2012 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon

The picture of at the top is taken by Nick Morales at trijuice.com and the picture above is taken by Kerry Yndestad.  Both do a great job taking pics at triathlons.  The top picture makes me look faster than I actually I am going.  I think I am passing one guy and being passed by another, either that, or both are passing me.  In the bottom picture I look like a might explode.

First of all, both the Sprint and Half-IM had amazing fields.  They would have been a great races to watch.  Second, Jackie, her cousins, and her aunt and uncle were there to cheer me and others.  Which also made it a great day.  I had a good swim, my fastest bike of the year, and another run that was disappointing.

Jackie's aunt and uncle recently purchased a lake home in Chisago, about a 5 minute bike ride from the start line of the Chisago Lakes Triathlon.  So, we stayed at thier place the night before the race.  We went there early on Sat afternoon to enjoy some time on the lake and to hangout with Jackie's family.  We had a nice big pasta dinner the night before. Staying with us was Jackie's cousin's boyfriend and his buddies, who did the Half-IM distance as a relay.  More about thier race later.  I had a disorienting night of sleep, being in a strange place, in a strange bed, and I am not sure I slept that well, but I did get to sleep in, so that helped.  I was the first one up and out of the house on Sunday morning.  You can get to the race a little later, since your transition spot is by number, so I did not worry about getting a good spo

I setup up my stuff and chatted with some people.  The transition area is large, but there are a lot of people so still crowded.  The race was wetsuit legal, barely.  The temperature was right at 78, according to the measurement.  I waffled on wearing a wetsuit, much like last week, but like last week, if you have the option to wear a wetstuit and don't wear one you lose a possible advantage.  I went with the wetsuit for the very short swim.  I got a short warmup and then waited about 40 minutes for my wave to start.  I did not get too warm waiting.  I would occasionally go down to the water and fill my wetsuit.

The starting area is narrow, even more so when they cram 100 people in it per wave.  As usual, I started wide and worked my way in to the first turn bouy.  It worked well and I stayed out of the crowd.  The only issue came at the finish when the spring and half finishes merge and a lot of people are getting out of the water at once.  Midwest Sports Event races, which this is a part of, do mixed/random waves. They mix thier waves with AG and sexes, so it is kind of strange. 

Once out the water there is hill to run up and then into transition.  Jackie and her family were on the hill to cheer, which was great.  I got through transition without issue and then out on the bike.  The bike was very crowded until about the last 5 miles out or so.  A lot of dangerous riding out on the course. People riding 2-3 abreast, people riding down the middle of the lane for no reason, etc.  So, a lot of the bike is yelling, "On your left!" and trying to stay safe.  I did not feel too bad overall on the bike.  I tried to concentrate on my form and I think it payed off, I ended up with my highest average speed this year.  Two weeks in a row I have a had very good bikes.

It was nice to come into transition and get cheered by Jackie and her family and get cheered on the way out on the run course.  It is nice to have people you know cheering for you.

There is a short up and down out of the park and then a longish uphill, course goes flat for awhile, and the has a steady low slope uphill.  It is out and back, so the run back is mostly downhill.  Luckily, it was overcast most of the run, but still uncomfortably humid.  Like past races this year, my leg turnover is slow.  I just can't get them to turn fast enough.  They feel heavy.  So, I just try to concentrate on form and to keep moving.  It must be conditioning.  This was my slowest 5k in awhile.  It did not feel terrible, I just could not turnover.  Anyway, I finished and then we hungout for awhile and cheered.

My overall pace, which I calculate for each race by dividing my total time by total distance.  By pace, this was the fastest of all my previous attempts, due to the fast swim and bike, and the longer bike, which helps offset the slower run.

A little bit about Jackie's cousin's boyfriend half-IM relay team.  They won the relay.  After the bike they were down almost 15 minutes! And they came back to win.  The came back because thier runner, Jackie's cousin's boyfriend, ran them back into to it by running ~5:56 miles for a half-marathon, I think the next fastest runner was about 7+min/mi.  Just amazing.

For a race that is this large, about 1500 for the sprint, half, and relays, in a town that small, they do a very good job of putting on a race.  Course is well marked, they have enough volunteers, they had plenty of cold water, they had fruit and some small wraps, chicken and turkey that were good, at the end, and the cost of the race is reasonable.  I think that the cost is part of the reason that that so many people come out and do the half.  I will probably be back to do this race again, I would really like to redeem myself on the run.

Overall it was a very good day.  It was great to have Jackie and her family out there.
Only 4 races left this year, Brewhouse, Maple Grove, St. Croix Valley, and Dousman Du.  A long sprint, two Oly, and a Du.

2012 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 8:30 (1:56/100yards)
T1 - 1:59
Bike (22 miles) - 57:55 (22.8MPH, fastest average speed of the year)
T2 - 1:17
Run (3.1 miles) - 26:17 (8:29/miles, slow....)
Total - 1:35:59
Overall - 89/647
AG - 15/45
Pace - 3:47/mile (fastest per mile pace at this race)

2010 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 8:44 (1:59/100yards)
T1 - 1:59
Bike (21 miles) - 56:23 (22.3MPH)
T2 - 1:40
Run (3.1 miles) - 25:03 (8:04/mile)
Total - 1:33:49
Overall - 59/808
AG - 5/57
Pace - 3:51/mile

2008 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 9:18 (2:19/mile)
T1 - 1:54
Bike (17 miles) - 45:39 (22.3MPH)
T2 - 1:09
Run (3.1 miles) - 24:25 (7:52/mile, fastest run at Chisago also shortest bike before)
Total - 1:22:25
Overall - 68/779
AG - 7/51
Pace - 4:03/mile

2007 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 11:47 (2:41/mile)
T1 - 2:56
Bike (20.1 miles) - 57:16 (21.1MPH)
T2 - 1:27
Run (3.1 miles) - 25:37 (8:16/mile)
Total - 1:39:02
Overall - 142/801
AG - 17/55
Pace - 4:09/mile