OptumHealth Manitou Sprint Triathlon Results, Last week TNT, and Lake Minnetonka Triathlon

It is taking me awhile this week to get anything posted on the blog. Busy work week.

Earlier last week, Tuesday, I did the Tuesday Night Time Trial and I had an ok night (29:05 at 22.06MPH, which is a little bit slower than 2 weeks before).

I was feeling a little fatigued last week. Probably a combination of training, stress at work, and averaging less than 6 hours of sleep a night.

On Saturday, the day before Manitou, I did my last open water scuba dive and received my certification. I have been told that scuba diving, by one of the instructors over and over again, in Lake Jane, about 11 miles west of Stillwater on 36, is nothing like scuba diving in the ocean (duh). Having never dove in the ocean, but having seen plenty of images, I already knew I was not diving in such a beautiful place. Lake Jane is weed filled and mucky. It was still fun diving, just for the experience.

Onto Manitou. As usual, I was up and out the door early. I stopped for my usual donut and coffee on the way to the race. I eat breakfast at home on race day and the morning ritual on the way to the race is pickup coffee and one or two donuts. Usually by the time I get to the race site I am ready to do my business and don't need to wait in line. I did forget to do one thing, take in electrolytes before the race. I realized it afterwards. Luckily the day was not too hot or humid. I think I got in plenty of water.

I got setup in pretty short order, did a short bike ride, reset my transition area, and spent time chatting with people and waiting. I had over an hour and half to wait for start time after transition closed. There were a lot of waves and a lot of wait time, mainly due to the draft legal junior elite waves. One issue during this long wait time was the weather, it was cloudy and fairly cool, probably low 60s. So getting chilled was an issue. About 20-30 minutes before start I got in the water and did a little swim. It was cold, warmer than the air, but it still felt cold.

I got out shortly before the start and grouped up with everyone else in my AG before the start. I made an error, I got behind everyone in the start. I was in the second row. I should be putting myself up front. I should be top ten in my AG for the swim. What resulted was me fighting my way from the back. I had to go around the outside and then come back in along the buoys. I expended more effort than I needed. By the end of the first lap of the swim I had cleared a lot of traffic and was along the buoys with no problem. For this two lap swim you have to get out of the water and do a short run around a flag then get back in and swim the next lap. Luckily, there is drop off not to far from shore, so you can swim close and you don't have to run far. Even though that was the case, I still was breathing really hard for the first half of the second lap. I basically fell into the water and started swimming on the second lap. Getting out and doing the short run really set my heart rate going and threw off my rhythm. The rest of the swim was uneventful. I got out and made the long run up the beach. I saw Jackie, and her friend Sarah, as I made my way to transition. Jackie did not come with me in the morning and I was unsure about parking, it was good to see them there then.

Transition went pretty well. I got out of my wetsuit pretty fast, no socks on the bike, ran with bike shoes and got on.

I would say the first 5 miles or so of the bike was a warm-up. I felt chilled and I did not feel like I was turning like I should be. The course was rolling and it felt like there was something of wind out. I didn't feel like I was really moving until after the turnaround. I passed a couple guys in my AG and I think I was passed by a couple. So, I might have broke about even on the bike.

I did see something interesting on the way back. I was coming up on two guys pretty fast, one guy was passing another. I laid back far enough until the pass was complete, and then I was going to pass both of them. As I was sitting back, the USAT official on a motorcycle came beside me and passed me, as he/she was coming up on the two guys in front of me, the guy doing the passing basically performed the pass in the middle of the right lane. He was passing slowly and blocking the motorcycle. It didn't make a lot of sense and probably took longer than the required passing time of 15 seconds, I think it is 15 seconds. Anyway, I think the official was writing something down while this way happening. I don't remember the guy's number so I don't know if he got a penalty or not. I would assume he did. When that was all done I passed them both with no problems.

The bike finished out pretty good. I had a little trouble in T2 getting my socks on, but once I did I sprinted out. I figured I would go out hard and see how I felt. I was worried about my stress fracture, but I also wanted to see if I could haul some ass. At least haul some ass relative to what I had been doing. The run out is basically uphill out and downhill back, which nice. The whole run was killer, but the first mile was really painful. Not in my leg, just cardio, which is good. I know I can survive the breathing. I pushed the run hard. My goal was to go under 27 minutes. I know that is not fast, but I am still working on my run, both in of mechanics, speed, and volume. If I went under 27 minutes, it would be my fastest run of the year. Actually, it would have been the fastest I have run in over something like 14 months. Not only did I go under 27 minutes, I went under 24 minutes. I went 23:44. Hooray! There were a number of people out on the course cheering for me, both other runners and spectators, which was nice and helped keep me going. There was no pain from the area of my stress fracture, which was a huge relief.

I am really happy with the overall result of this race, especially the run. The bike I am pretty happy with, I still need to attack harder. The swim I a little disappointed with, but it is my own fault for starting in such a bad position. I still need transition practice, but I think that will be something I need to practice as long as I am racing.

Here is how the race broke down for me:

Swim (880 yards) - 15:22 (1:45/100 yards)

T1 - 2:18

Bike (13.5 miles) - 37:49 (21.4MPH)

T2 - 1:34

Run (3.1 miles) - 23:40 (7:54 min/mi)

Total - 1:20:41

Overall - 100/345

AG - 13/38

This weekend is the Lake Minnetonka Tri. I have not done this triathlon before so I really cannot say much about it. I am going to start at the front of the swim pack so I don't have to expend as much energy as this last weekend and hopefully I can get a better split. Aside from that I am going to bike and run as hard as I can, because that is all I can do.