Midwest Meltdown Sprint Triathlon Full Report - 8/29/10

So here's the full report:

Last Sunday was the Midwest Meltdown triathlon at Miola Lake in Paola, KS. I chose to run the short course since I ran the long course at Jackson County last weekend – 750 yard swim, 10.43 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.

Also check out my EXAMINER ARTICLE for a brief tech write up.

Setup:
The forecast was for low 90's, sun, medium humidity. Somehow the swim was wetsuit legal. I mean, we have been in the 80's and 90's for WEEKS! Last week was pretty mild, I think even 50's one night, so I guess it could happen. But SWEET! I'll trade 2 minutes of swim time for 30 extra seconds of T1 time any day! My wife gave me crap for swimming 750 yards in a wetsuit, but you can't argue with results!

Pre Race:
I was on my own for this one. That doesn't really bother me. Getting up at 4am and heading out at 5am on a Sunday for a sick prego wife and a 2 year old isn't much fun.

Arrival:
Parking was across the street from the transition. It's a low profile lake so it's pretty informal. Transition was a mowed area and parking was the same across the street that goes around the lake. I was probably 10th there. Good transition spot by bike/run exit and plenty of port-a-potty chances.

Pre Race Port-a-potty:
This race is smaller than most others in the KC area. So, I think there was maybe 6 port-a-potties. With the early arrival, I didn't have many problems and no lines. Towards the start time, lines were getting pretty long but I was done with my customary two visits pre-race. Too much info? We're all friends here...

Warm Up:
The swim beach was inside of the swim loop. We had plenty of time to splash around and get warmed up. Surprisingly the water was pretty cool. More so than last year. I guess I can buy 78 degrees for wetsuit legal.

SWIM!!!:
Holy heck it was a cock fight out there! That was by far the most I had been swum over and kicked and grabbed in a race. I was to the inside and away from the main group but I guess they all immediately headed to my line. Luckily no injuries and that wetsuit paid off! 9th of 155 sprint racers! That never happens!

BIKE!!:
The bike was two loops of a 5 mile loop of the road around the lake. It doesn't get much more flat than this! Check out the profile from my garmin. It was windy on the back side where the only real elevation gain was at so that sucked losing momentum there, but overall it was a fast course! Just the way I like it! I'm not a climber.




RUN!:
The run was on the same road. It was an out and back to the damn and a turnaround. There was a slight elevation change but as you will see in the results I maintained 7 minute miles and used that to catch the 3 people that passed me on the bike. Again, no one passed me on the run! Threshold workouts paying off! I caught 4 or 5 guys on the run. One guy afterwards said I looked "really under control". Little did he know I was in the red and ready to be DONE after mile 2.




FINISH!!!:
When the guy after me said "I think you got 3rd" I was like... um no way. They had result printers at the finish and it said 7th. Not bad, but not 3rd. I was a little bummed until I checked the results at home that night...

RESULTS:
Swim : 12:42 - good enough for 9 of 155
T1 : 2:00 - extra time for the wetsuit
Bike : 28:59, 21.6mph
T2 : 0:40 - sweet transition spot paid off
Run : 22:10, 7:09 pace - sweet!
Total : 1:06:40
Overall : 5 / 155
Age group : Not counted if you are in the top 5!

RESULTS ONE STEP FURTHER:
I ran this race before, but it has changed venues like 4 times and this particular venue last year I ran the long course, I guess you could look at averages:

2009 - swim 31:23 – bike 1:00:42, 20.6mph – run 40:10, 7:43min/mile – 2:15:43 total

MY TAKE:
So top 5! Never done that before! This series gives awards to the top 5 in each race category. I get something in the mail. I'm not sure what as the site doesn't really specify. My fingers are crossed that it's like $1500 or some sweet ZIPP 1080 wheels... but probably not.

POST RACE:
The digs were good at the end. Grapes, bananas, apples... more beer than people could probably drink! I'm more of a cold mountain dew guy, but whatever works. Overall this was a nice end to the season here in KC for tri's. I still have Branson but I have no illusions about placing overall or in my age group. I'm just looking to do better than KS IM in 2009 (6 hours) and not flat out like this year at KS. So it's a nice feather in the cap for 2010. I'm hoping to hit a lot of sponsor applications for 2011 so hopefully that helps out. =)

I also think fixing the front brake from the rubbing problem helped A TON! No rolling friction this race...

PHOTOS:
I didn't see race pics yet, I did bring the camera but most were shots of the race and transition, that you can see in the Examiner report.

Next up is moving crap into the basement office, getting kiddo #2 room ready and training for Branson HIM!