NewBriTri
New Brighton, MN
Saturday, June 5
0.5 miles/12.5 miles/3 miles
I'm wicked late on this race recap mostly because of work. I teach from eight to one Monday through Friday until July 17. The pay is good, but the hours are terrible. At least I'm teaching calculus two and three. Fun classes make the time go by faster.
I've also let data gathering and sorting suck up a lot of my time. I decided to gather all the race results from Minnesota triathlons and take a shot at a ranking system. The USAT has rankings, but you have to be a member and it is only for USAT races. We have many non-USAT local races, so I thought I'd give the collections and analysis a shot. Through three weeks, we have had 2147 people do at least one Minnesota triathlon, 157 have done two races, 21 people have done three races and one person has done four races (Mike Borneke, 63, Eagle Lake MN). I'll post the June results soon.
I did the New Brighton Triathlon last year as well. The course was the same this year and things went pretty well. I have been fighting some medical issues recently, so I had contemplated skipping this race all together. After a bunch of moping, my wife got me to suit up and give it a try. I'm glad she did; it was (again) a fun race.
Swim: 1/2 mile
Before the swim started, I heard a couple racers complaining that the thought the buoys were set up for way more than a half mile swim. It did look a little long to me as well, but that ended up just being the winter break playing tricks with my eyes. My Garmin had it an 0.52 miles, and I never take a great path.
Nothing too exciting to report. The water was cool, but not uncomfortable with my long sleeve wet suit. I went off in the second wave and took it kind of easy. After a few hundred years my shoulder started giving me a little bit of trouble, but it was nothing to worry about. I took a treading water break, and I felt pretty good for the duration.
Swim Time: 15:28 minutes; 1:46 minutes/100 yds pace
Swim Rank
59 out of 157 racers
44 out of 106 males
11 out of 18 age groupers
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| My Time is indicated in the green bar. |
T1
I walked into and through T1. I was pretty gassed. I have to get in some more open water swims in before (and if) I get to Ironman. I'm sure running could have saved me a few seconds, but I just didn't have the ambition. I think something went wrong with the timing for the race. I was pretty close on my watch for when I hit the timing buttons, but the official times have my transitions faster and my bike slower. Not a big deal, but a bit of an excuse for my slow bike time.
T1 Time: 1:25
Position:
59 out of the water
53 out of T2
Bike: 12.5 Miles
I just could get on the road before this race, so these 12.5 miles were the first off the trainer for the year. In particular, timing and weather just didn't work out for biking. Also, I just don't much care for road biking. Generally, when people ask me about triathlons I say, "I love the swim and run, and we bike in the middle." Anyhoo, I was a little wobbly on the bike for the first few minutes, but after a while it came back to me. I didn't get confident enough to do much aero bars, but the summer is long and I have plenty of miles for that later.
Tina and the boys went to her aunt Anne's to watch the bikers pass by Anne's house. They got a bunch of cow bells, set up some lawn chairs in the front yard, and cheered on the entire field. The said some folks were very appreciative. It looked like they were having a good time when I rode by, and I certainly appreciated it. No one is better than my wife. Training for Ironman is more selfish than any father has a right to be. Not only does Tina let me chase this stupid dream, she encourages it. No one has it better than I do.
I was slow. Not a surprise for the first time on the road, but also possibly not as slow as the timer had it. The first edition of the timing stats didn't list my bike or T2 times. After it was "cleaned up" both of those times showed up. My watch had my bike split a little over a minute faster than the timer.
Bike Time: 44:22 with a 16.9 mph average.
Bike Rank
85 out of 156 racers
67 out of 106 males
14 out of 18 age groupers
T2
I just had a bottle of Gatorade for fueling this race. I knew it was only going to be about and hour and a half to finish, so I wasn't too worried. The temperature at race time was about 75˚ and there was minimal wind. I had thought of bringing a Gu for the start of the run, but I forgot it in my bag before the race started and just went without. In T2, I finished out my Gatorade, got on my run shoes and hat, and I was on my way.
T2 time: 1:24
Position
74 off the bike
77 out of T2
Run: 3 miles
I was hoping to show some speed on the run. At least, I was hoping to show as much speed as I could muster on the run. (I'm slow.) I started out pretty quick, but had to walk it off a bit after a tiny hill in mile one. On mile two, I inhaled some fluff from a cotton wood tree. Both things killed a little time, but I kept a pretty good pace under 9:10. In the last mile I tried to time it so that I drained the tank on the course, and I came pretty close. I actually pulled off a negative split. That might the first time I ever pulled that off. I had the run course short by about 0.05 miles, and I'm usually over the listed distance. In any event, 8:25 over 0.96 miles has to be a sub nine minute third mile. That is lightning fast for me. I ended up passing people on the run, and that nearly never happens.
Run Time: 26:42 with an 8:52 minute/ mile pace
85 out of 156 Racers
67 out of 106 males
14 out of 18 age groupers
Total Time 1:29:19
Finishing Position
78 out f 156 Racers
63 out of 106 males
14 out of 18 age groupers
Next up is the Lifetime Minneapolis Triathlon in July, and then Toughman soon after. Hopefully my medical will clear up and I can get a little more enjoyment out of the summer. I hit seven and eight hours of training the last couple weeks so at least the time totals are ticking up.
