There's been a battle brewing in Kansas City's triathlon scene...
The Kansas City 5150 Triathlon from 2012 and a few years went away, sort of. I raced the event, thought it was all good, and looked forward to 2013.
Early in the year, word got out that the RD from the KC 5150 tri was parting ways with the event. That's when I wrote THIS article on Examiner.com. That rubbed some people the wrong way, but at the time it was what thought to be accurate and the only information anyone had.
Flash forward 6 months and it's a little more clear. The Kansas City 5150 Triathlon went away. Instead, the RD went with WTC and the 5150 series and took it to Lawrence, Kansas, on May 19th. Hence, the Kansas 5150 triathlon was born. It's basically Ironman 70.3 Kansas, light. It's the same boat ramp and swim area, same transition at T1, the same bike course (with the turnaround at mile 12) and the same camp ground road run. It came out first and due to early bird restrictions and the need to secure my race season, I signed up early.
Then, around a week or two after the 5150 Kansas announcement, the Kansas City Triathlon was back without it's 5150 connection. Some KC area businessmen bought it up and are running it. Guess what? They made it the same day, May 19. Sounds reasonable to me.
Are you kidding?
I understand event logistics, securing venues and organizing a large scale event, but two large scale triathlons in the same region (Kansas City area) on the same day? Talk about cannibalization. What could have been a major coup for KC triathletes turned into a constant "which race are you doing" conversation.
What's also interesting is that my article stirred up some ill-will directed at yours truly. I know, something I wrote pissed someone off, gasp. Looking back at the article, it all held true except the part where I stated the RD and 5150 parted ways. They stayed together, just parted Longview Lake.
I digress.
What does hold true is a forum comment about the excitement of the events being over which hopefully leads to the KC triathlon stopping it's barrage of emails every day trying to get people to sign up. The KC Tri suggests they have around 1000 racers, and I'm not sure what the KS 5150 boasts. It will all come to light after the final used GU packet is picked up and the finish line is dismantled.
All I know is that I'm gunning for an A race.
I know the course. I know the conditions (could be storms, could be rain, could be dry, could be hot, could be windy). I know the directions to Clinton Lake without having to look at a map, score.
The problem arises when I have to head to Des Moines, IA, for the USAT level 1 coaching certification. The clinic is Friday and Saturday and I don't get out until 5pm Saturday. Race is 7:30am Sunday. It's going to be a short night. Oh what, what are you going to do?
I don't sleep well the night before anyway. It just cuts into my tossing and turning time in bed.
Goals, I need goals...
It's always hard to know what to realistically expect going into the first race of the season. Did I train right over the winter? Did I spend too much time on volume and not enough time on speed? Did I loose fitness? Did I do the right workouts without overtraining? All questions an inquiring mind wants to know.
The KC Tri 5150 last year was a 2:36 affair. I wasn't all that flattered with my 212 of 707 overall and 35 of 90 in my age group. I averaged 19.7 on the bike, which was decent, but I was looking for more. My 7:40's on the run weren't too shabby, but hold room for improvement.
This year has held more consistancy for the long workouts. I've sacrificed some BRICKS and misc shorter workouts here and there, but the long high zone 2 workouts have been a staple.
I missed my half marathon PR by 40ish seconds a few weeks ago, and while I wanted to do better, I knew I wasn't trained up enough at the time to kill the old PR. What's encouraging is the last few long runs have been at a higher pace at the high zone 2 range. My body is adapting to the workload and becoming for effective at speed at the high zone 2. I'm hoping that carries through when I want to push zone 3 to 4 on the run at KS 5150.
I'm crossing my fingers for a 2:25 day or better, but there are so many variables such as a new course, Clinton Lake waves, Lawrence cross winds and heat. We shall see, but I'm looking to leave it all at the lake this Sunday.
Stay tuned for the recap next week and like my coaching site on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SetThePaceMedia.
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