Kansas City Olympic Distance Triathlon 2016

Joe and I before I put on my rubber suit

My first official outside triathlon of the year was a new one for me.  Since my favorite early season triathlon moved from May to July and I had the brilliant idea to sign up for a June 1/2 Ironman and I needed a new early season race to work the kinks out so I decided to try out the Kansas City Tri.  As I noted in my prerace blog the day of was cold! I had my hubby with me and he decided to race with me.  He did a duathlon (run, bike, run).  My race started at 7:30 am and with an air temp around 45 degrees and water temp around 62 degrees it was a bit brisk.

I am number 375 with my game face on.

I did all the things I knew to do... wet suit - check, quick plunge before my turn to start - check, high fives at the lake's edge before the horn.  And yet diving into the lake for my best leg of the triathlon, I still had a complete melt down.  The cold knocked the wind out of me and left me gasping for air the first 100 yards.  I even had a couple of seconds where I considered calling it quits, but then my big girl voice chewed my butt and told me to pull it together and stroke and breathe and stroke and breathe.

The course was a big rectangle where you swim into the sun to the first two buoys.  I really wish race officials got that the orange buoys are IMPOSSIBLE to see going into the sun.  We had two long legs into the sun on our two lap course and between laps we actually ran up on the beach and over a mat then back into the water. Needless to say I struggled to find my rhythm but got through the swim in 5th place in my heat at around 29 minutes.  I scooted up the hill to transition, toweled off, put on some sleeves, and then was on my way to the bike leg.

The bike was mostly on a controlled course along the lake.  It was two laps with three out and backs, a few rolling hills and one long hill.  I found my bike legs a couple of miles into the ride at the first out and back and then rolled into the second out and back which had two nice hills down and then at the bottom (yes the bottom, braking) we turned around and rode back up the two rolling hills.  I remember looking at my odometer and cursing because I was only at mile 5.5 and the "big" hill wasn't until mile nine, so I kept pedaling.

I had opted for sleeves while I was riding because it was chilly when I started out but found I was actually getting warm after the first leg since the sun was shinning down on us (and the hills likely helped.)  The big hill was about a half mile long but not super steep (no twister hill) but fortunately the turn around was at the top of this one and then back to the second loop.  I'm am pretty sure I lost some ground in my age group on the bike.  Even so I felt like the bike went well enough with a final time of 1:36 and an average of 15.4 mph.

While all this was going on Joe's heat started.  He did his short run, one lap of the bike course, and then a 5k run while was out on the bike.  Here is a picture of him finishing the duathlon.  I think it is really great that he decided to race with me. Joe has done a couple of duathlons but this is the first time we have competed at the same time.  I watched for him on the course but with all the out and backs and the run being a loop I did not see him.

Meanwhile I started the run course.  The first mile was on the road in the park and then the next two miles were on crushed gravel trails (Ames folks think Ames middle school track).  Not my favorite surface type, but it went through a lovely prairie with birds singing, flowers and people kayaking lakeside faster than I was running.  Even so I felt like my pace through the first two miles was solid.  I took on water at the water stops and finished the first loop at the finish line and then kept on going into the next loop. By then temperatures were climbing with the sun shinning and I was really working the positive thoughts, enjoying the signs (favorite on the bike was ride like you stole it) focusing on my smile (hard to mentally crash when you are smiling) and kept putting one foot in front of the other along the trail.  Also, towards the end of the first loop another Pearl Izumi ladies tri champion blew by me.  She was doing the sprint and we gave each other a shout out as she left me in her dust.

Unfortunately by the time I got to the second loop of the run the first water stop was out of Gatorade and apparently they had started putting fizzy tablets into the water.  I generally don't take on anything except water in races now after having issues last year on my longer races so once I realized I had fizzy water in my cup I started to worry a bit, and sure enough my GI track started to rumble.  When I got to the last water stop they only had Gatorade so I took on nothing.  By then I was getting warm and with my MS that is never a good thing.  Fortunately there were spots of shade and the occasional cloud (plus I has taken off my sleeves before the run) so managed not to overheat, but I certainly would have appreciated some water to wear and water to drink by mile five.  I kept going with the knowledge of cool bottled water awaiting me.  I finished strong and met Joe at the finish line.  It wasn't my fastest or slowest Olympic race time (final time 3:16) and on a new course 19th out of 30 in my age group is just fine with me. 

All in all the race course was challenging enough, the volunteers were great and there was a lot of fan support until the last two miles.  The KC Triathlon is definitely one I would do again.  I let them know in the post race survey that water and food are more important than two race shirts, a pint glass and a medal.  The banana at the end didn't quite hit the spot so we heading back for showers and a burger before driving back to Ames.

A huge thank you to my hubby who made the trip a lot of fun with museums, baseball, BBQ and triathlon YAY! And thank you to my folks who watched the kids and ran soccer shuttle while we were gone.  Also a shout out to my sponsor this year, Pearl Izumi and these great kits we get to wear as they are super comfortable.  To the right I am sporting my PI tri champ shirt... taking the ass out of ambassador.  I had a lot of fun and as always am grateful for any day that I can be out enjoying some exercise and nature at the same time.

Endure and Enjoy!

Thank you to Kansas City Triathlon - Ultramax Sports and their photographer for most of these photos!

Last comment.. .I am still looking for support for the MS Society and my bike MS team.  We ride June 25th the weekend after my next race.