It's a 1000 meter swim, 18 mile bike and a 4.5 mile run. Now, that was the long course, and to most triathletes, it may appear to be a short long course. Well, distance wise, it is, but on the difficulty scale, it had enough hills and hard work on the bike and run to count for a long course event.
Past Performances
I ran this race before in 2010 and 2012. 2010 was called when I got into T2 for stores rolling in, so I didn't get to run.
In 2012 (last year for those without calculators) was the first year I completed the course. Now, I have also ran this course for corporate challenge as a duathlon and triathlon. The courses were shorter than the Shawnee Mission Triathlon and on different sections, so it's hard to compare.
In 2012, my time was 1:53:23. This will be important later in the post.
Expectations
This was a unique deal as I'm gunning for Ironman Lake Tahoe and that training goal outweighs this event. I wanted to do well, but not sacrifice workouts to race. So, I planned them out as best I could, but probably came to race a few notches below rested. It's not excuse, just saying.
With that, I knew I could do well with the gains I have made this season, but how well, who knows. I just wanted to better my time from last year and beat Scotty. You see, I started some smack talk on twitter a while before the race and conned him into signing up, laying down the gauntlet. Could I beat him? Who knows. I think we are close enough I could give him a run for his money, but he has come so far since he started. He obliterated me in the Jackson County Triathlon last year and added a new tri bike, Karbon Speed (use code MVT for 10% off) wheels and more training this year. He's moving up.
How did the morning unfold?
I was solo on this one, so I could leave at whatever absurb hour I wanted to in the morning. ;)
Event organizers were inspecting bags into transition and the swim was going to be a time trial start (even though that wasn't publically advertised). With those two changes, I wanted to be there nice and early and avoid the hurry up I experienced at IM KS being under the gun.
I was 3rd into transition. The spots were reserved, so I found my spot, unpacked and proceeded to chit chat and make port-a-potty inspections till start time.
Swim - 18:39 for 1000 meters : 9/23 AG : 52/227 OA
It's been odd weather here in Kansas City. The spring had late and large snows. We were getting rain at least every other day for a while and cool temps and then BAM, rain dried up and we shot into the 100's for a while. Now, we are getting into the 90's with no rain for 3 weeks now.
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| photo by SeeKCRun.com |
But, the time trail start worked out well. I got in ahead of Scotty and busted ass to try and get out of the water before him, keeping my head start and put some time on him. Out of the 3 sports, I can still make up time in the water, but not much.
At 18:65 for 1000 meters, I'll take it. (beat Scotty by like 1 minute or so). The "lake" is pretty small, so waves and wind are not really an issue. All the issues were just passing the back strokers from previous heats.
Bike - 55:40 for 18 miles : 19.4 mph AVG : 10/23 AG : 67/227 OA
Here's what chaps my hide. Maybe I'm not banking the work from bike rides properly (like I said, I trained through the week and didn't really taper), but the speed isn't coming like I had hoped. Drills are on, long rides are on, but the speed is pretty much the same as last year. This is bad for the bike, but has been good for the run.
I think efficiency of my cycling has gotten better, but it's been more about pacing the same speed, but with less work. I pushed my HR to 150's for the AVG, but hit the same speeds as last year. Maybe I'm just being too timid and keeping something for the run? Hmmmm....
But, this is where Scotty flew by on the first lap and I was sure I was going to get crushed by 10 minutes for the bike leg. So long friendly racing battle.
Then, when a member of a local multisport club passed between me and a rider I was overtaking with ample room on the left, and cut me off to pass them, I was a little distracted from the race with Scotty. Interestingly enough I caught back up to him going normal pace and let him know about my displeasure. He looked surprised. Surprised that someone would take offense to being drafted and then being cut off on the bike. Maybe surprised that I caught back up? Who knows, but he was a jerk, and I was pissed. It's a recreational triathlon. There's no need to put people in jeopardy to draft, hold your line or whatever reason you had for passing between two riders without enough room to do so. Jackass.
Run - 33:53 for 4.5 miles : 7:30ish minutes per mile : 10/23 AG : 57/227 OA
The run was were I felt the best. I eased out of transition knowing that the dam hill in the last mile would need some reserve. I was pretty amped that no one passed me on the entire run, including sections where we ran with short course people. In the past, I would head out hard, gas out and get passed left and right. No so this year!
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| photo by SeeKCRun.com - notice the Under Amour shoes I'll be reviewing soon! |
I was secretly hoping Scotty had fallen asleep or fallen apart on the run. Thinking he had it in the bag. Unfortunately the long course has an out and back and he saw me when we were maybe 0.75 miles apart. I don't know if he sped up significantly, but who knows if I would have caught him if he hadn't seem me on the out and back. he probably would have, but by a slimmer margin.
Finished - 1:51:39 - 10/23 AG, 57/227 OA
That's around a 2 minute improvement from last year. I'll take it.
The issue is the same that I have been finding for all other races I set a new PR. The bike time is the same or a little slower, but I crush the run to make up for it. So I guess I can't be all pitty party about my bike speed. But, just think if I could get 21 or 22 mph up there. Would that kill me run? Not with proper training.
Scotty ended with a 1:48:30. So, he got 3 minutes on me on the bike as our run times were pretty similar. we'll have to take this to the streets and continue our fight of good versus evil... or something like that.
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| photo by SeeKCRun.com - Drew, Scotty, Jon and Me post race. |
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