I've been really nervous about OWS without wetsuit, but this was not bad, in fact I was far more comfortable than I expected to be. I felt really good the entire swim, with only a couple of minor sighting problems. At the turnaround the smaller bouys got closer together on either side of the "main" turn bouy, and I sighted off of the wrong one for just a few yards. Corrected myself with few problems.

Researched the temperatures at the race with the weather service when I got home. Temperature at the MSP airport (About 1 mile away) at 9:53 am (my approximate start time) was 90 degrees with 42% humidity and a 64 dewpoint.

This race, while started in waves was somewhat of a time trial start as well. Each age group wave lined up in race number order, and you were started on 3 second intervals. This really helped to reduce the "kick/get kick" problems that usually occur in wave starts. That really helped keep me moving well.

Biggest problem with this swim is that as I got about 150 yards out from the finish, there was quite a large group of slower swimmers that I was overtaking, and dodging them and trying to keep my pace up was impacted quite a bit. I probably lost 30 seconds or so trying to get through that. As I approached the shore, I saw people standing up and running into shore. I stood up as well, but I should have probably swum in another 20 yards or so before standing up. Might have been able to shave a couple more seconds off the swim.

Breathing went very well, was very relaxed on this swim -- EXTREMELY pleased with my swim overall. Stood up and looked at my watch and it showed 15:00 minutes and I got really excited. I knew I had swum well and consistent, but I was extremely pleased with my time!

Start swimming as early after water entry as possible. Also, continue swimming until hands touch the bottom. I watched the pro's doing this and I'm sure I could save some time doing that!

Continue to stay relaxed (which I did) and swim faster!

Transition are was HUGE! Was about 200 yards from water exit to where my bike was racked. This ate into my transition a bit.

Did forget to put sunglasses on, which while not a big thing would have been nice to have.

Overall the transition went well. Just a BIG transition area to work through which cost me some time

Go to learn how to better mount the bike in a hurry. Run harder inside transition!

Change faster!

I felt REALLY good on the bike today, but was disappointed with my overall pace. For most of the ride, I felt like I was going much faster.

This course was beautiful. I really liked it, but there were LOTS of winding turns, and a couple pretty sharp ones as well, which made keeping speed up a little more challenging. Many people were calling it a challenging course. I really liked it. I was pushing pretty hard on most of the ride. My speed at the front half of the course was consistently well above 20 mph.

I took time - encourgaged others as I passed them- made a point of thanking the police officials and volunteers along the course as well as the specators. I was having a GREAT time. It was SO fun.

There was one man in my AG who started about a minute in front of me on the swim, who I caught on the bike. He passed me later on the bike, and we played "tag" for pretty much the rest of the race. I ultimately passed him about a mile into the run and beat him, but was a good motivator. I was always watching for AG'er and when I'd see one, I'd push hard to pass them. That was always fun, and kept me motivated to push hard. I got passed by a couple of AG'ers, and I would try to catch back up to them. On several occassions I did! (YES!!!)

Toward the end of the bike course the wind ( a HOT one I might add) came up and was directly into my face. This, combined with a couple of the hills slowed me down pretty good the last couple of miles of the bike.

Not a lot. I could push a bit harder, but knowing the heat and the fact I had a 3 mile run still to complete, I held back a bit.

Long run through transition with the bike again. This slowed somewhat and I was starting to feel the heat.

FOR THE RECORD: I finally got yannkz for my running shoes -- this helped a bit on time today!

Got to get bike shoes that will make it easier to get my foot in and out of so I can get out of the shoes while still on the bike.

Per Weather Service, temperature at ~ start of my run (10:53am) was 95 degrees, 33% humidity and 62 degree dewpoint! Basically HOT!!!

This run was VERY tough, given the weather conditions. I don't usually run very well in heat, but I did better than most coping with it today, so I'm pleased.

Started out at what felt like a comfortable 7:45 pace and held it pretty well for most of the first mile. Passing AG'ers right and left, particularly in miles 2 and three. Caught the guy I was pl;aying tag with about 1.2 miles in and didn't see him again after that. Got to the Cedar Street Bridge, and it was HOT -- 4 lanes of asphault and NO SHADE -- Really started to sap the energy here. On the last 2 miles in one place the fire department had a truck out spraying water over the course and in another area they did the same -- sure felt good. They even had volunteers with water buckets thouwing water on the runners if they wanted it -- WAS WONDERFUL!

Pace started to fall off about a mile and a quarter into the run, and slowly continued falling throughout the remainder of the run. By mile 2 I had fallen from 7:46 pace to 8:15 pace. By Mile 3, I was down to 9:00 pace. I'm not pleased with that, but given the weather, I can accept it. The heat was clearly affecting everyone badly, becasue I managed to squeek out 8th place in AG on the run with an 8:28 average pace!

Saw the finish line. My wife and my friends wife were there cheering me in. Gave them high five's as I went past. Went accross the line and withgreat excitement took the COLD WET TOWEL they were passing out when we came in!

Hard to say what I'd do different. Maybe try to run faster at the end .. The heat was the biggest factor on my run. 96 degrees at the finish! Was very hot!

Walked it off. Didn't really warm down, other than to grab some water and a poweraide.

Found the massage tent. Wait was short so got my legs massaged! Felt wonderful. Bumped into Rabkaman in teh massage tent -- He did good, with the exception of a wipe out on the bike.


The biggest issue today was completely out of my control. That being the heat! That was my biggest limiter. I should have pushed a bit harder on the run, but it was killer hot!

I was prepared for this race, and my results show it. Of the 7 buddies I had running the race today, I beat all of them but one, and that one only beat me by about 2 minutes. In the other races I've run with them, I've always been the last to finish, so that was HUGE for me.


As you can guess from my RR, I'm extremely pleased with my results today! My goal, before I got here and knew what the heat was going to be was 1:35. When I saw the forecast, I was sure I'd be doing good to get a 1:45, so to come in at 1:32:43 was a HUGE accomplishment for me. With better transitions and a faster run, I could have probabaly shaved another couple minutes off the my time. But I'm NOT complaining!

Definately looking forward to coming back to this race next year! Was lots of fun to be in this large of a race, and to get to watch the pro's. Great time to spend with my friends.

Course is a challenging one, but not intimidating. Well laid out, extremely well marked, with LOTS of volunteers there to assist. Body marking and Chip activation could have been a bit more organized, but wasn't too bad given the numbers they had to mark.

The other issue that pulled the rating down was the entry fee. A very expensive race ($150.00) to run for a sprint distance or even an oly distance. No regrets though! It was a great experience, and was even more fun to come back to Minnesota where we lived for nearly 9 years to see friends and enjoy ourselves.