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.

2017 NewBriTri Race Recap

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

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

Run Rank
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

I beat the field average for swim, run and overall. But, I took a dive on the bike.

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.

April

April was much better than March. My chest cold cleared up and the weather warmed up (most days). My month totals are below.

All of the biking was indoors on the trainer or on the bike at the YMCA. My long was an hour and a half on thd trainer. Hopefully, I'll get outside a couple times this month. We'll call it a win if I can get in a couple rides on my 40 mile route south of town.

I think one run was on the treadmill. Otherhows my outside runs were 4 to 8 miles with my long run being about 8.2 miles. I hit a 9:45 min/mile average on my longest run, and that is quite possible my best run ever (it felt easy on a windy day). I'm sticking with two runs a week; it's a safe play. I know my joints can put up with the wear and tear of a two run week. I'll just try to stretch out the distance over the next few months.

I've only been swimming about once a week, and that seems like plenty. I'm not worried about the swim. I've been doing mile swims, and that's about as much as I can stand. I'll have to get some open water at some point, but that is for later in the summer.

I do some strength training once or twice a week, and that's easily the most important part of my training. When I get down (line in March) I have to remember hope predictable my body is. My shoulders, hips and knees will hurt on the swim, bike and run (respectively) if I neglect my strength work. With my strength work, I hurt little enough to be convinced that Ironman is doable and not too detrimental to my health.