Kansas70.3 2011 Recap

A giant and sincere “thank you” for all of your contributions and well-wishes this past weekend.  Together we raised almost $2,000 for the Blazeman Foundation in less than 1 week. 

Race morning began like most other race mornings, with the alarm clock buzzing at 3:30AM and the thought of hitting the snooze button and skipping the race entirely. However, Shea and I resisted our bodies’ call to get more rest.  We got up, made coffee and got ready for the long day ahead of us.  With coffee in hand and our gear strapped to our backs, we met our ride to the course in the hotel lobby at 4:20AM and were at the race site at 4:50 AM.

This race is a little different as it has two transition areas. A transition area, for those not familiar with triathlons, is the area where you transition from one sport to the next. Most triathlons utilize only one transition area, but with the logistics of this course, T2, or the second transition from the bike to the run is on top of a hill where we first arrived on race morning.  T1 or the transition from the swim to the bike was on the lake dock down the hill and almost a mile away. With the weather predictions calling for a 60% chance of thunderstorms and hail, we decided to unpack slowly in T2 and see if the directors had to call the race or delay the start before we made the long trek to the swim start.  Things at this time were not looking good for the racers.  The sky looked ominous and wind was kicking up.

By 5:45 most of the 2000 participants had made there way to the swim start and it looked as though we were at least going to be able to start the race.  This is typically the time where your nerves begin to really play with your mind and you need to focus on the task at hand.  I was racing for a different reason this year and there was very little pressure on me, but that didn’t stop the nerves.  For almost all triathletes, this wait and anticipation before the swim is the hardest part of the race.  The pros were scheduled to begin at 6:30 and my group of men ages 35-39 weren’t scheduled to go off until 7:22 almost a full hour later.  At 7:20 my age group began our swim and the water was getting a little choppier as the wind from the approaching storm began to intensify.  This swim is 1.2 miles and with rough water and a strong current, it makes it that much more difficult.  The swim took me a little over 37 minutes to complete.  Not a great swim by my standards, but it was ok.

From the swim I had a pretty quick transition onto to bike.  The Kansas bike course is awesome…if you like hills. The first 3 miles of the course are a series of hills that really get your legs warmed up for the rest of the ride.  With the cross winds being as strong as they were at times (25 mph gusts) you really had to pay attention especially going downhill.  The first 25 plus miles of the course the wind was slightly at your back giving you a really nice push.  I noticed early on that I was having issues with my front derailleur as I shifted from my big chain ring into the small chain ring.  This problem plagued me throughout the bike as I lost my chain a total of 5 times, 3 of which killed my momentum and made me  get off the bike mid-hill to repair the chain.  When you have problems like this it is best to stay calm and take your time to fix the issue. Despite these problems, I was feeling strong on the way out, however you could see the pain and struggle on the face and body position of the people riding towards you as they were heading back in the opposite direction.  This tells you they are facing a pretty strong head wind, which I would soon feel for myself.  The ride began to get more difficult as the winds increased and the bike traffic got more congested with the slower age groupers feeling the miles and wind. Even as the gusts made you feel as if you were going backwards, the hills and the views on this course were picturesque. Now would be a good time to point out the misconceptions most people have about Kansas being flat.  I can assure you, as can everyone else who has done this race, Kansas is NOT flat. I really began to feel the ride at about 40 miles.  Before this race I had only 2 rides longer than 56 miles and the rest were 40 or less. Again I knew I wasn’t prepared to “race” this course or distance yet, but I did want to post a decent time.  I love hills and I don’t mind the wind, it was the mechanical issued that hurt my ride the most and I can live with that. My total time was 2:52:00 on the bike.  Nowhere near a PR, but with the problems I had coupled with my limited training time on the bike I was pleased with this ride.

We now transition to the run, the third and final leg of the triathlon and my favorite event.  After having swam 1.2 miles and ridden 56 miles your legs take a little time to get used to the run.  By mile marker 2, my lack of running was very apparent. I slowed to my jogging pace and just had fun with the run.  The people along the course were great as were the countless volunteers who manned every aid station along the course. The last 4 miles of the run I dedicated to Lucas (my oldest son), Sydney (my daughter), Shea (my wife) and Austin (my 13 mo. old son).  The last stretch of the run through the finishing shoot, I dedicated to Jon “Blazeman” Blais.  I memory of Jon and to keep his initiative alive, I got on the ground and rolled across the finish line in Blazeman fashion.  I did this race…”so others may live.”
Race Photos and the Blazeman Roll

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