Ironman 70.3 Kansas : Official Thread

Hey hey, I'm looking forward to this race too. It will be my A race for the summer and my FIRST 1/2. I started the BT 20 week program on Monday. The longest race I've done is an Olympic with a 36 mile bike. Enjoyed the Rocketman but didn't train for it to much.

I'm not planning on racing it even though I'd love to. Have different priorities right now, but I may go and watch like last year.

I am, however, itching to get out and ride the bike course this spring. Planning to check the thread periodically for any organized training rides.

Happy Training!!!!

I'm in for 2014. This will be my 5th Half and my 2nd time doing Kansas. (Did it last year). It will be my first of 2 A races (the other in October). Like Lisac957 I'm shooting for a PR. Good luck in training everyone!

Looking forward to smashing my 70.3 PR this year!

I have a horrible track record of doing trainer rides longer than 90 minutes. It's so much easier when I can take it outside, both from a motivation stand point and for the fact that I can escape the house to avoid the inevitable distractions of having a young family.

With that said, I'm going to try to get up early before the sun rises this weekend and knock out a 2 hr ride. Also got a 10 mile run with the wife while the in-laws babysit. Rundate.

I'll be missing again this year due to out of town conflicts. And I wanted redemption from the 2012 race... I guess that will wait till 2015.

I'll be tagging along with any organized group rides/runs at Clinton. Love the bike course and open roads!

Sigh. No, it'll be on the trainer. I'm ill equipped to ride outdoors when the temp is below 60 plus a I have general aversion to being cold on the bike.

Edited by Barkeep 2014-02-20 11:14 AM

I'm from up North so I don't even dream of taking my bike out until the beginning of April/end of March. I've been able to get quite a bit of time on the trainer so far this winter thanks to Breaking Bad on Netflix. Almost all of my rides are between 1-2 hours. It has been pretty cold running outside this winter however.

This race wasn't on my list this year, but after getting sick and puking my way through New Orleans, I needed a quick fix to get the taste out of my mouth. Signed up last night & got a room at the quality inn. Looking forward to the reset.

surprised you got a room, glad ya did. I called back in November to get a room, got three (for family since this will be my first HIM). Then about two weeks later wanted to change it BUT couldn't they said they were all booked up. I'm from LA, yeah N.O. will give ya bad taste. hahahaha

Edited by Dub_Z 2014-04-17 3:42 PM

I kinda forgot about getting rooms till a little later than I would have liked, but was able to get some of the last rooms at the Best Western. You're RR from New Orleans could be an interesting one to read.....

Didn't even write a race report, but here's a very quick synopsis. Out of water 34 minutes even, run up ramp find a place to throw up. Throw up in transition for 1 min but still got out in 3min 30 seconds. Ride I felt awful, threw up at 30, 42, and 54 mile mark. Still got off bike in 2:25 and some change. Jogged to first water stop then spent 4 minutes dry heaving. Had a friend I had to meet at finish so I walked 12 miles in slowest half I've done in my life. Finished in 5:50. Over a hour slower than my last two 70.3s. Miserable day. Was planning on 4:35-4:40, but stomach had other plans. Only bonus is swim time was a PR.

For those who haven't seen it the 2014 Athlete Guide is up. Swim waves are also posted on the website.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the guide, except for a run course that implies a singular transition. However, the athlete guide indicates (though not explicitly) that there are separate T1 and T2 areas. I've sent an email to confirm this, but I think there was an issue in a previous year with the run course map being improperly marked.

Also, for those not on the Kansas forum, there is a group of people riding the course this Saturday, the 10th, at 8:00 am for anyone who wants to get out there.

This is my first HIM, it may sound silly, BUT what is the cutoff time for a HIM?

Thanks for your last post Barkeep, I was on the site last week but will go back and look it over again.

Edited by Dub_Z 2014-05-06 9:59 AM

*Update* from my email inquiry:

"Hi Mike -
Thank you for reaching out! To assist you with your inquiry, the 2014 IRONMAN 70.3 Kansas has moved to one transition area. The map in the Athlete Guide illustrates runners starting down by the swim and ending at the finish line. I apologize for any confusion."

Why does part of me not believe this response?

It shouldn't matter anyway. If true, instead of hitting the hill climb at mile 3/9.5 we get to tackle it right off the bat. The only thing that will truly suck is walking all the way back down to transition to retrieve our bikes/gear and then hiking back up the hill after the race.

I guess that means you only have to run down the hill once, but you get to run up it twice.

Bib #'s are up. Lucky #928!

The course changes will make for a bit more running in the sun and the ride into T2 could be dangerous. Be careful!

I hope they clean up the parking lot for transition area. I remember it being fairly rocky in the past.

I'm looking forward to the race. I hope everyone is having a solid lead into Kansas.

Is anyone planning to ride the course this weekend (memorial day weekend)? I'm going to be in the area with the family & would like to meet up with some fellow BTers for a ride.

You might check in the Kansas forum. There is a thread in there about group rides on the course. Also, there is a facebook group for Ironman kansas 70.3. I think there are two big groups heading out. One friday morning and one saturday morning. Not BTers, but riding with a group is safer than not.