2015 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon Race Report (110th Multi-Sport Race Since 2006)

Completion of this race brings me to 110 (32 duathlons, 78 triathlons) individual multi-sport race finishes since 2006.  If you included the 3 relays I have done, 2 duathlons and a triathlon, that brings the total to 113.  I have started 115, I have two DNFs, one for a flat tire, and one intentional.  I quit after the run because of a stress fracture.  By the end of this season I will have completed over 80 individual triathlons.

Surprise! Kind of.  Early morning thunderstorms turned the triathlon into a duathlon.

Morning started out as normal.  Usual breakfast, packing up, and driving to race.  I could see lighting on the way to the race.  As I was parking it started to rain, rain hard.  I sat in the car for almost half an hour, and then decided to head down and get my packet and check the situation.  The rain started to taper off and actually, by the time I got my bike down to transition it stopped.  About an hour before the race started, it was announced that it would be a duathlon.  We probably could have swam, but would have delayed the start by an hour, or more.  So, a duathlon it would be. 
It was pretty funny, we were all standing in front of the bandshell as the race director was finished announcing the changes, about to head back to transition to get ready for the start, and all of sudden it started pouring rain.  We started almost on time, a little late, but not bad all things considered.

The run would be 1 mile, and the rest of the race was the same.  I was feeling tight and sluggish, and my first mile showed it.  I was surprised at how slow it was, which worried me a little going into the bike and second run.  The first part of the bike goes south, and there was a pretty nasty headwind.  Turning the first corner was a welcome relief.  The bike went surprisingly well, I started to feel better, loosen up.  It wasn't my slowest time here, better than I thought.

I think one of the mistakes I make when I have slower run times, is not getting out of T2 and running fast.  I got out and ran fast, it hurt at first, as it should.  This run is pretty flat, the only up and down is in the first half mile, and then last half mile.  I was very surprised to see my time.  I was shooting to go under 24, and that would have made me happy, going under 23 delighted me.  Especially, considering how I felt to start out the day.

One of things I like about this race, besides the course, is that there is pizza at the end of the race.  At 9AM, after a sprint triathlon, pizza tastes pretty damn good.

The day started pretty crappy, and could have been worse.  In the end, it turned out to be a great day, both in terms of the weather and how the race went.  I was very happy with my results.

I have some pictures before the race, and one after the race, typical pictures.  The picture with sun out.  The same guy who took my picture at Buffalo was here, his wife was racing again, and he got a couple of pictures of me.  One picture, into the finish, I was trying to smile.

 

 

2015 Lake Minnetonka Duathlon Results
Run (1mi) - 8:10 (8:10/mi)
T1 - 1:59
Bike (14.5mi) - 41:25 (21MPH)
T2 - 0:55
Run (3mi) - 22:44 (7:35/mi)
Total - 1:15:12
Overall - 66/373
AG - 10/30
Pace - 4:04

2014 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon Results
Swim (880 yards) - 12:44 (1:27/100 yards)
T1 - 2:27
Bike (14.5mi) - 39:36 (22MPH) - Fastest bike split on this course
T2 - 1:34
Run (3mi) - 22:32 (7:31/mile) - Fastest run split on this course
Total - 1:18:51
Overall - 62/476
AG - 13/45
Pace - 4:23 min/mi

2012 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon Results
Swim (880 yards) - 13:04 (1:29/100 yards)
T1 - 2:02
Bike (14.5mi) - 41:13 (21.1MPH)
T2 - 0:59 (Two weeks, to T2s under a minute, almost 30 seconds faster than 2010 T2)
Run (3mi) - 22:49 (7:37/mile)
Total - 1:20:06
Overall - 72/466
AG - 7/44
Pace - 4:27 min/mi

2010 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon Results
Swim (880 yards) - 13:27 (1:32/100 yards)
T1 - 1:51
Bike (14.5mi) - 41:58 (20.7MPH)
T2 - 1:28
Run (3mi) - 23:20 (7:47/mile)
Total - 1:22:01
Overall - 85/452
AG - 13/42
Pace - 4:27 min/mi

2015 Buffalo Olympic Distance Triathlon Race Report

Second year in a row for Buffalo Olympic.  Last year, the race was delayed about 20-30 minutes do to thunderstorms, the race was relatively rain free, and then rained at the end.  The temperatures were not too bad.

This year, the weather was much different, as you can see in the pictures below. 
As usual, I got up had my usual breakfast and headed out to the race.  Uneventful, as always, just how I like it.

Got there, found a nice spot at the end of a rack, got my number, chip, body marking, etc.  There was supposed to be construction, so the run course was changed.  The construction had not been started, so the change was unnecessary, but happened anyway.  The new run course was a bit of an unknown, though I would get to preview a bit of it on the bike. 

I will get to the race, not much happened beforehand.  It was a little windy, and the water was choppy, and a little chilly, colder than I expected.  There was a lot of bumping into people during the entire swim, which resulted in a very unfortunate mishap for me.  At the merge between the Sprint and Olympic distance swims, I got kicked in the hand and my wedding band came off.  I could feel it slip off my finger, to never return.  It wasn't particularly expensive, but it was my wedding band.  Losing it made me a little sad and angry.  I thought about it most of the race.  Before the race started I thought about taking it off.  When I got in the water, before the start, I thought of taking it off, because of how cold it was, but I thought it would be fine, since I raced all last year with it on.  Immediately after the race I called our jeweler and left a message that I needed a replacement.  I should be getting a new one soon. 

Back to the race. My swim split was about 10 seconds slower this year.  That is nothing over an Olympic distance.  Course could be slightly longer, my path could have been a little more zig-zag, etc. 

The run to T1, for Olympic is a little long, uphill with some grass and pavement.  T1 was not too bad, except we had to exit to the bike at the same point as the Sprint, which meant we had to run up and down grass hills in transition. 

The bike was mostly uneventful.  About a mile or two into the bike I lost my water bottle, so I had no hydration during the bike.  That was unpleasant.  The bottle bounced out as I was going over some rumble strips.  It was sunny, and windy.  There is a decent amount of hills, and at times the wind felt challenging, but it was mostly uneventful.  I did not feel too bad coming off the bike.  According to their map, the bike was 0.8 miles shorter this year than last, not sure that is correct, not sure where the 0.8 miles was taken out.  The course seemed the same.  My average bike speed, based on the assumption the course was shorter this year than last, was the same as last year.

Out of T2 I was fast.   I think part of my slow run at St. Anthony's was how slow I came out of T2.  Here, I came out of T2 faster.  The new course has you going uphill, short and steep, initially, then a little flat, and the hills.  The run course is short and long hills.  Tough run, especially in the sun with no shade.  I think this new run is tougher than the old run.  I was 40 seconds slower this year, over last year.  Again, this run is harder than the old one.  I was worried about the run going into this race.  My performance, all around, alleviated some\most of my fears.  I had such a bad swim and run at St. Anthony's, especially compared to the previous year, I was worried I was too out of shape, or something was wrong.  I feel much better after my performance at Buffalo.

If the bike course distance was actually the same from this year to last year, then I actually had a faster day this year than last year, which would be surprising.  Either way, it was a perfect weather day for racing and I am very happy with my performance.

Below are some pictures.  One of me working hard on the run, taken by Terence Lee.  The rest of the pictures are my usual pictures.

2015 Buffalo Olympic Distance Triathlon
Swim (1640 yards) = 27:47 (1:42/100 yards)
T1 = 3:06
Bike (23.8 miles) = 1:07:18 (21.2MPH)
T2 = 1:17
Run (6.2 miles) = 50:13 (8:06/mi)
Total = 2:29:40
Overall = 85/260
AG = 13/38
Overall Pace = 4:50/mi

2014 Buffalo Olympic Distance Triathlon
Swim (1640 yards) = 27:37 (1:41/100 yards)
T1 = 2:47
Bike (24.6 miles) = 1:09:28 (21.2 MPH)
T2 = 1:36
Run (6.2 miles) = 49:33 (7:59/mi)!
Total = 2:30:59
Overall = 77/253
AG = 11/31
Overall Pace = 4:46/mi

2007 Buffalo Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) = 10:02 (2:15/100 yards)
T1 = 4:38
Bike (13 miles) = 39:13 (19.9MPH)
T2 = 2:08
Run (3 miles) = 23:14 (7:45/mi)
Total = 1:19:13
Overall = 214/731
AG = 73/178
Overall Pace = 4:53/mi

May 2015 Racing and Training Summary

I did two Tuesday Night Time Trials and the Gear West Duathlon in May.
GW Du went fine, I did a race report on it.
The two Tuesday Night Time Trials were ok.  Nothing fantastic.  Kind of slow starts for the year.  Both were on a different course than previous years.  They changed the course from last year for the first race, slightly longer.  The second race of the year, the course was changed back to the old out and back course, the original course, except slightly shorter.  The course was changed due to construction and the race director is not sure when we will go back to the longer course.  The first night was windy and cool and felt tough.  The second night felt better, but I was no faster.  It was the Tuesday, after the Sunday, that I did the GW Du.  Might have been the reason for my historically slow time (as I write this I have already done my 3rd TT of the year and it was faster than my first two and closer to my historical average) .  Hopefully, my slower times on the TT course are not reflected in my bike times in triathlons.
First two TTs of the year
5/5/2015 - 13.72mi = 39:25 (20.9MPH)
5/19/2015 - 10mi = 29:04 (20.6MPH)

Kind of an average month compared to the last few years.  About the same total time as last year, more than 2013, vacation in Hawaii in 2013, and about the same as 2012.  2011 and back further I had a lot more training time in the month of May.  I did go over 2 million total yards swimming since 2007.  That is something of an accomplishment.  I crossed over 100 total hours, which I think is a slower than last year.

June is two TTs and three triathlons.  Busy.

Below are the usual tables.

Comparison of May from Year-to-Year

Totals and Averages Since 2007

Year-to-Date Totals and Since 2007