MIDWEST MAYHEM TRIATHLON RACE REPORT – 7/18/10

Last Sunday was the Midwest Mayhem triathlon at Lone Star Lake just outside of Lawrence, KS. I chose to run the short course as I wanted to test my speediness and I wasn’t a fan of the heat and humidity that was forecasted – 500 yard swim, 11.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.

Also check out my EXAMINER ARTICLE.

Setup:
Forecast of mid to high 90's, sun, humidity and some scattered thunderstorms. Heat index was forecasted around 110 degrees… ya, 110!
500 yard swim, 11.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Pre Race:
Due to the tri being out south of Lawrence, I was out of the house by 4:40am. Emily and Kiddo opted not to go since Emily was on call for work and it was way too early to drag a 2 year old out. Ate the trusty oatmeal, orange juice, 1 slice bread with PB for breakfast. Got some Gatorade prime to use for this race!

Arrival:
Parking was provided at nearby campsite roads and large parking area. Some cars had to park on road side but no walk was more than 0.5 miles (unless someone missed the 7am closing of the park road). Lone Star Lake Park was closed off at 7am to allow for a closed bike and run portion as advertised. Attendants directing athletes to parking were plentiful and no major snafus were reported.

Transition entrances and exits were marked with signs on the ground and denoted by the timing mats. Bike racks were low profile wooden slotted racks that racers must place the rear wheel in. Overall the racks served the purpose, but more often than not athletes would not adhere to alternating facing bikes different directions allowing for each space to be correctly used. If not followed, then the handlebars become entangled and could result in a bike on the ground or lost time in transition.

Pre Race Port-a-potty:
One location of 7 to 8 port-a-potties at the end of transition. Towards heat 1 start, the line was growing long, but it was nothing out of the ordinary for a multisport event.

Warm Up:
The swim course opened up at 6:30 and closed at 7am. Even while heats started, athletes could warm up in a small swimming area surrounded by a walking dock. That’s always nice to have water access while you wait 20 minutes for your heat to start.

SWIM!!!:
The swim course was an out, back past the start and hang a left for short course while the long course went past the left turn and covered additional yardage before turning a u-turn to T1 and joining the short course swimmers. I decided to go a little harder than usual on the swim. I figured since this was a sprint, I could expend more energy on the swim and be ok for the rest of the race. I stuck my nose on the start line and decided to take my chances with the main mob and getting kicked, punched and swam over. In actuality, it wasn’t too bad. I kept my line and really didn’t gain or lose any position and stayed in the back of top of the pack.

BIKE!!:
The hills surrounding Lone Star Lake are formidable. They cover some of the same stretches as Ironman Kansas. Going out I had a little headwind that didn’t allow me to get the speed I wanted. I was somewhat annoyed but everyone else was suffering with that wind as well. Coming back was sweet! I think I hit 30 mph for 3 miles straight. I also decided to give it more than usual knowing I “only” had to run 3 miles. Hammered the uphills and balls out on the downhill.

RUN!:
The run consisted of following the park entrance back to the dam and back for the short course. This is where the all out effort caught up with me and mixed with the now beating sun and rising humidity. I averaged 8 min/mile which I was hoping for a lot better but a side stitch slowed me up from 0.5 miles to about 2.5 mile mark. I had to stop at two aid stations to douse with water and get a sip for the stomach cramp. IT WAS HOT OUT THERE! I feel for the long course people. 6 miles in that would have SUCKED.

FINISH!!!:
The last 0.75 miles I passed a guy in my age group and tried my best to keep him behind me. With 0.25 to go I kicked it into high gear and sprinted down the big hill to the finish. I was pretty happy with the effort but that cramping cost me some time on the run.

Results:
http://www.theracershub.com/results_view.php?id=960&result_type=file
Swim : 10:30
T1 : 1:33
Bike : 35:44
T2 : 1:13
Run : 24:54
Total : 01:13:53
Overall : 14/192
Age group : 3/21 – top 3 in age group! Sweet. (note – 2 peeps in my age group were top 5 so that took them out of our age group. This event only gives award for top 5 in each gender – but hey, it still lists me as 3rd so I’m going with it!)

Results One Step Further:
Ok, I’ve raced this sprint tri before:



So we can see improvement each year which is good to know I’m not getting worse with age! I’m pretty stoked about dumping 4:21 off the swim! Looks like upping to swimming around 10,000 yards a week is paying off. I am a bit disappointed that the bike average basically stayed the same. Bike is my favorite part but I’m going to claim that the headwind on the way out killed me. The run… oy. I was pumped this year to be in good running for setting PR’s on run races… but I think the combo of heat and humidity mixed with going 110% for the swim and bike (not saving much for the run) might have affected the run time. But, overall shaving off 4 minutes and top 3 in age group isn’t too shabby. Where’s my sponsor offers????? =)

My Take:
Cycle City is the main sponsor for the event with Bill Marshall (formerly KLM marketing solutions) organizing. This year they moved the transition back to avoid a downhill T2 entrance, stepped up with the goodie bags – more stuff and cool stuff, split printer to get results asap, moved up short course starts to avoid the heat, more course people, good aid station manpower. This was a marked improvement from 2009. I feel BM and crew stepped up and improved the race experience. I hope they keep it up for Meltdown and Jackson County.

Post Race:
The usual grub and drinks were at the end. There was a plentiful supply of Gatorade, water, bananas, bagels and pop. Organizers did provide two ports for athletes to type in their bib number and it would print off their results. That was something new for the Midwest Triathlon series. That was pretty sweet to see your splits right after the race.

Photos:
Pre-race EARLY morning


Goodie Bag


I just wanted to share this one of the inappropriate unzipping of the tri suit and the look of pain on my face… man I need a haircut.


More photos on EXAMINER ARTICLE .