Sunday, June 15, 2008

Ironman 70.3 Kansas - Race Report

Quick results and some pics for now.

Swim 1.2 miles (including long run to T1) 39 min.
Bike 56 miles: 2:42 for a 20.8 mph average
Run 13.1 (nausea - stomach stopped digesting) 2:20

Total time including transitions on my watch was 5:40:25. My goal was to break 5:30, but that first lap of the run really hurt that chance. I had to walk several times during the first 6 miles. The next 3 were not that bad as my nausea went away some and my stomach started working again. I really pushed it the last 4 miles to try to get close to my goal time. The cooler weather from the approaching storm front helped with this. It turned out I ran a 1/2 marathon for nothing.

They called the race during the run due to some storms coming in. I really don't understand why they did this. The weather was not bad at all. We ran the entire course, but our times are not counted? That is a bunch of crap if you ask me....In looking at the results only the top guys got their run counted - the ones that qualified for the 70.3 Championships to be held in November.

Update:

The final results have been posted with the run times. The official results have me 59th out of 112 racers in the Male 40-44 division. However, some of the guys listed in front of me actually did not run the entire run course (the race officials started directing athletes directly to the finish without finishing the course due to weather), but were given a finishing time ahead of racers who completed the entire course. Oh well...

I fell from the top 25 which is really depressing since I felt I was doing well until the last 10 miles of the bike. I guess I drank too much of that warm Gatorade out on the bike course and it just sat there in my stomach. There is always next year :-)

The Lawrence Journal has a nice story about the event.

5 comments:

Joshua Stamper said...

Great Job! Are you gonna go to the next step and do the full Ironman?

Shane A. Jones said...

NIce job dude! I was thinking about you today. I went for a trail run about the time that cold front hit. It was nice. That sucks about them calling the race. If you ask me, people really act like pussies these days about bad weather. I was reading Steve Tilford's blog about them neutralizing some crit he was racing because the roads were wet. Remember that shot of Lemond winning the 89 Worlds in the rain? Not a pussy.

Breeves2000 said...

Sorry to her it didn't go so well. I know you trained hard and were really looking forward to it. As you well know, sometimes the best preparation can be derailed by unforseen things. Way to tough it out. Makes you stronger. Shane's right though. At least you didn't quit.

Mark Studnicki said...

Awesome job, regardless what the results look like. I can't ride my bike, run, and swim all in the same year, let alone in the same day.

Iron Jayhawk said...

I think anyone that did the event understands that the posted results are bunk. Who knew that I could pace at 4:21 for a half marathon!?

Nice job out there regardless of your rebelling stomach. The sky in that last picture is unreal.

Looks like we get a discounted entry fee for next year at least.