Thursday, August 13, 2009

Detroit Lakes Triathlon Preview

This coming Saturday (8/15) finds me, the Boy®, and the WKW (Well Kept Wife) in the comfy confines of Detroit Lakes. Comfy because these are the stomping grounds of my summer vacations as a youth when my folks would pack up my sister and I and we'd head east from Jamestown, NoDak and visit the wide selection of lakes around the D.L. area. And also because this time around, instead of a campground we are staying at the ultra deluxe uber spa known as The Lodge.

This event will be a 1/3 mile swim, a 10 mile bike** and a 3 mile run. And I have had this one circled on my calendar for some time now. I trained to peak for this event as I should have quite an entourage watching. My parents & my sister and brother-in-law should be in attendance.

**Note - point of contention here as last years results stated 10-mile bike while web site now reads 12-mile bike. I guess we'll find out.

Here is a view of the course from Google Earth, which is cool as I could zoom in and get a good look at the topography.



The Swim



Out and back. Hopefully it is counter clockwise..not that it matters much. I prefer counter clockwise as I breathe only to the right.

The Bike



I expect the course to be fairly flat. It's around a lake. How many hills can there be?

The Run



Out and back. Just the way I like it so I can count how many people I have to mow down. And since this event has ten year age groupings, my goal of making the podium in the 40-49 age group may take more effort. As with any event that I am doing for the first time it is hard to set goals but here we go anyway. My targets will be:

Swim (1/3 miles) - 10:38
T1 - 1:30
Bike (10 mi) - 27:16 (22 MPH)
T2 - 1:20
Run (3 mi) - 19:30 (6:30/mi)
Total - 1:00.15

And if the bike turns out to be 12-miles instead of 10-miles:

Swim (1/3 miles) - 10:38
T1 - 1:30
Bike (12 mi) - 32:43 (22 MPH)
T2 - 1:20
Run (3 mi) - 20:15 (6:45/mi; longer bike slower run pace)
Total - 1:06.27

Too early to tell about the weather but it looks to have good temps with a chance for some thundery mix before dawn. Breezy, of course!

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