2017 Minneapolis Triathlon Race Recap

Minneapolis Lifetime Triathlon

Saturday July 8, 2017

1.5k/40k/10k

I like my race weight to be down around 195. At the start of the year, I was up about 15 pounds. It used to be I could lose 10 pounds in a few weeks, now it takes me half a year to lose 15. Oh well, at least I made it. I knew it was going to take a while this year so I tracked my weight. Here is the data.

Swim (0.93 Miles)
Goal: Fast
Actual: Good Enough
It was a beautiful day for a race. No wind, low humidity with a temp that started around 70° and moved up to around 80°. The water temp was just barely wetsuit legal, and I wore my sleeveless suit for the first time. Good choice, even without sleeves I was getting a little warm on the swim.

The swim started out going east, and that put the first turn right in the teeth of the sun. I couldn't see the buoy through the water reflection until I was right on top of it. After the first turn sighting was easier, but then my goggles started to fail. I had to stop twice to empty the water out of my goggles. I think this pair is about two years old, I suppose it's time for some new.

We started out two at a time in a time trial start. I must have been near some slow swimmers because it felt like I left everyone behind and swam alone for quite a while. After about 20 minutes I caught up to a pod ahead of me, and the fasts from the wave behind also caught me. There were a fair amount of weeds at the end of the swim, but overall it was a great swim.

Swim Time: 29:34 with a 1:48/100yards average

Swim Exit

Swim Rank
235 out of 582 finishers

169 out of 404 males

24 out of 65 age groupers

My time is noted in the green interval.

T1

Goal: Run, don't walk

Actual: That's not asking much.

Over the last year I've gotten into the habit of walking through transitions. It's a dumb way to build up time, and I expected I would need every second for my goal at this race. My last Olympic race was a couple years back, and I clocked a 3:09 on a course that was a little long. I figured I would be able to hit 3:05, but I really wanted to break 3 hours. So, I ran into transition and got on my bike as quick as I could. My transition time was right on average with the field. For field and male averages, check the stacked time graph at the end of this post.

T1 Time:  3:33

Position

235 out of the water 

251 out of T1 (582 racers)

Bike (24.5 miles)

Goal: About 1:20, beat 18mph

Actual: Boom Bitches!

This was a closed bike course. The roads were still a little tight even without cars, so I can understand why they close the area down. 

I had gotten more comfortable on my bars since the NewBriTri. I got in 30, 40 and 50 mile rides between the races, and that made all the difference. There were a lot of flats to the course and a lot of curves/turns; there were not many hills. My garmin has crapped out for elevation, but it's safe to say there wasn't a great deal of climb when compared to my route at home. 

I flew along pretty good, and stuck to a higher gear than what is common for me. There were a couple guys that I passed/passed me about four of five times. I was faster on the flats and the uphill, but they had the guts to fly on the downhill parts. I am totally a wuss on the downhill parts and often ride my breaks. Not a problem; I knew I was clocking a good time. If I was slower maybe I would have opened it up a bit on the downs. This was the fastest bike split I have ever had.

Bike Time:  1:14:42 with a 19.7 mph average

Bike Rank

314 out of 582 finishers

261 out of 404 males

39 out of 65 age groupers

T2

Goal: Fast

Actual: Yup

I had a fast T2. I felt good and I was optimistic for the run ahead. 

T2 Time:  1:53

Position

272 off the bike

261 out of T2

Run (6.2 miles)

Goal: Beat a 10 min/mile average

Actual: An All-timer

The only thing I knew about the run course was that it was a double loop. I had no idea if there were any hills. Coming out of T2, I could see that I had years of time to beat 3 hours. As long as I didn't blow up completely; I should be fine. Ten or eleven minute miles would have been enough. 

It turns out the the run course is wildly flat! There were no climbs of consequence, and only one or two inclines of nuisance. Plenty of folks passed me (as usual), but I passed a few as well. 

I did the first couple miles in about a 9:00 average. I was getting a little concerned that I might blow up, but this turned out to be my day. After the third mile, the course looped and I knew there were no worries. I kept my fastest pace possible without having to walk it off. I had the course short by about a tenth of a mile, but both my watch and the official time had it as my fastest 10k in over two years. 

Run Time:  56:36 with a 9:08 min/mile average

Run Rank

354 out of 576 run times

273 out of 399 male times

41 out of 63 age group times

There were a lot of handouts in the shoot. I took one of everything, and looked kind of greedy. Naturally,  someone got a pic.

Total Time: 2:46:16

312 out of 582 finishers

244 out of 404 males

37 out of 65 age groupers

Stacked Time Comparison

I cut 23 minutes off my previous Olympic time. I beat the field average for the swim, bike and total. I beat the male average for the swim. I'm quickly approaching the point where I'm only going to break personal records with some serious training. I suppose that's not the worse thing in the world. Great race, great day.

Graniteman Clearwater

Graniteman Relay

Clearwater MN

0.9 miles/ 28.6 miles/ 6.2 miles

Sunday, July 10

I think I took too much time off between races. It seems like Liberty was an awfully long time ago. I guess this gave me plenty of recovery and training time, but it's been a little boring.

To get some heat training into the rotation, I've started doing a swim/run workout on Wednesday afternoons. It's usually around 2300 yard in the pool and then a six mile run. Beyond that, things have been similar.  Bike, run and strength training twice a week and swimming once a week. I ran 13 miles the day before Clearwater, and it took the ambition right out of me.  When I woke up to thunderstorms on raceday, I really wanted to just skip the race. But, I made the hour + drive for Bull and it ended up being a nice dry race.

Pre-Race
Once on site, my race prep was actually a little interesting.  I couldn't get my bike pump to work on my front tire.  It only needed a little top off, but I couldn't get any air in.  I did, however, let plenty air out.  After about five or ten minutes I finally got it to work, and I got my tire inflated. Unfortunatly, I also busted off part of the valve. I did the same thing to the rear tire about a week earlier, and it held up for 40 miles. I hoped/figured this time around it would hold out or the 29 miles for the race. (It was fine.)

Busted on left, replaced on right.

After I met up with Bull and set up transition, I stopped be the bike guys and had'em take a look at my tire and my gears. He said the tire should be good for the race, but I should replace soon after.  He adjusted my gears for a bit of slipping. I did not notice that when I got my bike back, it was left in the hardest possible gear.

Swim 0.9 miles
Goal: Under 30 minutes, 1:40 min/100yds
Actual: Better than it felt

I think my Liberty swim will haunt me as my big fail of the summer. I was hoping to go much faster at Clearwater and then again at Toughman in a couple weeks. I went off in the third wave with the other relays and the 50+ crowd, and those cats cat swim.  I was thinking I could out-pace the old guys, but I was even with a couple folks the whole way and a few of'em blew up my time pretty good.  My shoulders were sore the entire swim, and I thought that meant I was going slow.  However, I ended up with a pretty respectable time.  I can't complain.
Swim Time: 26:00 minutes, 1:39 min/100yds

Bike 28.6 miles
Goal: Beat the 18.8 mph time from last year
Actual: Everyone else was faster

I ended up biking scared most of the first 14 mile loop, and that probably cost me a bit of time. Transition was quick and clean. I hopped on after the mount line and finally noticed that my bike was in the hard gear.  The start of the bike is also uphill.  I gave it one go, and hopped off when I slowly swerved off the road. I gave it a second go, and fell over/crashed, while standing still, clipped in. I felt like a pretty big ass at that point. Some ladies where cheering the bikers and told me I was doing great. I get that they were being positive, but if I fall after going ten feet and then walk my bike up a hill, just go ahead and shut your mouth. I am not doing great.

Anyhoo, I walked to the top of the hill and was on my way.  My first mile was a 12 mph.  About 3 miles in, the guy ahead of me swerved onto the dirt shoulder and crashed hard. He was up quick so I didnt stop, but he took a shot.  He did, however, pass me a few miles later. He was cut up a bit and had some road rash, but he was faster than me.

So, I was a little gun shy for the aero position on the first loop of the bike.  I rode upright and cost my self a bit of time.  The second loop was pretty lonely. I passed one guy early in the loop, and I don't know if I was anyone else for the rest of the course. I was pretty happy with my time, until I compared other to everyone else.  I did an 18.4 mph bike, and the average was over 20 mph.  There were only 64 olympic racers, so that means I was nearly the slowest.  The only person I passed on the bike was a 64 year old man.   I was passed by 25 people, almost half the field.
Deflating.

Bull did the run and he broke and hour for the 10k.  A pretty good time that I'm sure I could not match.  We were the only male relay team for the Olympic course, so I guess we won and also got last place.  That feels about right.

Lake Marion Triathlon Recap

Lake Marion Triathlon

Antlers Park, Lakeville MN

Sunday, August 16, 2015

1.5k/ 40k (+1 mile)/ 10k

Well, ffffff.......

I took a lot of negative energy into this weekend. I don't know how much it hurt my race, but packing up the night before the race has never been so little fun.  From Saturday to Tuesday of race week, the family and I were at a family reunion of sorts.  It came packaged with beer, late nights, bad food, drama and hard feelings (on my side at least).  Up through packing up on Saturday night, I still was contemplating skipping this race. If I could have got a refund, I would have passed.  What a bummer, I could not have felt more ready for the race than I did the Friday nine days before.  On that Friday, I did an 18/6 brick and felt great.  It all went downhill from there.  It's a shame; I had been looking forward to this for months. It was my longest race of the year. 

Anyhoo, on race week I only made time for one short workout in each event. In total, I only got in about two hours of work.  It was the least amount of work I had put in since I broke my foot.  The week before race-week, I had gotten in just about six hours training.  I had been trying to get in some longer workouts, but with the boys it was hard to get away for two hours or more.  Maybe my workout schedule also hurt me on race day, who knows.

My goal for this race was to break three hours.  I had hoped for less, but heading into race day, I felt that the predicted wind was going to hold me back a bit.  Also, due to construction, the bike course added a mile and now included a 40 meter dismount and run over gravel.  If I broke three hours, I would sign up for the 2016 HITS Waconia 70.3 race.  The sale price was $100 for Sunday only.

Swim (1.5K)
Goal:     Under 30 minutes, hopefully around 1:40/100 yards
Actual:  Got it half right.
The race site (Antlers Park) is only about 20 minutes from my house.  So, I got to sleep a little later than some other race day,s and I made it to transition by about 6:30.  The water temp was pretty nice, mid to high seventies.  It was nice enough to drop the wetsuit, but I kept mine on in hopes of swimming a little faster.  The lake had some patches of weeds, but it wasn't too bad.  After the disgusting lake with green water at our family reunion, I was just happy to be in a lake that didn't look diseased.  The swim is a triangle, the first and last legs were a cross wind and the middle leg seemed to be square into a little chop.

At the go, I really didn't want to be there.  It took me about five strokes to resign myself to an over three hour total and an over 35 minute swim.  It was just a bad mental day for a race.  At the first turn buoy, I peeked behind me and saw nearly no splashing.  I figured I was near last place for my wave (elites and all males). 

However, as I neared the second buoy (swimming into the chop), I realized that I must not be doing that bad. I had set my watch for a notification at 20 minutes, and I was hoping to make it around the second turn before that time.  I have no perception of time in the water. Without my watch alarm, those first two legs could have taken an hour for all I knew.  But, as I approaching the second turn, I still hadn't felt my watch buzz.  Either I had lost my watch (which Mopey McSourpuss contemplated for a while), or I wasn't doing that bad.  I received the 20 minute buzz shortly after the second turn.  I figured I still had a shot so I tried to punch it, but I did not have another gear in the water that day.  A few strokes later I had convinced myself that the last leg was going to take me 20 more minutes.  My internal voice was a real bitch this day.  Finally I reached the shore and could check how I was doing. At the transition mat, I didn't see the exact split, but I did see it started with a two.  I had broke a half hour; hopefully that would shut-up that asshole talking in my head. 
Swim Time:     29:43 with a 1:49/100 yards pace
Swim Ranks:   18th out of 60 overall,
                          16th out of 47 males,
                          3rd out of 5 age groupers

Tall guy in back



T1
Goal:      Under 3:00
Actual:   Nope.
It's a longish run up to the bikes after crossing the T1 mat at this race.  I ran on the grass most of the way and then walked at the paved parking lot.  My new 910xt Garmin came with the triathlon quick change watchband and bike mount. I had put a sign in my bike helmet to remind me to switch my watch over to the bike mount. Without the sign, I definitely would have forgotten to make the switch. A handy trick to remember next time.  Anyhoo, I got out of there as fast as I could, an took off on the bike leg.  As it happens, my T1 time was exactly the same as the Lake Marion race last year.
T1 Time:  3:35
Position:  18th out of the water,
                 19th out of T1 (out of 60 finishers)

Bike (40K +1 mile = 25.8 miles)
Goal:  18mph average or better
Actual:  Never got close
Now I was having fun!  Now I wanted to race; now I wanted to have a great bike. I thought my watch said it took about 32:30 to get out of the water and out of T1.  That was right around my goal ( My reading was off by about a minute).  I needed an 18mph bike and a reasonable run and I was off to a 70.3 (in 2016). 

The first three miles were easy going.  I passed some sprinters and tried to tick it up before the head wind.  The turn to go south put us mostly against the wind for the next seven miles.  There was another right turn after that, and that felt like it put us into the teeth of the wind for another four miles.  At the halfway point my average was 16.5 mph.  The course is mostly flat for about the first seven miles, then you hit some rollers until the ten mile turn, and after the ten mile turn you have a few more hills with a couple substantial climbs. 

When I finally turned out of the headwind (around a 10mph wind give or take), I tried to kick it up and catch some time.  It was fast and fun with a couple rain drops.  The average mph ticked up, but then I hit the gravel corner.  You had to dismount and walk/run the gravel, and then it was back into the wind for a mile.  After that we were with the wind to the end with a couple rollers.  I couldn't make up the time though.  I did 16.5 mph on the first 13 miles and 18.6 mph on the last 12.8 miles.  Fun note, the race listed the bike at 25.8 miles which is the exact distance I hit on my watch.  However, the printed race stats had the race at 24.8 miles (40K), so all their speeds are off.
Bike Time:    1:28:43 with a 17.5 mph average
Bike Ranks:  31st out of 60 overall,
                       27th out of 47 males
                       4th out of 5 age groupers



The Bike starts off riding through downtown Lakeville.

T2
Goal:     About 45 seconds
Actual:  Almost exactly
I almost forgot my watch on my bike in T2, and I started to run away after racking my bike.  Again, I was lucky that I had put a sign in my run hat to remind me to put my watch back onto my wrist band.
T2 Time: 46 seconds 
Position:  31st off the bike,
                 26th out of T2 (out of 60 finishers)


Run (10K)
Goal:     Under 10:00 pace, Hopefully under 9:45
Actual:  Nope, not even close.
My wife, boys, mother-in-law and her sister were just outside of the transition area.  They saw me come in from the bike and start out on the run.  It was a nice pick-me-up to see'em out there and get a little bit of cheer to take on my way.  My watch said I had been on the course for about 2:02 and change.  Some quick estimating told me that I needed under a 9:30 min/mile average to break three hours.  I thought it unlikely, but I was going to give it a shot. 

The 10K course is two loops of the 5K course.  I ran the sprint last year, so I knew the course.  I figured 9:30 pace was possible with 9:00 on the first flat mile, 10:00 on the second mile with most of the uphill and 9:30 on the third mile (repeat for miles 4, 5 and 6).  And, that is almost what I did for the first 5K.  I ran 9:07, 9:53 and 9:41.  There is water on the turn around at about 1.5 miles. I tried to drink some water, but the magic of cup drinking while running still eludes me.  I ended up splashing most of it on my face and chest, which wasn't that bad a result. 

I saw the guy who writes the NowIAmDoingSomething blog coming up the hill on his second lap as I descended on my first.  I thought about saying something to him, but figured he didn't need the distraction.  He finished about a half hour ahead of me, 14th place, pretty cool. 
At about the 3 mile mark, there was some more water and what I presume was HEED.  I got the HEED (by mistake), and wore it all over me (sticky) the rest of the race, sigh... 

There was also a kid with a hose and spray gun nozzle standing there.  As I neared, his mom asked who he was spraying.  He said, "Whoever wants me to spray'em."  That sounded like a good idea, so I told him to give me a shot to the head.  It felt quite nice.

I'm told that my wife was at the half way point cheering me on again, but I did not notice her.  I was fading fast.  I had tried to keep up the pace for the first 5K, and my efforts had the wall coming on fast.  With a 9:30+ pace for the first three miles I knew breaking three hours was out the window.  I looked at my watch as I approached 3.5 miles and it said my pace was around 11:30 min/mile. Thinking back now, that probably was a mistake by my watch. The pace on the Garmin 910xt jumps around and gives erratic readings sometimes.  Anyhoo, the readings had me thinking that I was actually that slow, it made me mopey, and I used it as an easy out to start run/walking.  My run went to hell from there.  My last three miles clocked in at 11:51, 11:58 and 11:29.

shit

It would have been nice to cut about two minutes of each of those miles, but my legs just wouldn't fire up again after I gave them a break.  On the last bit of a mile to finish line, I came in at a 9:39 pace.  I like to pretend that there wasn't any give-up in those slow run/walk miles, but that's probably not totally true.  At the end of the race, it really didn't feel like I had anything left in the tank; maybe I'm too hard on myself. I guess I'm proud of the race as a first full Olympic effort, but the last few miles were a downer. 
Run Time:    1:06:11 with a 10:41 min/mile average
Run Ranks:  48th out of 60 overall,
                       40th out of 47 males,
                       4th out of 5 age groupers

Someone get me a beer!

Total Time:  3:08:55

Position:       36th out of 60 finishers

                      32nd out of 47 males

                      4th out of 5 age groupers

Time Comparison

Below is an accumulated time comparison graph.  Similar to Bemidji, my faster swim just about balanced out with my slower bike to make my time about average at the start of the run.  Coming out of  T2, I was 1:30 ahead of the field average and 58 seconds behind the male average.  The run blew up my time.  Also of note, it appears that my T1 time is usually slow and my T2 time is usually fast when compared to the average. Transition results in this race are similar to previous races.  Overall, my total transition time looks to be a bit faster than the average.  

Post-Race and Up Next

I have to stop hoping for a nice spread at the end of races.  Those few races that have had more than bananas and cookies (i.e. sandwiches, pizza, protein drink, etc.) are the exception and not the norm.  The funny thing at the end of this race was the finisher's medals.  After last year's race, the director emailed out that the price was going up a bit this year (only $5) to improve swag, finisher medals and give-aways.  I didn't stay for the give-aways (hungry and tired), but the finisher medals were exactly the same as last year.  Not a big deal, I don't care about the medals, but it's kinda funny. 

Up next is the Hopkins Royal Sprint Triathlon on September 5.  My wife is also doing the super sprint; hopefully she has a good time (maybe this leads to other races).  That will be the last triathlon of the season, and then it's probably just running and some sporadic cross training.  I signed up for the Surf the Murph race again this year (85$, Saturday, October 24).  I signed up for the 50 mile (idiot), but we'll see how things go.  I'll have to pack on some miles in the next couple months, but I'm certainly due.  I want to kick up my run training for next year (Lake Wobegon Marathon is only 38 weeks away).  I just didn't have it for the Bemidji and Marion runs.  If I can make it to, and through winter without injuries maybe I can get back to being a runner (at least as much as I was last fall).  Last year my knee cost me seven weeks over winter and then my broken foot cost me another 6 weeks in the spring.  Without an improvement in running, I'll probably put off the jump to a 70.3 until 2017.

Paul Bunyan Triathlon Recap

Paul Bunyan Triathlon

Bemidji, MN

1 mile/ 20 mile/ 5 mile

July 18, 2015

Pre-Race
It took a lot of effort to get to this race. Originally, I had registered (and paid) for the Annandale Heart of the Lakes triathlon but a family get-together and a Monday meeting up north made this race a better fit.  Also, I almost backed out in the last week. The weather looked like it was going to be stormy, and I had no interest in running another converted duathlon. But, the weather predictions cleared up, so the family and I piled in the car and made the trip up north. In order to make the trip, we also had a hitch installed on the car ($200) and purchased a bike rack ($60). We stayed with my folks, and my brother's family came up for the weekend as well.  Since the house was crowded, I stayed in a hotel the night before the race ($190).

Going into the race, I was hoping to break 2.5 hours and not finish dead last. Twenty nine people ran the long course; so dead last was a distinct possibility.  The times needed for a 2.5 hour race seemed possible based on my training times. However, this was going to be my first 2+ hour race, so I had no idea how my body would react to the time and length.

Pre-Race Pic

Swim (1 mile)
Goal:  Under 2:00 per 100 yards
Actual: Crazy fast; maybe too fast.
I wore my wet suit again, and my swim times in the suit are fast. All the long course racers went off in one wave. It was a little thick in the water at first, but it thinned out after a few hundred yards.  I sight terribly while breathing to the right, and I veer right due to the terrible sighting. All is well on the left side, but I have to switch sides once and a while due to shoulder fatigue. In the lap pool, I breath the same side for an entire lap, and then switch sides on consecutive laps. Works great in the pool, rubbish in the open water. Something to work on before Marion (4 weeks).  Anyhoo, it was two laps around the markers and I zipped around pretty good.  I saw some ass clown cut a corner on the first lap. That made me kinda mad, but it's not like I was going to be fighting for a podium spot.  My time was fast; it was probably too fast. Either I went out too strong and hurt myself for the rest of the race, or the distance markers were off.  I think the latter.
Swim Time:   25:48 with a 1:28 per 100 yards pace
Swim Ranks:  14th out of 28 overall
                          11th out of 24 males
                          4th out of 5 age groupers

Swim Course

T1
Goal: Under 3 minutes
Actual: Who knows?
The timing system for the "swim in" failed. So, there was no official T1 time.  That, by itself, is not a big problem. However, this race's organization left something to be desired. The T2 timing was also wrong, though the race claims it is accurate.  The sprint awards started before I finished (I get it, I'm slow). Also, when I did cross the line and finally found a volunteer, I was told the finisher medals were in a box by the bananas. Anyhoo, I think I timed out T1 pretty well with my Garmin.
T1:  2:04

Bike (20 miles)
Goal:     18.5 mph
Actual:  Slowy, slow, slow
Comming  out of T1, I knew that I was about 10 minutes ahead of a 2 min per 100 yards swim. Also, I knew I had won about a minute  in T1.  I had driven the bike course the night before, so I knew it was a relatively flat course with only a couple climbs around miles 6 and 14.  It was mostly an out and back course, and just like in Clearwater it was tail wind at the start and then head wind on the second half.  I thought if I held back a bit on the front 10, then I'd have something extra left for the back 10. Nope. When I made the turn, I had nothing in the tank.  It wasn't a strong wind, so maybe my training just sucks.  Either way, at the turn around I could see that I had about 20 minutes on last place, so that was one goal achieved.  I think there were 8 racers behind me.  So, I struggled into T2 with a 17.3 mph average on the back 10 miles (19.4 mph on the front 10).  I didn't hit the lap button on my watch when I hit the T2 mat, so I have to believe the official bike time. It sounds about right.
Bike Time: 1:07:22 with a 17.8 mph average
Bike Ranks: 21st out of 28 overall,
                      18th out of 24 males,
                       5th out of 5 age groupers

Elevation for the entire race; the last five peaks are the run.

T2
Goal:  Fast
Actual: Who knows?
My official T2 Time is posted as 1:24. What a pile. Even more silly, my time is listed as the fifth fastest in T2.  This transition area was tiny. There is no way it took me a minute and a half to rack my bike and run out.  No chance.  The T2 times are all wrong. By my watch, I think the run and bike times are correct, but both transitions are goofed up. I'm not sure how that happens.
T2 Guess:  30-45 seconds

Run (5 miles)
Goal: 9:18 min per mile average
Actual: Not even close.
Again, I had driven the run course the night before, so I knew there were a couple hills. I didn't have much in the tank for the run.  You start the run on a wooded hill climb, and then we did an out and back of 2.5 miles on the road. I fought a stomach cramp for the first couple miles, then decided to walk it off.  At that point, I was only at a 10 minute mile pace anyway, so a little walking wasn't killing a personal best.  At the turn around, there was a street cone and writing on the ground  in chalk that said "Turn Around".  Seems like that would have been a good place for a volunteer.  After I walked off my cramp, I ran a couple more miles then walked through the water stop and up a hill.  I ran the last mile and change.  A lady passed me with about half a mile to go. She had a great pace, no chance to catch her.  Driving back after the race, I saw her again running down the road for some extra miles; crazy. Anyhoo, the family was at the finish line and it felt good to get cheered to the line.
Run Time:   51:14 with a 10:15 pace
Run Ranks: 22nd out of 28 overall,
                      19th out of 24 males,
                      5th out of 5 age groupers

Total Time:  2:26:46

Position:       22th out of 28 finishers

                      19th out of 24 males

                      5th out of 5 age groupers

Time Comparison
Below is a comparison of accumulated times. This has to be taken with a grain of salt because the transition times are all screwed up.  It still gives a good idea of a comparison to the field and male averages.  In both cases, my faster swim almost evened out my slower bike to make my time about average going into the run. Leaving T2, I was 39 seconds behind the field average and 3:22 behind the male average.  After that, I blew up my time on the run.

Post-Race
My watch time and the official time were exactly the same. The transition times were messed up, but tech will fail once and a while. There were plenty of volunteers, and they did their assigned tasks very well.  However, the organization of this race left something to be desired.  I probably won't be back.
Lake Marion is 4 weeks out and I will be running the olympic course. I don't think there is any way the swim course at Bemidji was actually a mile, so I'll have to keep up some training to see if I can swim a good time at Marion. I got a new watch (an impulse buy from my wife, $300), the Garmin 910xt.  Lots of bells and whistles.  It can be set up specifically for a tri, with planned timing for transitions.  Sounds fun. We'll see if I can figure it out.