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 Swim
Comments: Very good swim. I think I was pretty relieved to know it was a wetsuit swim. I did just do an OWS the day before, and maintained a pretty good sub-2 pace, so I felt fairly confident either way. Swimmers left every 3 seconds. This is the first time I actually ran to the water. Started my swimming a little too early. My hand hit the 'mud' a few times before I could really start swimming. Kept a 'lane' between me and the buoys so I wouldn't have to deal with any of the faster swimmers coming from behind. Hit the sandbar and swam over it. Last year I walked a bit just to get a rest, but ended up stepping on a few sharp rocks. Didn't want to repeat that again this year. No panic issues. I think this may be the first swim where I actually tried to race the distance. I would try to catch drafts from fast swimmers that went by. I'd stay on their feet for a while, and then lose them. Kind of made the time go by faster. Before I knew it, I was at the first 'corner' buoy. No singing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' in my head to pass the time, no mental math, just concentration on swimming. Great swim on the way back. Buoys actually curved in on the way back, but I was able to sight the finish baloons and target a straight line on those, so swam quite a distance from the buoys. I'm sure the strategy saved me a few yards. Swam it in strong all the way until my hands hit the bottom. Stood up and saw 29 minutes on my watch. Boy, was I stoked! Took out my earplugs, THEN goggles and swim cap, unzipped my wetsuit to my waist before I even hit the timing mat. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Swim faster?  Transition 1
Comments: No problem getting out of wetsuit. Sunglasses and helmet were on top of the aerobars. Left a gel on top of the bottle sponge and threw that into my tri top pocket. Threw on my shoes and rode out of T1 (allowed at Turtleman). What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Bike
Comments: Good bike. Did the whole race 'nekkid.' No HR monitor, no Garmin GPS for race pace, no cycle computer! Just went by perceived effort and internal pace. For nutrition, aerobottle full of Gatorade mixed with 2 PowerBar gels (about 330 calories). Water bottle behind seat to wash things down. Slight cramping at about mile 19. Saw Daryll (volunteer Sherriff) and shouted out a 'thank-you.' Did the same darn thing in the no pedal zone as last year. Stopped pedaling at the line. Started stretching out the calves, bike slowed down and I started pedaling again (maybe 2 rotations). Glad I didn't get a penalty...:) What would you do differently?: Try to consume the full 300 calories. I had some Gatorade left in my aerobottle. Transition 2
Comments: No issues. Went sockless. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: Good run. Started out 'slow.' Worked on getting the HR stabilized. Surprised myself. First couple splits were great (8:07, 7:57, 8:19). Started to feel it at mile 4 - 8:34. Finished strong - 8:17. What would you do differently?: Run a little harder. I had more than I should have at the end. Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a water. Stood in the hot dog line. Looked for Roger and didn't see him. Walked down to the lake to grab my sandals and shorts. Talked to LeAnn for about 15 minutes. Got my bike and bag out of transition. Talked to Daryll about triathlons. He just started running again -- a few miles here and there with a co-worker. I told him we need to do this as a relay next year. :) Walked my bike back to the car (had to travel down to Mankato with the family at 1:45pm). Loaded things back in the car, and in the process left my phone on the ground BEHIND the car. Left the parking lot and headed towards 694, went to reach for the phone to call my wife, could NOT find my phone. Went back to the lot to look for it and didn't find it. Walked back to the volunteer tent to ask if they had it. They did. My wife had called my phone and a volunteer answered it and announced that my phone was there at the booth. Funny thing is Cody (sharp4850) heard my name announced and came over and met me at the booth. We talked triathlon for several minutes. Thanks for stopping by Cody. Great to meet you. Headed home. Stopped by to pick up my usual post-race food (double cheeseburger at McDonald's). What limited your ability to perform faster: Trying to keep my pace in check. Event comments: Great race. One of my favorites. I actually 'raced' this year rather than just trying to finish. Nice 'small' venue. A good opportunity to just hang around and visit with folks. Very relaxing race. Last updated: 2007-10-19 12:00 AM
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United States
68F / 20C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 315/795
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 34/85
I actually got all my stuff organized the night before. Amazing. First time that's happened. Woke up at 4:45, had my usual pre-race food -- scrambled eggs, a banana and Gatorade. Took the wheel off my bike and threw it and my bike in the back seat, along with my transition bag and my 'extra' bag (duplicates of a lot of things in my transition bag -- extra running shoes, tri top, tri shorts, body glide, goggles, etc.). Got up to Shoreview about 6:10, and rode my bike to bodymarking. Set up at a spot next to some older age groupers (55+) and LeAnn. Talked to Neal, Matt and finally Roger (rabkaman). Roger's mom was in town visiting, so she snapped a picture of us together pre-race. We're like Mutt and Jeff. Also saw Cathy. Stayed in transition area until they announced the water temp (77.9!) and pulled my wetsuit out of the transition bag and left transition.
Put on my wetsuit. Swam out 100 yds and back in. Hooray for no weeds, but the water was pretty murky. Met Cathy's husband, and FINALLY met Sharon (yoganerd)...great to meet you Sharon.