2012 Kansas City 5150

2012 Kansas City 5150 Triathlon

Lee's Summit, MO

It was time for my first real test at the olympic distance which is my real focus for this year. I changed out some of my shorter sprint races for olympic and am staying away from any half or full ironman completely. Emily and I got to Lakeview Lake campground fairly late. My parents were already there, but we had to quickly get our tent setup before we lost out light. We got to visit with my parent's (Ray and Carol), my sister (Lynn), my neice (Summer), my nephew (Austin), and Summer's horses (Rowdy and Georgia). It was wonderful. We also got to have brunch and visit with some of Emily's friends she'd made at Kidney camp. The weather was a bit of a concern. Rain was in the forecast and the wind was really picking up. It was actually so strong that it was blowing our tent over and we had to add extra secure lines to keep it upright. Between midnight and 1AM on race mornign the wind had kicked up again with a little drizzle of rain as well. It kept me awake, waiting to have to prop the tent up from collapsing on us or to abandon it for my parent's camper. It didn't last long and I was able to fall back asleep and felt plenty rested when I had to get up.

My division was the last to go for the olympic distanced race and the sprint compeditors folloowed us after a short break. While waiting to go we got to watch the Pros start. I didn't recognize any of the male pro names, but the fmale field had the newest addition to the US Olympic team, Laura Bennett, Jillian Peterson, and Becky Lavelle. They ended up finishing in that order with Laura Bennett getting the win. When our heat finally was ready to start, I jumped out to a quick start as planned. I wanted a stronger swim and knew that being in the front would help navigate the slower swimmers from the heats in front of us. I did get a little lost in the traffic and splashing, and at least one of the bouys had gone rogue and was directing us for a little extra bit of swimming. According to my watch, the overall swim distance wasn't longer than it should have been despite not taking the shortest distance around. My time was good and only slightly slower than I was hoping. I felt good and hustled through more traffic getting to my bike, and a fast transition passing 5 people in my age group on the way out to the bike leg. I also noticed that I was ahead of a friendly rivalry I have with Tony Rigdon III (and his huge beard).

I started on the bike firing on all cylinders heading out of the first of two laps. I was blitzing through traffic, passing an endless line of riders. There were a few decent hills to climb and that concerned me. In the past, I hadn't been the best climber. Things have changed though. I continued to blow by everyone else on the hills as well. I came around to the start of the second lap and checked my watch. I was making good time and was on pace. The second lap was more of the same, fast peddling and lots of passing. Into the transition and a quick turn around to start on the run.

Another two lap course for the run. I felt pretty strong, but was having trouble getting my running legs going. I was trying to push it to keep my pace where I wanted it, but was cramping off and on the whole time. I slowed just a touch for the second lap and tried to pick it up for the downhill sections. I was able to stay with or pass most of the people that were around me, but there were some guys that just flew by me and I had no hope of holding onto them. I did push the last mile or so to a decent pace, but still got tracked down by someone on my age group in the final quarter mile. I tried to hold onto him despite his much faster pace. I finished just a few seconds behind him.

I ended up with almost a 6 minute personal best at the olympic distance. I also improved on all three legs of the race. I qualified for the Hyvee 5150 Championship race by getting 9th in my age group and 58th overall. I know there is still more room for improvement and I'm ready to put in the work to do it. I look forward to a couple weeks off of racing to log some training to make improvements where I need them most. I'm excited to see where I can go from here.