IRONMAN KANSAS 70.3 RACE RECAP - 6/8/14

So, it's been a while... I'll pick up where I left off.

Ironman Kansas 70.3 was the last race preview I left you all hanging with.

Here's what happened when I hit the swim start, condensed version.  ;)

It was half Ironman distance triathlon 7 for me, and it ended up being one of the best overall half yet.  If you read the preview, maybe you wondered if I ran a 5k Friday night, half marathon Saturday morning and then a half ironman Sunday.  To end the suspense, I ran the 5k on Friday night with the kids in the running stroller, opted to ditch the half marathon as it was raining and the kids were sound asleep and raced Kansas on Sunday.

After running a 28ish minute 5k pushing 150 pounds of kids and stroller, I was a little sore, but ok to hit it hard Sunday morning.  I was hoping for a half PR and getting under 5:30.

 

SWIM : 34:15

The swim was perfect.  Calm waters.  Calm winds.  Temperatures allowing wetsuit legal race, but not too cold.  No rain.  Perfect conditions for a swim PR by a few seconds, literally.

It felt great compared to where I came from with my swimming skills.  I used to be back of the pack getting caught by all the other waves... now I'm the one trying to swim through the back of waves ahead of me.  Nice change.

 

BIKE : 3:01:33

Not a PR, but I like the 18.5 mph average over a tough course.  There were minor winds to deal with, but nothing near what we have had to deal with in the past.

I also made an effort to get more speed out of my workouts after IM Texas.  It's time to hammer the rides and the way I have to structure rides, I have to get the most work out of less time.  It paid off.

I also made it a point to get at least half and half with water and sports drinks.  I ate some bananas and Cliff bars on the ride, but after Texas, water was the key even if the temps were not extreme.

I wanted to leave the bike with something left, but a little less than I have had in the past.  Push the edge to see how close I can get.

RUN : 1:47:58

The run could not have been better for that race on that day.  PR by around 2 minutes from last year.  The run was a little warm, but staying on top of water, hydration and nutrition left me with enough to push a consistent pace until 3 miles to go to let it all go to see what I could do.

I was running along flirting with a sub 5:30, but I was in the space of pushing too much too early to get ahead of the mark and risk melting down, or laying off too much and missing my window to get there at the end.

With 3 to go, I opened it up and made a push for sub 5:30.

FINAL : 5:30:40

SO CLOSE!  I was one port-a-potty stop in T2 from getting sub 5:30.  I was tempted to let it go on the bike, but didn't realize it would be the difference between 5:30 and sub.  Oh well.  One way or another, I needed the bio-break or it would have been a painful 13.1 miles.

THOUGHTS

Race day was perfect.  The only hiccup was the race was to be converted to a 1 transition area race, and they changed it the day before to the traditional 2 transition race it had always been.  It's not a deal breaker, but I'm not sure why not just stay with what works?  Why tease us with changes.  Oh well.

I played this race pretty close to the chest.  I didn't go all out, but I was careful to keep the PR in site.  Always want to do better than the year before and doing this race as many times as I have, I know the course well.

I like how each year I have done better at the swim.  This year was a PR in the swim and run.  I have yet to beat the first year's bike time, but I'm almost 30 minutes faster in the run than my first HIM.  Not a bad trade off going up by 6 minutes on the bike and down 30 minutes on the run.

It was also awesome to race with my athlete, Tim, that I trained and mentored remote since he lived in Illinois and I'm in Kansas.  It was his first HIM and he did great!  He definitely gained an appreciation for what race day would take and word on the street is he's looking at a full IM.  Good luck!

More to come as I hopefully get more time to dribble my thoughts onto blogger to keep you posted about triathlon, endurance sports, gear, family and life.