Decided on Friday July 26th to see what type triathlon I could do this weekend in lieu of hard training. Looked at the MINNESOTA TRI NEWS calendar and there were 7 races listed for the weekend of July 27-28 within driving distance of my house. Lots of race options during the summer is typical for Minnesota as most outside sports events are compressed into the short summer season. Chisago City had a sprint and half Ironman combo race for Sunday morning, was 25 miles from my house, and a race fee of $55. Hard to pass up.
The sprint was a .25 mile swim, 22+ mile bike (course altered due to bridge construction), and 5K run. The short swim and relatively long bike was to my liking. I hadn't run since my Racine 70.3 race last Sunday to give my knees adequate recovery time, so I did not know what to expect on the run. Also, the cold front forecast for last weekend arrived late -- it was 50 degrees this Sunday morning.
The swim was a wave start with the long course athletes starting first, approximately 700 of them. The sprinters followed and I was in the first sprint wave with about 800 entrants in this event. Swim felt good; transition was horrible as I struggled with my wetsuit; bike was good except for my going off-course near the end and turning around after a block; run felt OK on my knees. Averaged 235 watts on the bike for an average speed of 23.2mph. Odd, as it was a relatively flat course (700 ft vertical) and I usually average 1 to 1.5 mph faster than 10% of my average watts (so I should have averaged 24.5 mph). For example, last week I pushed 207 ave watts and averaged 22.2 mph. Same bike, same setup, who knows?
My S/B/R splits were 8:11/58:40/22:47 with corresponding overall placings of 80th/27th/86th out of the approximately 800 entrants (last year placings 139/56/59 showing improved swim/bike). Total time with transitions 1:32:54, slower than last year but the bike was a bit longer due to the bridge construction and rerouting. The swim was a much better placing than normal, probably due to an increased emphasis on swimming as a substitute for running. Overall pretty consistent placings. Satisfied as it has only been a week since I raced Racine 70.3.
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