Lakes Country Tri, redux

On Sunday I participated in the Lakes Country Triathlon in Baxter, MN ... most likely the last tri for me for the year. I'll analyze each section of the tri and give you the lowdown.

Swim: 20:43

The venue for the event was the shore of a very picturesque lake.

The swim was 1/2 mile, which was to be my longest open water swim yet. And ... I was very nervous about it. The course was 3 sides of a rectangle, with buoys on the left. I breathe on the right. This was not an ideal situation for me! Suffice it to say, had I worn a GPS I think this is what a map of my swim route would have looked like:

I was all over the place. I don't swim straight, that's for sure! And part of the reason is most likely that I was always breathing on one side. I'm working on breathing on the left, but didn't feel comfortable doing that on Sunday, so zig-zag it was. Suffice it to say, I bet I swam .6 miles instead of .5! And I had to stop several times on the third side of the rectangle and ask the people in the kayaks where to go as we were swimming into the sun and I couldn't see a thing. (I forgot to bring my tinted goggles.)

If it were a perfect world, I'd be Sawra Maurer (from Rochester, left below, with hubby Matt) ...

who had the second fastest swim of ANYONE on Sunday, including the guys! Way to go, Sawra!! She's an excellent triathlete.

T1: 2:50

Well, I was glad to get out of the water and pulled down my zipper, took off my goggles and cap on the run up the beach to the parking lot. When I reached my bike, I sat down and started trying to pull off my wet suit. I had difficulty. For some reason, the last 6" of the legs just didn't want to slip over my feet. So it was slow. And I'm not very practiced at it. Something to work on for next season to be sure.

Bike: 50:52 (20.4 mph for 17.3 miles)

Very happy with this result. The bike course was pretty flat. Just a few small inclines. There were a couple of rough sections on the roads, and a couple miles on a busy highway, but overall it was a good course. Not too many turns. After the slow swim I was frustrated and ready to hammer on the bike--my 30-year old bike and my running shoes!! (I HAVE to get a new bike. Soon. Just have to find the time to shop and research them.) About mile 5 I took a drink of water and lost my water bottle while trying to put it back into the cage. Bummer. Now I had no water for 12 miles and I lost my favorite LUABC Caribou Coffee water bottle. :-(

The good thing about being in wave 6 (the last wave--middle-aged women) and a slow swimmer ... there were LOTS and LOTS of people to chase and catch on the bike and run! And catch them I did. No one passed me on the bike. Fun, fun, fun!!

T2: 0:40

Fast. But that's because I didn't have to switch shoes. When I wear my cleated shoes, this will slow down. Not much to comment on. I just racked my bike, doffed my helmet, grabbed a bottle of Propel and was off on the run.

Run: 27:30 (7:04 pace for 3.9 miles)

Very pleased with this. Again, there were lots of people to chase down and I didn't get passed.

I seriously thought I was running closer to 8 minute pace. This felt very comfortable and I was very surprised at the average pace. Felt great at the finish!

Overall time: 1:42:33
Age group: 4/15
Women: 29/118
Overall: 126/332

And friends from Rochester:

(the Ewen's) ...

and Shaun Palmer.

And there were cookies for one and all, of course!!

I'd recommend this tri to anyone and would certainly participate again myself.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-)