I headed to Lawrence, Kansas with Mideast Multisport Athletes Tony White and Eric Atnip, as well as our good friend and training partner Jeff Buhr. We all traveled together to the race in my mom’s full size van, which was awesome! We did not even have to take off our wheels in order to fit the bikes in the van. It ended up being a 10 hour drive to the race site. We arrived on site about 5pm on Friday, just in time to check in and get our race packet. We saw some people who were working the event and they gave us a description of the course, which included the statement, “this is a hilly bike course.” This did not sit too well with me, but I waited to pass judgment until we drove the course on Saturday.
We had a nice dinner on Friday with other Lexington Athletes, including Tim Terry, George VanMeter and John Brucato. Saturday we ended up driving the bike course, getting in a little bike, run and swim, and then pretty much relaxing in the evening and went to bed pretty early. I did not sleep well at all that night, and I assume most of it was race anxiety. I had not been feeling too hot on Saturday, and was unsure if I was even going to race on Sunday. But I ended up deciding to give it a go on Sunday. We woke up at 4:00am, and headed to the race site at about 4:40am. we ended up getting on site at about 5:00am, and parking was already backed up. There was plenty of parking but there was only one way in and one way out of the parking lot. We knew we had to hustle because this was a 2 transition areas race and T1 was quite far from T1. This was not my favorite set up as I felt very rushed in the morning. So tony took off as he had a 6:30am start time. Eric and I got to T2 to drop off our stuff, went to the bathroom and then headed down to T1 where we were told we had 3 minutes to get in and out. I felt very rushed, and really had to hustle to get in and get out. We were told if we were not out of the transition area before the pros got out of the water, we would be DQ. So Eric and I hustle and got out in time to see the pros get out of the water, including teammate Tony White, who was racing his first 70.3 as a pro. The weather was perfect in the morning, cool and cloudy. I thought it might storm, but it did not.
The swim start was in water, so I got in the front. I felt ok on the swim, as I think I was 6th out of the water in my division. The water temp was perfect (around 72). I finished the swim feeling comfortable and then headed into T1. T1 was very crowded and it was hard to get my bike out with all of the people trying to get their wetsuits off. There was no main isle where athletes could take their bike out of T1, so it was really congested and was not my favorite transition area. I headed out on the bike not feel to0 confident due to a poor recovery from the Triple T event three weeks ago, but I ended up having an ok bike. It was a little slower than I wanted, but the bike course was not as hard as I thought it would be. Some of the hills that seemed like they would be challenging were actually manageable. There were some good climbs and some head winds on the way back in, but all in all, I felt pretty good course. I was great to see Tony, Jeff and Eric out on the bike course. I got off the bike feeling really good, and had a great run for the first 10 miles. I might have ran a little too fast in the beginning, since I completed my first two miles in 13:30, so I tried to slow down just a bit. There were three “fingers” on this run and the last finger was the longest and had A LOT of turns. It was a two loop run course with plenty of aid stations. The last three miles were a struggle for me, as it seemed like the last 3 miles of the race went on forever! The sun did not come out until the run, and the sun seemed really intense on the run even though it was not hot that day. But I managed to get through the last three miles and headed to the finish line. I was so glad to be finished and was very happy to hear that Tony White had a top ten finish as a Pro, and Eric had a PR. My time was OK, with a 5:05 and some change, but I had a 6 minute PR on the half marathon portion of this event. So I was really pleased with my effort on the run.
All in all it was a really good day. My nutrition was good on the bike and early on the run and I think that helped me towards the end of the run, and prevented me from bonking. I think the hardest thing for me was forcing myself to take in gels on the run even though my belly did not want to, knowing that it would help me later in the run. I ended up 11th in my age group, but what I was most happy about was my run (1:39:59). Jeff had a great race and ended up qualifying for Clearwater. I was really happy for Eric! He had an awesome bike/run combo and it was great to see him multiple times on the run. Overall, it was a great venue (minus the two transition areas), and all athletes from Lexington did well. Jeff finished third in his age group, Eric Finished 14th in his age group, and I finished 11th. I would recommend this race to anyone who enjoys a rolling bike course and flat run! Great Race and good times with friends! Full results can be found at: http://www.ironmankansas.com/results/index.php
Two other Mideast Multisport Athletes competed this weekend at the Shelbyville Olympic Triathlon on Saturday, June 13th. Ben White and Allison Stewart competed in the race. They both had great races!!! Allison was first place overall for the females and Ben finished third place overall! The both had great runs, and it was an awesome showing for Mideast Multisport. Congrats to both!!! Full results can be found at:
http://www.headfirstperformance.com/Results/09Chiro.htm
That is all for now. Next up: Chattanooga Triathlon on July 12th, then Age Group Nationals on August 22nd, and then IM Augusta 70.3 on September 27th. Also, just a reminder that we are hosting a free triathlon clinic this Saturday, June 20th at 12pm. The free clinic will be hosted at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on UK’s campus.
Thanks for reading,
Beth Atnip
Mideast Multisport's Training Blog 