Mudwaters Triathlon Pictures

This past weekend was the 5th Annual Mudwater's Triathlon. A very well run event, great volunteers and a sweet venue - I now know why it sold out again this year. Will I be back next year? You bet. Mark your calendars for July 10, 2011.

I had originally planned to race the Shawnee Mission Triathlon, but the event sold out before I could enter. Turns out I lucked out because they called the Shawnee Mission Triathlon due to some rain. That is two years in a row. I still do not believe in stopping a race due to the weather, but that is me. This view most likely comes from participating in motocross events held in near monsoon conditions. Just ask my Brother Joey about the Loretta Lynn's qualifier held at Gatorback in Gainesville, Florida. Now if an event ever needed to be cancelled it was that one....

Back to Mudwaters....Carolynn and I made the trip to Goddard, KS on Saturday and enjoyed a nice evening at one of the many restaurants in town. Well not really, truth be told there were only 3 places to pick from and Taco Bell got the nod. Before we settled down we ventured over to Lake Afton Park to check out the course and pick up my race packet. Very nice little lake. A really nice venue for a triathlon. Packet pickup was very smooth and the Kansas River Valley Triathlon club were very nice. I was looking forward to my first Olympic distance triathlon. I've raced every distance from Ironman to short course, but never an Olympic distance. When I saw the new option for it when registering, I decided that I might as well give it a shot even though I have only been training for short course events.

Sunday morning came quickly and we were off to the race site. Everything went smoothly on race morning. The transition area quickly filled up, but I was lucky and got a nice spot with easy entry/exit. As the 0700 start time arrived I was ready. Everyone ventured down to Lake Afton ready for a 1500 meter swim. Well, everyone who was racing the Olympic distance. There was also a sprint event and duathlon event taking place at the same time. Running three events at once can be a challenge, but looking back everything ran very smooth.

The event began with a loud bang. They started the event with a gun. This scared the shit out of me as it quickly brought back childhood memories of being shot at while up at the family farm. I can still hear those bullets whizzing by my head as my brother and I ran for our lives. I could not tell you why she was shooting at us only that she was a crazy old lady that lived in the woods. But I digress......

Swim went well for the most part. Pacing has always been a problem with me. I have never completed a 1500 meter swim before and did not want to go out too fast. I settled into a nice pack and was able to maintain a good rhythm and keep my breathing under control. The only problem was the pack I was following went way off course. We added a couple hundred meters for sure. My goal was 25 min, but came in around 27. I finished really strong so now I know to push it a little harder on Olympic distance swims and maybe even try sighting myself instead of following...

Transition to the bike was good. I felt very comfortable on the bike and quickly started passing the faster swimmers. I had a good average going - around 25 mph. There were only a few small hills so you could really keep the pace up. All the roads were in good shape except for heading west on 391st street. That road made you feel like your were racing a cobble classic over in Europe. I started to overheat a little towards the end of the bike. The temps were rising fast and at that time I wished I had done the Sprint Distance event. I was not looking forward to a10K in the high 90's. Finished the bike in just over an hour.

Transition to the run was very fast. Only wish I could have maintained that intensity. I think I lasted about a mile running well. After the first aid station it became more of a fast jog. By mile 4 all I was doing was jogging partly due to the heat and partly due to my IT band injury showing it's ugly head again. I dragged my slow running self across the line in 2:30. I would have been o.k. with a 2:15 time, but nothing slower. I ended up finishing 2nd in the Male 40-44 group. There were a few fast times, but for the most part I was not alone in having trouble on this day.

Lots of improvement needed for this distance. In looking back I missed one important thing - having a Goal. I didn't have a goal last week, but this weekend I do. Kick some butt in tomorrow's Tribute Triathlon. A 500 yd lake swim followed by a 18 mile bike and 5 K run. The longer bike leg should help me and I am looking foreward to closing out the season with a top finish.

Some pictures from the 5th Annual Mudwater's Triathlon.

Mudwater Triathlon