After Texas proved to be a wash, and in consultation with
Cody, I opted to do my 70.3 race this year in Kansas. The rolling hills bike
course and flat run course seemed to be good fit for me. The early June race
date also worked well with my schedule. Since it was a last-minute decision to
try Kansas, I would be traveling alone.
Pre-race
I flew to Kansas City on Friday afternoon, arriving around 3:30. I borrowed a friend’s bike box (thanks, LeAnn!), which was big enough to carry my helmet, shoes, wetsuit and bike pump, so I could pack very lightly – something pretty important when trying to get a bike case onto rental car buses and through airports! After reaching K.C. and picking up my rental car, I headed straight for Clinton Lake to pick up my race packet. It was about an hour drive from the airport to the race location, which is on the western edge of Lawrence, arriving close to 6 p.m. I picked up my packet, looked around a bit then headed to my hotel, which was 40 minutes east, in Shawnee (all the hotels in Lawrence were booked when I signed up for the race). I got to the hotel, dropped off my stuff, had dinner, hit the grocery store to pick up water, breakfast stuff and the like, and then put my bike together – successfully! -- before turning in around 11:30 p.m.
I flew to Kansas City on Friday afternoon, arriving around 3:30. I borrowed a friend’s bike box (thanks, LeAnn!), which was big enough to carry my helmet, shoes, wetsuit and bike pump, so I could pack very lightly – something pretty important when trying to get a bike case onto rental car buses and through airports! After reaching K.C. and picking up my rental car, I headed straight for Clinton Lake to pick up my race packet. It was about an hour drive from the airport to the race location, which is on the western edge of Lawrence, arriving close to 6 p.m. I picked up my packet, looked around a bit then headed to my hotel, which was 40 minutes east, in Shawnee (all the hotels in Lawrence were booked when I signed up for the race). I got to the hotel, dropped off my stuff, had dinner, hit the grocery store to pick up water, breakfast stuff and the like, and then put my bike together – successfully! -- before turning in around 11:30 p.m.
I slept in until 8 or so on Saturday, knowing I would be
getting up at 3 the next morning. It was raining, so I had breakfast and
started sorting my race gear together. Around 11 a.m., I headed back to Clinton
Lake, with my bike, so I could have the techs make sure I had tightened my
handle bars sufficiently, to attend the race meeting and to drive the bike
course. I got there a little before noon, and had to wait 2 hours for bike
support to check my bike. So I went for a short run, had lunch, attended the
meeting. After I got my bike back, I went for a short ride to make sure all was
good (it was), then dropped it off at T1 down by the lake, and then headed out
to drive the course. The hills weren’t long, but there were plenty of them, and
they rolled, allowing you to get a good start up them if you let the momentum
carry you on the downhills. Downhills are not my strength, but I made a mental
note that on Sunday, I was going to have to take my hands off the brakes and
let go. What I also noticed was how green and pretty the landscape was, with
lots of farms all along the course. I headed back to Shawnee, had pizza for
dinner, drank my Pre-Load and tried to get to sleep by 8. I had a hard time
falling asleep, mostly because of the nagging cough I’ve been fighting off for
the past week. Once I did, I had a horrible dream about being hit by a car on
the bike course. I usually sleep pretty well before a race. Not this time!
Race morning
I woke up at 3:15 a.m., drank my second bottle of Pre-Load, ate some yogurt with blueberries and granola, and packed a banana, 2 mini-bagels with peanut butter to eat on the ride out to Clinton Lake. Once I was dressed and had my two transition bags together, I hit the road at 4. Transition was set to open at 5, but Cody had warned me to get there early because there’s only one road into the park and it gets backed up quickly. It was wise advice. Even getting to the park at 4:50, it took until 5:15 to get parked. By dropping off my bike and getting body marked on Saturday, I saved myself a ton of time, which was important since it was almost a mile walk to T2. I left my running gear and chilly bin with the 3rd bottle of Pre-Load off at T2, and got down the hill to T1 (another half mile walk) by 5:45, leaving me 30 minutes to pump my tires, get my gear set up and eat the banana before they closed transition. The water temperature was 75.8 degrees, making it still a wetsuit-legal race, but more than warm enough to swim without the suit. I gave it a good think and opted to wear the suit, thinking the extra buoyance would be helpful, however, I hate swimming a wetsuit. I feel think I’m being smothered in them and I don’t get the same range of motion as I do without one. My swim wave was supposed to go at 6:42, but they delayed the start because of the traffic problem. I considered putting my wetsuit back into transition during the delay, but kept it on and waited until the start.
I woke up at 3:15 a.m., drank my second bottle of Pre-Load, ate some yogurt with blueberries and granola, and packed a banana, 2 mini-bagels with peanut butter to eat on the ride out to Clinton Lake. Once I was dressed and had my two transition bags together, I hit the road at 4. Transition was set to open at 5, but Cody had warned me to get there early because there’s only one road into the park and it gets backed up quickly. It was wise advice. Even getting to the park at 4:50, it took until 5:15 to get parked. By dropping off my bike and getting body marked on Saturday, I saved myself a ton of time, which was important since it was almost a mile walk to T2. I left my running gear and chilly bin with the 3rd bottle of Pre-Load off at T2, and got down the hill to T1 (another half mile walk) by 5:45, leaving me 30 minutes to pump my tires, get my gear set up and eat the banana before they closed transition. The water temperature was 75.8 degrees, making it still a wetsuit-legal race, but more than warm enough to swim without the suit. I gave it a good think and opted to wear the suit, thinking the extra buoyance would be helpful, however, I hate swimming a wetsuit. I feel think I’m being smothered in them and I don’t get the same range of motion as I do without one. My swim wave was supposed to go at 6:42, but they delayed the start because of the traffic problem. I considered putting my wetsuit back into transition during the delay, but kept it on and waited until the start.
While it was rainy and blustery on Saturday, Sunday morning
was overcast, around 60 degrees with zero wind. In short – perfect conditions.
The lake was tranquil before the start as well.
Swim
As soon as I got in the water (they didn’t allow a pre-race swim), I regret the wetsuit. The water was plenty warm. I positioned myself to the right about mid-pack. When the horn sounded, I started off crisply, with minimal bumping and slapping. The buoys were positioned approximately every 100 yards are so, and in the absence of anything concrete to sight to, I followed the buoys. The water was murky and brown, so you couldn’t even see your own hand in front of you, much less legs and feet. I swam up on a couple of people, mostly because I couldn’t see them. I settled into a rhythm and just went buoy-to-buoy, but I never felt right. I felt sluggish and out of sync most of the way. I used a light two-beat kick and kept telling myself to keep my chin tucked and my abs in so I could keep my legs up. The second half of the swim felt like being in a washing machine as swimmers from the 2 waves behind caught up. Good thing I don’t get freaked out by thrash and churn, cause it was nasty.
As soon as I got in the water (they didn’t allow a pre-race swim), I regret the wetsuit. The water was plenty warm. I positioned myself to the right about mid-pack. When the horn sounded, I started off crisply, with minimal bumping and slapping. The buoys were positioned approximately every 100 yards are so, and in the absence of anything concrete to sight to, I followed the buoys. The water was murky and brown, so you couldn’t even see your own hand in front of you, much less legs and feet. I swam up on a couple of people, mostly because I couldn’t see them. I settled into a rhythm and just went buoy-to-buoy, but I never felt right. I felt sluggish and out of sync most of the way. I used a light two-beat kick and kept telling myself to keep my chin tucked and my abs in so I could keep my legs up. The second half of the swim felt like being in a washing machine as swimmers from the 2 waves behind caught up. Good thing I don’t get freaked out by thrash and churn, cause it was nasty.
The swim looked short from the beach, and it turned out to
be that – 1.02 miles. It seemed to go by fairly quickly, but I credit that more
to my swim fitness than my speed. I knew I was slow and off pace even before I
saw my time upon exiting the water – 46 minutes. A ridiculous slow time for me.
I’d done the same distance in Kona in March in 34 minutes, without a wetsuit.
Grrr.
T1
Wetsuit strippers!! First time I’ve been at a race that I’ve had the use of them, and they are awesome as anyone who's tried to get out of one of those quickly will tell you. My usual T1 time for a 70.3 has been 10-12 minutes. I got out of T1 in 6 minutes. Still not great, but a big improvement.
Wetsuit strippers!! First time I’ve been at a race that I’ve had the use of them, and they are awesome as anyone who's tried to get out of one of those quickly will tell you. My usual T1 time for a 70.3 has been 10-12 minutes. I got out of T1 in 6 minutes. Still not great, but a big improvement.
Bike
The bike starts at the bottom of a hill (one that I would revisit again twice during the run). It’s a gentle slope at the bottom, but near the top it’s about 10 percent – the first of several such hills of the day. From there it’s fairly flat for mile, then you hit the first of two sets of rollers. So within the first mile, I had my first downhill test. It wasn’t long, but roughly 8-10 percent. At the bottom was a brief flat before heading up again, on a hill roughly the same distance and pitch. If I wanted to “spin” up it, I would have to let the momentum of the down carry up at least a third of it. So I told myself, no matter what, hands off the brakes going down the hill. And down I went, sitting back on my saddle, feet at 9 and 3, listening to the wind of my own speed whistling through my helmet. And then I was at the bottom, and I felt great. I did it! I knew that I wouldn’t encounter another hill steeper than that the rest of the ride, so it really boosted my confidence. However, as I rose halfway up the hill, I start to try to spin. My goal was to stay between 78-82% of FTP for the ride, but on my first hill, I was already well beyond FTP, closing in on 200 watts, in my lowest gear. It was going to be a long ride.
The bike starts at the bottom of a hill (one that I would revisit again twice during the run). It’s a gentle slope at the bottom, but near the top it’s about 10 percent – the first of several such hills of the day. From there it’s fairly flat for mile, then you hit the first of two sets of rollers. So within the first mile, I had my first downhill test. It wasn’t long, but roughly 8-10 percent. At the bottom was a brief flat before heading up again, on a hill roughly the same distance and pitch. If I wanted to “spin” up it, I would have to let the momentum of the down carry up at least a third of it. So I told myself, no matter what, hands off the brakes going down the hill. And down I went, sitting back on my saddle, feet at 9 and 3, listening to the wind of my own speed whistling through my helmet. And then I was at the bottom, and I felt great. I did it! I knew that I wouldn’t encounter another hill steeper than that the rest of the ride, so it really boosted my confidence. However, as I rose halfway up the hill, I start to try to spin. My goal was to stay between 78-82% of FTP for the ride, but on my first hill, I was already well beyond FTP, closing in on 200 watts, in my lowest gear. It was going to be a long ride.
After clearing the next set of rollers, I exited the park
and headed down a hill toward the road that goes over the reservoir. It was
flat and without wind, fast. I was averaging 17 mph, which for me is pretty
fast. It was also my first shot at getting into the aerobars. That too felt
pretty comfortable, which also boosted my confidence. After that, it was a
short uphill, then a long, sweeping downhill before a sharp right turn. I made
it halfway down the hill before I started to feather my brakes, slowing down
for the turn. After that, it was a lovely stretch of flat and rolling hills for
the next 20 miles. It was fantastic. I stopped briefly at the first water
station at mile 14 to refill my front-loaded water bottle, but then kept going.
It was highly congested, with all the faster, younger cyclist catching up.
Faster cyclists kept flying past me, but I stuck to the plan. The only time I
wasn’t at 78-82 was when I was going downhill or uphill. The second half of the
ride was similar, with a couple of good climbs that started from flat, with no
momentum. Still no spinning, but I got up all of them, having to stand just a
couple of times to keep moving. The last big hill was just before the reservoir
road, and it’s a dilly going up, but I passed people on the way up, which made
me happy. But my legs were feeling it by then. The climbs had taken a toll and
I knew that I might pay for it on the run. I also knew the bathroom stop at the
3rd water station meant that I wasn’t going to come in under 4
hours. Disappointing.
A lesson from this ride -- I need to add on the gears and
actually increase my speed going downhill, not just coast, in order to get even
more momentum going up the hills, so that I can spin to the top. The other
lesson? I seriously need to work on my power-to-weight ratio. It sucks right
now, and if I’m ever going to do a half IM ride between 3-3 ½ hours, I need to
improve this (more power work, and lots of weight loss). Ride time: 4:10.
T2
I changed my socks when I took off my bike shoes (my feet were still damp). The new socks and running shoes had foot powder, which I knew would keep me from blistering. I got my water bottle out of my chilly bin, started drinking the Pre-Load and headed out on the run. T2 -- @5 mins.
I changed my socks when I took off my bike shoes (my feet were still damp). The new socks and running shoes had foot powder, which I knew would keep me from blistering. I got my water bottle out of my chilly bin, started drinking the Pre-Load and headed out on the run. T2 -- @5 mins.
Run
I expected my legs to feel heavy at the start of the run, but that they would loosen up once I got going, around mile 2. With that in mind, I was OK with going at a 12 minute mile pace at the start. Out of transition there was a slight incline, and then it flattened out just past mile 1. My legs picked up a bit, but they never really fired the whole way. I was a bit hungry, but I had eaten all most my food on my bike ride and was more than properly hydrated (the bathroom break on the bike and one at mile 4 of the run proved that). It wasn’t a question of injury or issue. The only thing that bothered me was a dull pain on the outside of my right foot that started about 6 miles in, but it didn’t affect my ability to run. The only thing that kept me from really moving was the fact that I was just plain tired. That being said, I refused to walk any more than necessary. So I made myself do 4 and 1s (run/jog 4 minutes and walk 1). The only exception was going up the big hill (the same hill we rode our bikes up out of T1), which I had to do twice on this 2 loop course.
I expected my legs to feel heavy at the start of the run, but that they would loosen up once I got going, around mile 2. With that in mind, I was OK with going at a 12 minute mile pace at the start. Out of transition there was a slight incline, and then it flattened out just past mile 1. My legs picked up a bit, but they never really fired the whole way. I was a bit hungry, but I had eaten all most my food on my bike ride and was more than properly hydrated (the bathroom break on the bike and one at mile 4 of the run proved that). It wasn’t a question of injury or issue. The only thing that bothered me was a dull pain on the outside of my right foot that started about 6 miles in, but it didn’t affect my ability to run. The only thing that kept me from really moving was the fact that I was just plain tired. That being said, I refused to walk any more than necessary. So I made myself do 4 and 1s (run/jog 4 minutes and walk 1). The only exception was going up the big hill (the same hill we rode our bikes up out of T1), which I had to do twice on this 2 loop course.
About
midway through the run, the sun came out and it started to get a bit warm, but
that wasn’t really an issue either. And despite moving far slower than I’d
hoped for, it really did seem to go by pretty quickly. All the encouragement I
got from all the people set up in lawn chairs along the trail that wound through
the campground we ran through helped a lot. Everyone cheered, and because you
got to see them twice, they remembered you and were very encouraging. My
favorite sign along the course said “You’re all nucking futs.” As were the
other runners. Those who are in the back end of the race are all feeling the
accumulation of a long day, and share the special kind of suffering of the
slow. We encourage each other and keep smiling. In fact, one of the volunteers
said to me as I went by at mile 11 “it’s great to see you smiling.” My
response? “I’d be crazy to be out here doing this if I wasn’t having fun.” And
while I can’t say it was exactly fun all the way, I was determined to smile and
take it all in. That made it so much better. Run time: 3:03.
Overall time: 8:19.
Post-race
While I had that nagging pain in my right foot, and some light blisters on my feet, the only “pain” I felt was from a welt I got on the inside of my left thigh where the race number sticker on my bike was rubbing against my leg. During my bathroom break on the bike I pulled my short leg down further to cover it to keep it from rubbing anymore, but it’s pretty nasty. Good thing I brought the anti-bacterial ointment with me. Otherwise, I was completely spent. I collected my free Boulevard Pale Ale, sat in the shade, drank my beer and snacked on some salty chips and a bagel with peanut butter (all the other food was gone). I collected my gear and made the long walk back to the car (flip flops on – yeah!), loaded up and made the long drive back to Shawnee. After a long, cool bath (and ouch from the welt on my leg), I went for dinner and another beer. It was already 6 p.m. by then. I couldn’t even finish the beer. I was completely wiped out. I walked back to the hotel and was in bed and asleep by 8. Apart from having to get up to pee once around midnight, I didn’t wake up again until 7:30 a.m.
While I had that nagging pain in my right foot, and some light blisters on my feet, the only “pain” I felt was from a welt I got on the inside of my left thigh where the race number sticker on my bike was rubbing against my leg. During my bathroom break on the bike I pulled my short leg down further to cover it to keep it from rubbing anymore, but it’s pretty nasty. Good thing I brought the anti-bacterial ointment with me. Otherwise, I was completely spent. I collected my free Boulevard Pale Ale, sat in the shade, drank my beer and snacked on some salty chips and a bagel with peanut butter (all the other food was gone). I collected my gear and made the long walk back to the car (flip flops on – yeah!), loaded up and made the long drive back to Shawnee. After a long, cool bath (and ouch from the welt on my leg), I went for dinner and another beer. It was already 6 p.m. by then. I couldn’t even finish the beer. I was completely wiped out. I walked back to the hotel and was in bed and asleep by 8. Apart from having to get up to pee once around midnight, I didn’t wake up again until 7:30 a.m.
Conclusions
Two fewer bathroom breaks, a faster T2 and not stopping at the water stations to refill my bottle (and being at 100 percent health) and I come in under 8 hours, which was my real goal. That being said, I still cut 13 minutes off my previous best half Ironman time, which is HUGE! This is a GREAT race. Well organized, great swag, amazing roads to ride on, super volunteers and tons of fan support. Turns out the bike course – with almost 1,200 feet of elevation change, it’s that much less hilly than Vineman (which was 1,800 feet of elevation change). What saved me was a largely flat run, much better overall conditioning, no injuries and a great attitude. I always tell myself during each half that this is my last, and I said it again on Sunday. But only until I can increase my power to weight ratio. I don’t want to spend 8 hours on the course, and the only way that’s going to happen is if my bike gets an hour to 30 minutes faster, and if I come off that bike with fresh legs. My running has already gotten much, much faster and will only get faster as I drop more weight. The swim was freakishly slow. I’ll focus on Olympics for the time being, and get back to work. But that’s the fun part.
Two fewer bathroom breaks, a faster T2 and not stopping at the water stations to refill my bottle (and being at 100 percent health) and I come in under 8 hours, which was my real goal. That being said, I still cut 13 minutes off my previous best half Ironman time, which is HUGE! This is a GREAT race. Well organized, great swag, amazing roads to ride on, super volunteers and tons of fan support. Turns out the bike course – with almost 1,200 feet of elevation change, it’s that much less hilly than Vineman (which was 1,800 feet of elevation change). What saved me was a largely flat run, much better overall conditioning, no injuries and a great attitude. I always tell myself during each half that this is my last, and I said it again on Sunday. But only until I can increase my power to weight ratio. I don’t want to spend 8 hours on the course, and the only way that’s going to happen is if my bike gets an hour to 30 minutes faster, and if I come off that bike with fresh legs. My running has already gotten much, much faster and will only get faster as I drop more weight. The swim was freakishly slow. I’ll focus on Olympics for the time being, and get back to work. But that’s the fun part.
