Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Ironman Kansas 70.3

I'm glad this race is over.
It's been a busy few months with the new store and new baby, and my training has taken a major hit. I got in one swim prior to the race, and when I saw Kathy at the halfway mark of the run I realized that that was my longest run of the year. It's nice to know that I have the fitness to finish, but my speed is not even close to what it once was.
Tarah, Carter, and I spent the night at Bundy's house to get an extra hour of sleep, which was definitely nice, but 4:45 is still early.
The swim went exactly as planned...slow. 36:30-37:00, somewhere in there. I felt alright though and I took my sweet time at the first transition to make sure I was ready for a tough bike course. It only took about 15 miles to realize that I had not completely recovered from the Dirty Kanza and my legs were still pretty useless. The was a nasty section of headwind from about mile 34-42 and it made everyone suffer. It was blowing in a nasty storm that would affect the rest of the race. I came off the bike at 2:46.37 with a 20.2 average. Not too bad, but it was time to see if I had anything left to run 13 miles.
The first couple of miles felt surprisingly good. I was stopping and walking the aid stations, and drinking as much as I could. I didn't feel like eating anything solid, so I took in a bunch of Gatorade, water and a few power gels. The run course was great. Rolling terrain, that wound through Bloomington Park at Clinton Lake. A good mix of pavement, and gravel and great crowd support. Next year I will be camping out there for sure. There were markers every mile, but I didn't see the 8 mile mark. So when I got to mile 9 I was pleasantly surprised. I then only had 4 more miles and I tried to pick it up a bit. That only last a mile until my legs really started to hurt. I was afraid of cramping so I backed it off a bit. Mile 12-13 was pretty easy and it's always nice to see my family out there cheering me on!
Thanks to Kali, Derek, Beth, my Dad, Kathy and Levi for all of your support! And a huge congrats to Tarah, Larry, Carter, Todd and Diego for awesome races. It was nice to see all of my customers out there on their bikes!
Final time was 5:26.50-something. 34 minutes off my pr, but all things considered I was pretty pleased with my effort.
Now I can focus on my riding and whatever adventures await me!