Kansas 70.3 RR

I am finally settled back in Lexington and will be leaving once again tomorrow. The annual family reunion is this weekend at "Land between the Lakes" in Western Kentucky and I'm really looking forward to it. We stay at the Lodge on the lake and just hang out all weekend including: golf, skiing, sitting by the pool, ping pong, and eating lots of home baked sweets.

Anyways, I got back from Lawrence Kansas where I competed in my first 70.3 of the year. I did feel a little out of shape on the bike, but I finally ran well off of the bike which is unusual for me. I usually go too hard on the bike and then fall apart on the run. With the help of my coach, Beth Atnip, I finally nailed my nutrition plan on the bike, which I feel is a big reason that I ran so well. I have always taken in enough calories (or at least I think I did) but I never thought about how many electrolytes I was consuming. Thanks to the help of my Powerbar gels, EFS, and Salt Stick, I had plenty of electrolytes for this race.

We left Lexington on Friday and just drove the whole way. It was a long day in the car, but traveling with Eric, Kevin, and my bro, it made the trip seem not as far. We had some good pizza Friday night and then crashed. Saturday we woke up and had some breakfast before we headed to the race site to get in a little shake out workout. Saturday warmed up to almost 95 degrees and was sunny all day. It made for a hot workout, but we knew it was supposed to cool off for race day. I went to the pro meeting at 4, headed back to the hotel to chill, then grabbed some dinner before we went to bed. The pro meeting was kind of funny. I've never raced against Chris Lieto so I have never seen the following that he has. There were 4 - 5 guys from K-Swiss that were considered "handlers" that just hung out at the pro meeting and were there obviously for Chris (and maybe Andrew Yoder). I didn't realize that triathletes had "groupies." Maybe one day I can have some, haha.

Well, race day came and I was ready to roll. I stayed calm and collected before the race and didn't get over anxious before the race like I did several times last year. I put on my Kiwami "Torpedo" and got in the water for the race start. The swim started without much fighting and I started on Potts' feet. Needless to say, that didn't last very long. And I found out that I need to work on my ability to swim straight. I probably swam an extra 50 - 100 meters extra thanks to my horrible sighting skills. I ended up between packs and swimming by myself for the whole swim. I was 6th out of the water, but was a few minutes behind the leaders which wasn't where I wanted to be. I took off on the bike and just didn't feel great. I was kind of going fast, but not like I did last year. I got passed by 2 guys around mile 10, and then didn't see anyone for another 20 miles (except at turn arounds). It's hard to keep pushing when you are by yourself the whole time. That is one of the biggest differences between being a professional and an amateur. When I was a fast amateur, I got reinforcement when I would pass people (and I usually passed a lot of people considering my age group went last). Now, not passing anyone until the 35 mile mark, that's not very reinforcing. But I did pass one guy. Around mile 45 I was ready to get off of the bike and start the run. I made it back to transition in 7th position, had a decent T2, and took off in my new Brooks Green Silence shoes (which I love BTW).

The guy I passed on the bike came flying by me just 1/4 mile into the run. I didn't even try and keep up hoping that he would fall apart towards the end of the run (he didn't). I just put my head down and really focused on being controlled. I didn't look at my watch until the 2 mile mark which I went through at 11 minutes flat. I thought it was a little fast, but it didn't feel fast. I kept that pace for the next 6 miles and went through the 8 miles mark around 44:30 or so. I did slow down a little towards the end but I never went through the pain that I have gone through in the past which was a nice change. I guess all of those running miles that I put in over the winter finally paid off. I ended up running a 1:14:06 which is a huge PR for a run split in a 70.3. Again, I feel that my nutritional plan and the lower temperatures helped me finish the race like I did. I ended up finishing as the 7th pro (8th overall since 1 amateur beat me, but he had a wetsuit, so...) and was relatively happy with my race. I dropped 1.5 minutes from last year's race and I wasn't that sore afterwards. My brother and Kevin both finished in the top 4 in their AG and got spots to the World Championship in Clearwater. Beth also had a great race finishing the the top 10 amateurs overall.

We were extremely happy with our races and we hit the road back to Lexington. Thanks to the Miller's for letting us crash in Chesterfield Sunday night before finishing the trip on Monday.

Off to the Lake for some R&R, then hitting it hard for a good month or so before I race again. Next up is the Markey Race for Cancer here in Lexington.

T-Bird.