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| Courtesy of Andy Wyss Design |
The
Lifetime Tri Minnesota Series consisted of Trinona in June, Minneapolis in
July, and wrapped up with Maple Grove in August. Maple Grove also marked my final race of the
season (my 7th triathlon this summer!). Nationals were just two weeks prior, and in
the meantime, I’ve missed a lot of runs, a ride, and some swims due to the
craziness of life. Volleyball practices
also started this past week (I’m the head coach at Three Lakes), adding another
level of hectic to our lives. Due to all
of this, I felt underprepared and not very well focused for the race. Nonetheless, I hoped for the best.
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| Courtesy of Andy Wyss Design |
There was
only a slight wind on race morning, and the air was crazy thick with humidity
and fog. Fortunately there was solid
cloud coverage, or else we may have melted.
Race morning didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped and I ended up cramped for
warm up time, getting in only a 5-minute jog – I didn’t even do a swim warm
up! I wasn’t going to let things get to
me though. It was a time trial swim
start, so partners were sent off every 3 seconds for the start. I have now had enough of an experience with
both time trial and mass starts, that I would definitely say I prefer the mass
start. Nationals were a perfect setup,
with the huge age group waves spaced out about 10 minutes from each other. This gave us space between waves, and I was
able to do the most drafting I’ve ever done with a triathlon swim, which also
resulted in my fastest swim ever.
Shortly I after I got started, one
of my goggles was leaking, and I paused to empty and adjust it, as I’d rather
lose a few seconds than deal with that the whole time. You could only see one buoy ahead of you due
to the thick fog, and after a turn buoy you couldn’t see anything at all! You had to follow those in front of you until
you could finally see the next one for yourself. There was a lot of swimming into and around
people from the waves ahead of mine, which was very frustrating. I came out of the water just 3 seconds off
from my Minneapolis time (a minute slower than Nationals, but as I said, I
wasn’t really able to draft at Maple Grove).
I was happy with the time.
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| Courtesy of Andy Wyss Design |
The bike
route was great – gorgeous and fast for the most part. We went by a lot of fields, and the in-town
sections were blocked off well. The fog
was so thick that you could only see about ¼ mile in front of you at times, but
it sure made for some beautiful surroundings!
The air was so thick that my helmet dripped from all the condensation that
gathered. I came in from the bike just
as wet as I had gone out, and I needed to wipe off my feet in T2 in order to
get my shoes on! I came in on the bike
in 1:05:46 (22.6mph), only behind my time at Nationals by 7 seconds. Again, I was quite please with it.
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| Cleaned house! |
The run was
a 2-loop course, using some park trails and then residential streets around the
park. After you got off the bike, you
encountered the first long, uphill climb (that would be repeated on the second
loop). It was a decent route, but the
hills certainly didn’t feel great. A
younger girl caught up to me on the first loop and I used her to pace me, as I
was really struggling to hit a decent pace.
We stuck together and I paced her for a while then on the second loop as
I finally began to find my running legs.
My run split was slightly faster than both Nationals and Minneapolis,
but it was still just past the dreaded 44-minute mark. I ended up winning my age group, being the 2nd
Age Grouper Overall, and the 7th Overall Female (including
elites). I also took 2nd in
the LifeTime Tri MN Series – by only one point!
Overall, I was really pleased with how the day ended up, and it was a
great race to end the season with.
A huge
THANK YOU to friends who came out and supported me at this race: Katherine,
Dean, Maria, and Meredith! Thanks to my
husband, who has traveled all over with me this summer, taking pictures, video,
or whatever, and helping me get out the door for some outdoor training
throughout the season. None of this
would have been possible without you!
Thanks to my family and friends who cheer me on from afar, and thank you
to my sponsors: Draft Cyclery and Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (chocolate
milk) – some of the best sponsors and supporters a girl could ask for!
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