One thing you can count on for the spring migration or any other tri for that matter this time of year in KS is wind. The only question is from which direction. This year it decided to blow from the N which meant slow out fast back on the bike and a sure fire wake up call heading out into it still dripping from the swim.
Having not seen a set of results I only have some rough figures on times from Yvette. I do know I won with a time of about 54.54 which was about a minute faster than last year. The difference was almost entirely due to a faster run that was unusually quick for this early in my training and is showing promising signs from my base season training.
The race itself was shaping up to be a two person dual from the gun between myself and Ric Rosenkranz, former pro triathlete and 2 time sprint national champion. Although I had communicated with Ric via email after being introduced through a mutual friend we had never met in person. So I did not realized as we snaked through the pool swim he was in fact the person I was matching stroke for stroke one lane over and 2 people in front of me. My 400m time was the 2nd best of the day at 5.34 (by 1 sec to Ric), and we headed into transition and out onto the breezy course. Within a couple miles I had positioned myself into 3rd and was gaining ground on 1st and 2nd (Ric). I took the lead shortly after the turn around and high tailed it back home pushing my 53/11 in the neighborhood of 30-36mph most of the way back (Time for the 12 1/2 mile ride around 30 min, 25mph avg).
Ric followed close behind as we entered transition and after fumbling around with my frozen hands trying to get my flats on I headed out for the 5k with Ric close on my heels. As I picked up the pace I could hear he was still right there and knew it was going to be a 5k dual between us. Although I knew I had 40 seconds on him from the later stat time, racing insticts kicked in and I realished the opportunity to race head to head with my pursuer.
With less than 2k to go Ric pulled up next to me and we proceeded shoulder to shoulder until about 200m to go. I gained a slight advantage and outkicked him to take the invisible tape. Our 5k time was about 16.20, about 40s faster than I had run the year before.
I was glad we finally had a chance to meet in person because he has been helpful in answering questions and directing me from the position of someone who has been where I'm trying to go. As far as I am aware there are no other pro or former pro triathletes who reside in KS (surprise) so Ric has been a valuable resource to have. And once I've reached my development goals as an amateur, and of course the criteria to apply for a pro card, I'd be happy to represent KS in that capacity.
All in all an enjoyable day and first tune up race to the season and I'm always thankful for the strong support from my family when I do races close enough to home for them to attend. And although she didn't say so I believe Corynn really enjoyed her first triathlon as well.
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