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 Swim
Comments: Swim 1: 11:49 Autumn comes in from her first run, tags me, and off I go into the water. There was one other person who had started a short while before me, but otherwise I was alone at the start. What an odd feeling for a tri! I felt really good in the water and just cruised along. I passed the other person about half way through, and then just followed the buoys back to shore. Ran up the beach and over to the tent. Swim 2: 12:00 I don't think I've ever put my wetsuit on wet before. HOLY CRAP was it cold! Otherwise, very similar to the first swim, although with a couple more people in the water. And I didn't exactly run up to the tent this time. It was more like an easy jog. Swim 3: 12:41 Warmed up the wetsuit by the fire in the lodge before putting it on this time. Nice!... I was a little nervous about being so tired going into this swim, but once I got going it was fine. Felt good at the end. Walked up the hill this time. :) What would you do differently?: Nothing. Loved these swims.  Transition 1
Comments: T1 1: 4:03 T1 2: 4:18 T1 3: 4:25 All of these were pretty much the same--come up from the beach, get the wetsuit off, but the bike shoes and socks on, helmet and sunglasses on, and Autumn's wonderful County Cycle jacket. Thank goodness she brought it and let me use it too! Then grab the bike and off to the bike course! What would you do differently?: Nothing really, this race isn't won or lost in a few seconds of transition time.  Bike
Comments: Bike 1: 50:58 Wind was a tailwind on the way out for this ride, so that was nice when combined with the downhill at the start. I was flying! The the course flattened out and I just pedalled along. I tried to eat some shot blocks on the ride, but dropped them, of course. I am just not coordinated enough to fish those out while riding. I need a bento box. Since this was my first time out on the course, I was dreading the big hill. Nearly everyone who came in off the bike while I was waiting for Autumn to finish her run commented on how miserable it was. And it was. Especially since here was a nice headwind to go with it. Yuck. Bike 2: 52:28 The wind had shifted a bit by now so that it was more of a cross wind than anything. So no real headwind, but no real tailwind either. I taped the shot block package to my bike this time so I didn't drop them. I lost my bar end thing though. *sigh* The hill felt even worse the second time, despite the lack of headwind. I was very glad that the mph on my bike computer wasn't working; I didn't really want to know. Bike 3: 55:10 The wind had fully shifted by this time so that it was coming from the north off of Lake Superior. Chilly! Headwind on the way out, but a nice tailwind on the way back. I actually felt a little better on the hill this time than the last (even though I was going slower), probably due to the tailwind. What would you do differently?: Not really sure. More hill training, I suppose, and generally more time in the saddle. I've never biked 42 miles in one day before. Transition 2
Comments: T2 1: 1:15 So glad to be off that bike! Helmet off, shoes off, jacket off, shoes on, visor on, race number on, and off I went! T2 2: 2:45 Same as above, except with potty stop! Too much accelerade between races! T2 3: 2:06 Same as T1, except slower! What would you do differently?: Nothing. There were fine.  Run
Comments: Run 1: 34:25 Was shooting for about 11:00 miles, so pretty close. I wondered on this one if I took a wrong turn since a good amount of time passed between any sightings of other runner or the pink tape that marked the trail, but I didn't. All was well and I just chugged along at my typical slow-but-steady pace. Run 2: 36:52 I told Autumn to expect me back in 36-38 minutes for this one, so I was right on with the estimate. Another pleasant jaunt through the woods. Run 3: 41:25 I warned Autumn we would be looking at 45 minutes or so for this one, with "copious amounts of walking." I didn't walk as much as I thought I might, but I didn't make any great attempt to run up the longer sets of steps, either. I was literally running on empty at this point. My stomach was growling audibly since it was about 5:30 and it was expecting some dinner. I had some orange and Heed at the water station, but it didn't help much. At this point, we were about an hour behind the team ahead of us, and an hour ahead of the team behind us, so just as long as I finished, we'd stay in third place. So I just sauntered along and try to put together some respectable form for the actual finish. What would you do differently?: More trail running. I really do like it very much. Post race
Warm down: Immediate inhilation of a hamburger and Gatorade. Then some stretching because my legs were really starting to tighten up, hamstrings in particular. Autumn had already packed up most of our stuff while I was out on the course the last time, so I just had a few things to get together to bring to the car. I changed into some dry clothes and that felt heavenly. We hung out by the lodge fire a little to stay warm while waiting for the awards to start. What limited your ability to perform faster: The usual--weight, lack of hill training, general run suckiness. But in my defense I will say that I don't train for this kind of endurance event, so I did ok considering that. Event comments: Some misc thoughts/notes: - We were well hydrated. Between the two of us, we made many, many trips to the bathroom. Neither of us even drank much of anything on the last time through. - Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches--yummy! - Orange Heed--not so yummy (tastes like baby aspirin) - Some of those solo racers are just machines, particularly the guy that won. He finished the course seven times, and he quit before the 9 hour mark since he had the win solidly in the bag at that point. He easily had time to finish it again if he had wanted to. Incredible. This race was really well done given it was it's first year. The RD is the same guy that does the Brewhouse race (and in my opinion looks like David Lee Roth), so he certainly has plenty of experience, but a new event is usually a little rough at times. This one was pretty darn good overall, and the venue was just beautiful. I highly recommend doing this race if you get the chance. There will surely be many, many more people in it next year once word gets out that it went well, so I'm glad we were able to score an award in its inaugural year. Woo hoo! My first ever tri award. Last updated: 2007-08-01 12:00 AM
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United States
60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 2-person female
Age Group Rank = 3/5
First the big picture summary...
Total laps through course: 6 (3 for Autumn, 3 for Kelly)
Total time for all six laps: 10:29:48
Autumn's lap times: 1:35:08, 1:41:25, 1:43:43
Kelly's lap times: 1:43:11, 1:49:34, 1:56:49 (total of 5:29:30 for me, which is the time I put in this report)
Place: 3/5 for two-person female teams
Ok, so the pre-race routine involved me leaving work early on Friday, picking up Autumn and her girls, and heading up to her parents' in Duluth. Then we said hello, dropped off the girls and our stuff, and went to Pattison State Park to get our packets and attend the pre-race meeting at 7 pm. Everything was pretty straightforward, and we were out of there in a fairly timely manner. Went to get some pasta at Green Mill, and some simple carbs at Coldstone Creamery, and then back to Autumn's parents' to get some sleep.
Up at 5:00 am to get to the park by about 6:20 or so. We chose a spot on the grass right along the start of the running path to set up our transition tent. There were bike racks and a small "traditional" transition area, but that was intended mainly for the 30 or so nut cases that were doing this event solo. Most of the teams picked a spot in the grass and set up a tent or blanketed area of some kind. Autumn brought her pink flamingoes to make our tent easy to find (picture forthcoming).
So, we basically spread out our stuff and made sure we knew where all of our extras were--clothes, tubes, goggles, etc. I tried to scope out how many other teams were in our category, but could only see us and one other before the start.
Weather was crisp and cool, but very sunny. It clouded over later for most of the day, but the morning was beautiful. Great day for a race!
Well, for me, this involved staying warm and watching Autumn get into her wetsuit. Oh, I did help her zip it; does that count? There were a few prerace announcements, and then the swimmers headed down to the beach. Autumn and a few others got in the water breifly to acclimate a bit, but most people just waited on the beach. Shortly after, the race was on! Autumn waded in with the rest of the group, and off they went.
I spent most of her first lap alternating between hydrating and going to the ladies room. Wash, rinse, repeat. The lodge had a nice fire going, so I was in there staying warm too.
So, to clarify this report a bit: the rest of the day was alternating laps through the entire course by Autumn and me. Autumn did laps 1, 3, and 5, and I did 2, 4, and 6. The rest of this report is pretty much about my splits and performance, but will have some other general notes sprinkled in.
It might be easier to read it by reading swim 1, bike 1, run 1, then swim 2, bike 2, run 2, etc, rather than reading it as swim 1, swim 2, swim 3, bike 1, bike 2, etc. Know what I mean? But either way, hopefully it's not too confusing.