Race Result: 2011 Manitou Triathlon

Event: 22nd annual Manitou Triathlon (USAT)
Date: Sunday, June 12, 2011
Location: Ramsey County Beach, White Bear Lake, MN
Hotel: Home, sweet home
Weather: 54F; partly cloudy; wind from ESE at 7-10 MPH
Official Results: Overall results

Personal Results
Goal: 1:15.08
Official Time: 1:18.21
Overall: 45th overall (251 total); 31th in AG Males (165 total); 5th in 50-54 AG (20 total)

One way to review this race would be to simply be satisfied that I have one more race under my belt as I recover from the pelvic stress fracture. Another way to look at it is with pure disgust over so little progress.....indeed, regression....due to the lack of training I have been able to do these last few weeks. It's bad enough that I am almost thinking of just packing it in for the year and start looking at 2012.

Almost.

On top of it, I seem to be fighting some sort of stomach bug or else the stress from the Real Job has finally led to another ulcer. Hopefully it is the former and not the later.


Time for the personal report.

The day started out well enough. The sun was shining and the winds low. Then the sun went bye-bye and it got cold fast and the wind picked up a bit. I'm not sure what the water temperature was but the typical response from people entering the water for warm-up was, "Ooooh, that is cold". Definitely colder than the lake in Iowa for Pigman.


Swim - 0.5 miles

Goal: 14:04
Official Time: 15:51; 5th in AG (20 total)

Perhaps too ambitious of a goal. I was pacing my possible time off the Pigman split from the week before. So, either I swam better at Pigman OR the course was shorter OR the Manitou course was long.

What was interesting is what occurred during the elite wave that went off right before my wave. The swim course was a rectangle. Four buoy's out, three across and four back. We are watching the elites and then inexplicably, the leaders all turned at the third buoy! It wasn't until they saw they were inside the backside buoy that they realized their error. To their credit, they turned around and got back on course. I would say nearly every elite made this error. And you can notice it in their swim times.

I thought I had a good swim. I went out easier than Pigman, this race being a 0.5 mile swim. By the time we were heading for shore I was in a group of two other people and we sighted and drafted off each other. I was very surprised to see how slow I was.


T1

Goal: 02:20
Official Time: 02:53

As this was my first time at this event, I didn't realized this was another loooooooong transition. Comparable to Pigman. I did better this time in that by the time I hit T1 my upper wetsuit was off and my lower was hanging below my waist. The only sad thing, my gold chain with cross must have been snagged inside as I lost it. Funny how certain jewelry is precious to a person.


Bike - 13.5 miles

Goal: 37:19 (21.7 MPH)
Official Time: 37:45 (21.5 MPH); 4th in AG (20 total) 



The bike was so weird. I could not, for the life of me, get the legs to respond on the first five miles. Maybe I should not have done that 20-miler on Friday. Maybe the half-mile swim took more out than I thought it did. Or maybe, I'm just out of shape.

I'm upset here as I secretly thought I could easily be in the mid-22 MPH range. My legs did finally wake up shortly before the turn-around. It took me 21-minutes to go out, 16-minutes to come back. Where were those legs on the front half?

But, for the second week in a row there was no leg cramps. One positive.


T2

Goal: 01:00
Official Time: 01:19

Another long run to rack the bike, and I was hit with a surprise. There were already four bikes racked up int he male 50-54 section. Not good. Unless I had a monster run, I would not be looking at a podium finish. I then had to make a decision. Do I reach for the ol' fraying Luna Racers or the Mizuno's (Universe 3? I had laid out the Mizuno's to purposely use, and try again, for the run. But I passed and grabbed the Luna's. I went for the familiar over the unknown.


Run - 5K

Goal: 20:24 (6:34 pace)
Official Time: 20:35 (6:39 pace); 3rd in AG (20 total)

It was billed as a 3-mile run but the results are showing it as a 5K...so whatever. I ran okay. No cramps and it went fairly smooth. I had a nice kick into the finish and it was all over but the crying.  No pain from the stress fracture. Another good sign. Perhaps this coming week I can actually get out and run. In between Pigman and this event, I was able to get in one 3.5 mile workout due to the various pains in both sides.

Next Event:

Sunday, Jun 19 - HyVee Rochesterfest Sprint Triathlon, consisting of a ¼mi Swim, 10mi Bike, 5K Run. This is possible. I've not signed up yet. I might opt to take the coming weekend to simply kick-back and train. Or I may race. I'll decide my mid-week. If I have to guess, I will pass (sorry Mario). We'll see how the next few days are.

If not that event, then my next event for sure will be:

Sunday, Jun 26 - Lake Waconia Tri (USAT), consisting of a 0.5mi swim, 20mi bike, 4mi run.

Special note: I finally got to meet Greta Simpson and Tim Litzinger. Greta competed with the elites and, um, chicked me by three seconds. Great race Greta! I looked for you again when I had caught my breath to chat some more. Too many people!

Tim was a volunteer at Manitou Triathlon. He is suffering from some form of sciatica. But there he was, posting the results at 'eye level' ...if you are 6'3". Hope you get back racing soon, Tim.

And finally, huge Shout Out! to fellow tri-geek William Jenks of Ames, Iowa for his 05:06:51 at Kansas 70.3 this past Sunday. That was good enough for 6th overall in the mens 45-49 AG. And that was sans wet-suit. From William: Cool weather and rain made it wet suit legal, believe it or not.