Last Sunday was the Jackson County triathlon at Longview Lake in Lee’s Summit, MO. I decided to run the long course to get some distance racing in for IM Branson prep – 1050 yard swim, 25.3 mile bike, 5 mile run.
Also check out my EXAMINER ARTICLE for a brief tech write up.
Setup:
Forecast of mid 90's, sun, humidity. Heat index was forecasted around 96 degrees… I’m tired of humidity.
1050 yard swim, 25.3 mile bike, 5 mile run
Pre Race:
Seeing that Emily had been in the hospital getting IV fluids for the past 4 days, we thought it best to have her stay at home and rest. So, I enlisted Grandma to be on Riah duty for the triathlon. Up at 4am and to Grandma’s at 5am. Not many surprises and we all were ON TIME!
Arrival:
Good thing I was on time. They parked the first two rows of cars in the grass to the west of transition and then decided it was too much of a marsh to keep parking people there. They stuck cars anywhere they could and if you got there a little late, you were looking at maybe a ¾ mile walk to transition. It was a good turnout unless you were a late arrival!
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. Same as other races by the same organizers. Number marking and chip handout went smooth. They only surprise was changing of heat groupings due to so many late registrants.
Pre Race Port-a-potty:
One location of 9 to 10 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. If you got there early such as myself… it was unlimited access which all of us that have competed in multisport knows, we like out toilet access.
Warm Up:
I tried to get out and get some yards in to get the soreness of finishing the basement and moving furniture out of my arms. More on that later, but it was not the best idea to move desks and treadmills two days before a long distance tri.
SWIM!!!:
WHERE AM I GOING! So, when you’re trying to swim off to the first turn buoy, dense fog does NOT help. They parked a pontoon boat along side the buoy, but no one could see that either! So we blindly swam off and hoped not to hit a boat or life guard. It was a two loop swim course. A lot of people don’t like the fact they had to exit the water and run back to the start. I don’t mind since swimming is not my strong event and I can run faster! Suck part was I entered in for lap two the SAME EXACT time as another heat started. I had to go through kicking and punching a second time! That blew. I didn’t need that and my time probably suffered for it. I don’t know who started the idea, but the swim start is not an opportunity to kick and punch the crap out of people. It’s not a mosh pit. Keep you line and keep it civil!
BIKE!!:
So after listening to pro Chris Legh (EXAMINER ARTICLE HERE ) at his clinic the day before, I decided not to go too hard on the bike so I would have some reserve for the run. A, I knew by run time it was going to be HOT, and 9, I hate feeling like I had to drag @ss to the finish line. They have a monster steep hill and a long grinding medium grade hill. I just stuck it in granny low and spun to the top and hit the gas at the top. It seem to work and I didn’t blow the legs up. Good training for Branson. I didn’t really care for the one guy yelling LEFT LEFT LEFT at everyone cause he was super cool passing everyone and cutting people off. There were two lanes of traffic man, use em. =) By the way I passed him on the run with a mile to go. Good work blasting your legs on the bike.
RUN!:
So, Longview Lake peeps decided to rip out the paved trails we use for the triathlon and replace them with crushed gravel. I didn’t think the paved trails were all that bad, but I guess they were. That was interesting. Add some heavy rains in last Friday and you have some washing out, muddy and soggy spots. It was easy on the body but felt like a slow run since it’s not pavement like I’m used to. I did, however, pass like 7 people. Got passed once but caught him with a mile to go. I honestly can’t remember a race where I didn’t get passed at all on the run. Looks like my bike pacing worked for a good run split.
FINISH!!!:
I was ready to be done! It was starting to get hot and humid and the last ¾ mile had no shade on the trails we ran on. I was split on what I felt when I started the run and the pro Chris Legh was sprinting to the finish. Granted he spends 40 hours a week training and that’s his job, but I’m still competitive. From what I heard luckily I was in heat 1. I had no issues with aid stations, finish line food, etc. Some friends said they ran out of cups on the aid stations and had little food left at the finish. The organizers said they had a large influx of late registrations and sounds like they might have been a little underprepared in that regard.
RESULTS: (note that what I had on my garmin didn’t match distance wise but to compare apples to apples, I used the event results)
Swim : 19:10
T1 : 2:07
Bike : 1:11:51, 21.3mph
T2 : 1:19
Run : 37:59, 7:36 pace
Total : 2:12:24
Overall : 44 / 199
Age group : 6 / 25
RESULTS ONE STEP FURTHER:
2009 - swim 18:49 – bike 1:10:45, 21.7mph – run 37:57, 7:35min/mile – 2:11:16 total
2008 - swim 31:45 – bike 1:12:30, 20.8mph – run 40:00, 8:00min/mile – 2:30:30 total
MY TAKE:
So time wise I did “worse” than last year. But, this was an A race last year and this year it was a B race and I was MOVING furniture two days before and my wife has been in and out of the hospital. I think with my given circumstances, it’s not too bad being a little over a minute off from last year. But the interesting note is I placed better overall and in my age group this year. So, we are all getting slower! That and my front brake was rubbing so there’s no telling how much momentum I was losing due to friction… right!?
My friend Tony raced his first long course triathlon for Train 4 Autism and he was cashed at the end! The combination of mud on his shoes picking up gravel and the heat slowed him up on the run but he was a trooper and made it to the finish line. Good work, Tony!
POST RACE:
So above I addressed the food depletion issues. I had a good experience while some of my friends didn’t. One even said she wouldn’t do it next year which is sad. Hopefully they learn from it this year and plan better with late registration.
PHOTOS:
So I didn’t bring a camera nor did my mother, so you’ll have to live with a shot of my race bib. =)
The infamous rubbing front brake...
Exciting race bib decal..
One thing I noticed since moving the office downstairs is the collection of running shoes in the entry way from our garage. Now I can look out of the door to the office and it dawned upon me, I have too many fricken shoes! Here’s a shot below of just SOME of them. Feel free to guess which is which:
Work Shoes
Yard Work Shoes
Older Running Shoes to be made into New Yard Work Shoes
Newer Running Shoes Being Broken In
Every Day Shoes Not Meant for Running (hint if you had read my blog lately, you know what brand I run in and which ones I just wear when running errands)
1 comment:
Great job on the race!
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