thursday and set up our camp site, but Friday we stayed at the hotel. We kept both reservations to have the best of both worlds...fun and convenience on race eve and morning at the camp, and good beds and real showers for my travel day and the night after the race.
Saturday, after a hearty breakfast at IHOP, and driving the bike course, we gathered our gear and went to the campsite, and race expo and registration. We picked up our bikes and were going to ride the run course, but my right bike shoe kept coming unclipped. My cleat was completely worn out and the front edge broken off. No way would I get through the bike course with that! So, we rode to the expo and got new cleats. So glad the bike shop people had some! I decided to wait on packet pickup, because the line was really long. So we rode back to camp and I tried to fix my bike shoes. The screws for the cleats were completely worn out and rusted in place. Thank you to our camp neighbor next door who used his vise grips to get the screws out! (Good karma was returned to him with a 5 min PR on race day!). Got the bike shoes fixed, and fixed up my running shoes. I was doing the run dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (this is Kansas, after all), as I did last year, but this year had red sequin fabric glued on my running shoes to be my ruby slippers. And I must say, those were the most awesome looking shoes!
Back to registration, and the line was still long, but I had to deal with it. It took 52 minutes, which was the only significant aspect of the race organization that I didn't like so much. We took our bikes down to check in at the transition area and ran/walked back to the campsite. Got the rest of our gear together and headed to Paisano's for a yummy pre-race pasta meal and glass of wine. Met some really cool people there....two girls who were fairly new to the sport, but very excited about the challenge, then began talking to a man who was so proud of his wife. She has rheumatoid arthritis, and with the help of medication, is in a remission (it can be a terribly debilitating disease), and decided to get active and do as much as she can, while she can. She and a good friend were doing Kansas as their first 1/2 Ironman. (saw them right after the race, and they had both finished and were thrilled!) It is so much fun to see the hope and excitement on the newbies' faces! We chatted for quite a bit before our dinner, and wished them well. I had some very tasty chicken parmigiano.
Back at camp, we relaxed with our friend K for a while. In this case, relaxing meant having another glass of wine and breaking out the sidewalk chalk to decorate the road in front of our campsites, which was right on the run course, and visiting with the neighbors. And laughing a lot!
Sleep was fitful, punctuated by peals of laughter from some inconsiderate woman in a nearby camp who didn't realize that people might be trying to sleep after 11 pm and later, and that tent walls do not insulate us from the noise. ugh. Then, I was woken up at 3:40 am by a huge rumble of thunder. Uh oh. Was it going to storm as predicted? I just waited to hear raindrops and never did. Very strange. Real wakeup at about 4:40, and I lay in bed to visualize the race course, like I always do. It calms me. Up for breakfast of a bagel with cream cheese, diet coke, and water. The usual. Couldn't poop. Also usual.
It was a split transition (different places for T1 and T2), so we dropped off our run gear bags at T2, then walked down to the swim start/finish/T1 and set up the bike bottles, put the shoes on the pedals, and next thing I knew, they were about to start the pros and I was just getting my wetsuit on! I was in the 3rd wave after the male pros, so didn't have much time! At least that also meant I didn't have time to ponder what the day would hold and get nervous! hugs all around, and time to go!
I didn't have a super clear plan/expectations starting the race. This was my first long race since rotator cuff surgery in November, though I have done fine in the sprint races I've done this spring. Due to a combination of work travel, "life," mechanical issues, getting sick with some nasty bronchitis the last 2 weeks before the race (started feeling better only 3 days before race day), and a little dose of laziness, I really wasn't trained as well as this time last year. So the "plan" was to do what I could, push myself appropriately, not be a slacker, and have fun.
Swim: 47:41
Since the surgery, I try to stay out of the crowds on the swim, so I started somewhat to the right. People were a little aggressive, but not too bad. No real kicks to the head or anything, just bumping and hitting legs. About 300m into it, my right shoulder spasmed. It had done this about a month ago, and I needed good ART work to release it. Probably not swimming in the last 2 weeks due to the cold/bronchitis I had didn't help. I wondered only for a moment if I should just pack it in. Was it stupid to continue swimming with one arm that didn't have much power? hmm....there is no way I would feel good about stopping. I kept going...it would intermittently loosen up, so I would swim strong and steady as much as it would let me. It also occurred to me that a friend of mine always calls me "studly" for doing these events. He thinks it's cool that I can just roll out of bed and go tackle a triathlon. And it IS cool. We're a lucky bunch to have our health and fitness! Those thoughts made me smile many times throughout the day. I sighted well, and kept a pretty straight course, not losing sight of buoys like I did at CapTex. The water was cool, but not cold, and seemed fairly clean. Was happy to make the turnaround and be headed in. A bit more contact on the way back, as some of the faster male swimmers from later were catching up and passing.
T1: 3:22
I got to my bike and was pleasantly surprised to see one of my girlfriends already there! She doesn't love the swim, but rocked it this year, with about a 7 minute improvement from last year! We rolled out of transition together, then I took off for a nice ride.
Bike: 3:16:10
Since I don't have a computer on my bike, I made some calculations as to how I wanted to split up the ride. I was going to go by miles: 15/15/15/11. I figured I wanted to be under 55 minutes for each of the 15 mile sections, then 40 minutes for the rest. That was semi-conservative, but also achievable. I could also split out my nutrition with a gel for each of the 15 mile sections in addition to gatorade and water. So it seemed to work fairly well.
It was crowded in the early going....with me catching up to a few of the faster swimmers who had started ahead of me, and LOTS of the male age groupers who started their swim after me, just flying by on the left to get their bike going. There were a lot of fast dudes in the early miles! The first section isn't too bad, with only a couple of big hills (including a long but not too steep hill right out of transition). At about mile 12 or so, the rollers begin, and the course doesn't flatten out too much. It's really a matter of pacing/power management....not using up too much energy to blast up any particular hill, but then going fast when you can on the flat and downhill sections.
There were a lot of people who have no concept of positioning on the bike, as in, ride to the right, dammit, and let the faster people have room to pass. Didn't see too much blatant drafting, at least. Not sure when the rules of triathlon became "suggestions."
I really love this bike course...it's challenging (I calculated on Topo maps about 3600 feet of climbing?), scenic, good road surfaces. I got to my first 15 mile checkpoint in just over 52 minutes, so I was on track, and that made me happy. When I was heading out on the first out and back section, I saw pro and world champion Chrissie Wellington coming back...she is so fast on the bike! The out part felt pretty good, even though it's generally uphill. What I had not realized until the turnaround was that we had been enjoying a tailwind! I figured that out as soon as I turned around and got a face full of wind. Wow. That made the mostly downhill coming back a little harder. I was expecting a few more hills before the end of that section, but next thing I knew, there we were for the next turn. And...I hit mile 30 in another 52 minutes, so still on track.
The next out and back has some bigger hills, but the downhills were really fun. I counted 3 downhills on the way out, so I would know how many uphills to expect on the way back. Coming back, on one of the fast longer downhills, it felt so good to go fast! I asked the guy near me what his computer said, as I was just curious as to max speed. 34 mph. That's just good fun right there. (was secretly hoping for 40, but the hill wasn't that big.)
The next turn took us to a newer part of the course. It winds through a flatter region, dotted with farms along the road. Met a guy from Alaska. I was just about to comment on how he needed a tan (seriously! good thing I had my sunglasses on!) when I saw the Alaskan Big Dipper symbol on his shorts. So I cut him some slack. A few people in the small community were out to cheer us on from their porches. Very sweet. But not as many spectators out on the bike as last year. I hope that doesn't mean we have worn out our welcome in that region already. Also saw an older gentleman, rockin' the bike old-school, on a steel Raleigh with down-tube shifters. Sweet.
We made the turn for home, and it was all good. Hit mile 45 in 54 minutes, so was still hitting the short term goals. I knew there was the one long big hill going up to the dam, and one hill (turned out to be two) inside the park, then we were done with the bike. I kept telling people I needed to see the Wizard and get to Oz with Toto, though that may not have made sense at the time because I didn't have my Dorothy outfit on.
Nutrition on the bike: one gel and about 100 calories of Gatorade per 15 mile section. Only Gatorade at the end. Probably should have gotten in at least 200 more calories overall. The weather was perfect on the bike....great cloud cover, cool. And of course, at mile 55, the sun came out! Just in time for the run! nooooo!!! Not that I wanted a tornado watch like last year, but I knew we were in for a scorcher.
T2: 4:38
I took a little time here. My things were in plastic bags in case it had rained. Put on my socks and red sparkly running shoes (they made me smile so much), added the ribbons to my braids, put on my visor, and my blue plaid Dorothy skirt, and grabbed Toto in his basket for the run. I could have used a potty stop, but there was a line, so I went ahead to run.
Run: 2:54:35
This was a very supported run. The course does 3 out and backs: a short one (less than a mile each way) back out towards the park entrance, then a little longer one (maybe a mile each way?) which goes down a hill to the swim start area and loops around a parking lot, then back up the hill, then a longer out and back (about 1.8 miles each way) that goes around the campground road, through the campsites where many of the athletes and their friends and family were hanging out. All three of these sections start and finish next to the transition area, so we passed through that area 6 times and the crowds were huge around the central core of activity! So much fun! It was also well supported in that there were about 6 aid stations, but since we looped around, we would hit them multiple times and were never very far from water, ice, gatorade, and more cheering.
I started out feeling pretty good, just smiling and waving to all the cheers of "Go, Dorothy!" and "Hey, that girl is Dorothy!" It makes it fun, though, clearly, I'm not taking it all that hard-core-race-seriously. I'll take the extra cheers, though. Even the athletes were really supportive. The first 2 miles went pretty well, then I could feel the heat slowly take its toll. I stopped for that potty break finally just after mile 3, then trudged up the big hill. The part of the course through the campground was completely fun and having the crowd support helped me run more than my body wanted to. Former Pro and now coach Simon Lessing was sitting by the course, so I said hi to him (we met at Longhorn last year--cool guy) and he said I was the only 'Dorothy' he had seen. Passed by our campsite, and Texas Iron friends and family were there. I had to get some sunscreen, so on the way back, a friend's mom sprayed me down. Wish I had remembered to sunscreen my scalp...it's burned along the part because my hair was in braids instead of a straight back ponytail.
I kept up on fluids and nutrition ok (took in 3 gels on the run, and alternated water and Gatorade at the aid stations). I kept grabbing ice and putting water on my head and back and that helped, along with a total of 6 salt tablets. That basket for Toto came in handy to carry gels and salt tabs.
My shoes started bugging me...partly because I haven't run in them much, but mostly because due to sweat (I suppose), the glue holding the sequin fabric was not holding, so some of the fabric was flapping and they didn't look quite as awesome as they did at the start of the race. But, a few more thoughts of how cool it is to even be out there, a few more smiles, some encouragement back and forth between the other racers, and I was heading for home.
I crossed the finish line and found my friends. Got a photo with Chrissie W. in the finish area...she is very sweet, though needs some ice cream. Cheered in Kerstin and Tim, and we got some BBQ and beer and chilled for a bit. Went back to the awards later and picked up my prize for wearing a costume, along with a girl who dressed as Glinda the Good Witch. We got free entries to the race for next year!
haha....I guess the joke's on me, right?
I wasn't really planning on coming back, and the race is only 5 weeks after Ironman St. George. Though at least I'll be better trained. We''ll see...
Overall, I was happy with the overall execution (even though I sort of tanked on the run). And VERY pleased with the mental game. Even in the swim when my shoulder hurt, I really held it together and had the positive attitude that makes it all better. I'm proud of that.
It was nice to have the campsite to hang out pre/post race. But I was happy to have kept the hotel room for a proper shower and bed for the night after. Plus, a huge thunderstorm rolled in Monday morning, just as we were leaving. About a 12 hour drive home, stopping for a Fabulous meal at the Kumback Lunch in Perry, Oklahoma....Tim had a burger that tasted so fresh and perfectly made, and I had a yummy chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes. Great Mom & Pop joint! Picked up my car in Dallas on the way home, and here I am....ready for the next adventure!
P.S. Other than the lines at check-in..this race is super-well organized, a great course, and just a fun time! I highly recommend it. Kudos to the race crew!
GO! WISH Team GO! 
