Perfect day for a swim, but lots of the swimmers seemed to self-seed badly. I put myself in the 2nd row on the outside and I swam over a LOT of people. My sighting to the first buoy was good and I felt fine, second was a little harder to see, but ok, but coming back in was tough. They suggested sighting off the white building, but the fog in my goggles made that tough to see. I was just following other heads for a while, hoping they were being direct, when WHAM - a foot came out of nowhere and caught me in the face. I popped up, cussing, and realized it was a guy (which means from 2-3 waves in front of me) who was elementary backstroking. Yeeouch.

Rest of the swim went fine, although I didn't sight very well on the way back in. This swim course is consistently long, I think.

I didn't do a very good spit rinse of my goggles prior, and that would have helped a bit.

This was just ok. I got stuck in wetsuit a bit, which was disconcerting, and lost my rack a bit, too. I'd walked it out beforehand, but I should have relied more on the upside cues... I'd noticed that the bar end girl had written on the ground with chalk to see her spot and looking up/down to try to find our rack discombobulated me.

Leaving T1 I almost biffed it. The girl in front of me was slow, and I couldn't get by, and then she just STOPPED to mount her bike right in front of me. I cut around her on the right side, which wasn't good because the T1 exit was to the right as well, so as she got up on her bike and started to go, she almost ran right into me in her wobbly state as I tried to do my speed mount. I hit the cone, swore (I cussed twice in this race, which is unheard of for me), and managed to stay upright. I was a little flustered by this as I tried to get my speed up on the first slight uphill stretch.

Don't really know. The T area here is very crowded on the in/out, and somebody really fast was coming around on the left of her. Passing on the right probably wasn't the right decision, but it was either that or come to a dead stop and twiddle my thumbs while she mounted her bike and got going...

It might have been faster to actually run round the right turn and then mount. Good to think about.

Interesting. I was MUCH faster LY (19.1 average), but my bike fitness LY was a lot better. I felt pretty good through much of this bike, but probably could have pushed a little more. Passed many more folks than passed me, and a few of the people who nabbed me I got back. Knowing this course is very helpful... there are a couple of surprise hills where it helps a lot to know when to drop down out of the big ring.

Got a little bit annoyed by a 4-wide draft pack of novices, but after expressing my dissatisfaction when they passed me on the corner to a woman I rode with for much of the bike (trading back and forth legally), I decided it wasn't worth my time. And I nabbed 'em on the last nice downhill stretch, so there.

Had trouble deciding when to get my nutrition in, and probably could have skipped it. Definitely do not like those speed gels... going to stick with tri-berry GU. Had just enough water to get by.

Pedal faster, TITS.

Aaack! I dropped my bike after my flying dismount, how embarrassing. Caught a shoe and it pulled right and I dropped her (gently). Probably lost 8 seconds or so, here.

Also had trouble (again) finding my rack... almost turned in to the wrong one this time. The rack was very empty (which I like to see, heh heh).

I think I need to visualize coming into and out of the T area a bit more... I hadn't really thought through where the dismount area was and how you needed to turn into the auto club before dismount. I was a little off kilter, mentally, and it showed.

Better than my last tri, thank goodness, but I still have a lot of work to do. The first mile was a little tough, merely due to the grade. Loved, loved the guys at the water station, especially the one who said "I need to see more smiles" - just what I needed to hear. I actually stopped and walked the water station this time, which may be a good thing for me to stick with, as I got a good gulp of water (without any extra air), dumped the rest down my shirt, and probably only walked for 3 steps.

On the way back in (with that lovely downhill), I lost focus a little bit, and probably could have done a better job of sticking with my run... I found myself woolgathering a bit and suddenly realized there was only half a mile to go. Ran most of the rest of the way in with an older gentleman who was having a great time right about at my pace. I was hanging back a little to let him get his finish line pic when I suddenly heard footsteps right behind me... this chick blasted past me and while I tried to catch her, she got me by a second. In my age group, too, darn it.

Gotta stay aware of what's going on at all times on the run. I've got more run training to do to learn how to get in touch with my "uncomfortably fast" pace, but I'm getting there, and more road races will do a lot for that.

Ate a little, chatted with my friends, and felt really good for the most part.


Gotta learn to leave more on the course.


The roads here really limit what could be a very nice race. Also, the T area is getting pretty crowded... there are a lot of athletes crammed into a small space and the in/out was very congested.

Overall it's a nice race in a decent venue, but they need to work with the City of Hermantown to get the roads repaved. This could be a premier race - the organization and volunteers are great.