Race Preview: Bismarck Sprint Triathlon

Event: 2010 Bismarck Triathlon (Sprint & Olympic distance races); competing in sprint distance event
Date: Sunday, June 20. Rare 12:30 PM (CST) start
Location: Bismarck, North Dakota
Previous Results: 4th overall in 2008

I competed at this event in 2008. The Bismarck Triathlon has been plagued by cool temperatures in the past resulting in the swim being cancelled and being turned into a duathlon. When I competed in 2008 the water temp was 61-degrees F, but the full tri was held. And that was nasty-freeeze-your-head-cold. The event has now been pushed out one week later in the year to try and allow the Missouri River (yep, a river swim) time to warm up. A wet suit is most certainly needed.

The following video is one I spliced together from 2008. It could have been edited a bit better but it is what it is. 85% swim. You can see me swimming along from the 4:09 to 4:17 section of the video. Notice the Boy® running with me at the end and doing his part to keep the course clean. What a little Cub Scout!

What I am amped and stoked about is not so much the Bismarck tri, but that on Saturday I will be meeting with race director Steven Aesoph in Jamestown to ride the mountain bike course on the Xterra Pipestem Creek course. Yeah, not your typical pre-race day workout....but Jamestown is on my way to Bismarck and what greater advantage to ride the offroad course the weekend before the event (June 26)!

But back to Bismarck. The course is well laid out. It is flat. It is fast. I'm setting some lofty goals for this Sprint distance triathlon: 500 meter swim, 20K bike, 5K run. My goals -

Swim: 09:00
T1: 02:00
Bike: 33:35 (22.2 MPH)
T2: 01:00
Run: 20:24 (6:35/mile)
Overall: 01:06:00

North Dakota can be a wee bit windy. Not the 10-12 MPH windy but the 20 gusting to 30 MPH kind of winds that have you cursing like a sailor after his fifth bottle of rum. That's about the only factor that could affect the outcome that is out of my control.

Update: Guess what. Early forecast shows winds from SE at 23 mph. That would be at our backs going out and against coming in on this out-and-back course. Dandy, just dandy.

Update (6/17): From fellow triathlete Mike Fretland - "Swam misty waters today at noon cold but bearable. Little weedy. We had 15-20mph wind today and the swim out was ok....swim back was brutal. The swim may cause some folks a little problem." Additonally, the current wind forecast is now showing ESE at 7 mph.

Have a great weekend competing or training as the case may be! I might be checking in later with some early photos or video from Jamestown. So check back if you are bored.