The Day after

Yesterday was the 9th Annual Root River Triathlon in Houston, Minnesota. I competed, as did my sister. In fact, we were partners for one portion.

This was the first triathlon either of us had competed in, so the Root River Triathlon had specific appeal. It was local (about 15 minutes from where we grew up) and featured one unusual tri event: a canoe ride instead of a swim. Because it is so difficult for two mothers of toddlers to practice canoeing, especially for a mid-May event in Minnesota, part of the appeal was the knowledge that we would need to approach this race rather casually. We soon found out, however, that at least 30% of the field has a much less casual approach to the canoeing portion of the triathlon. Many other participants had practiced their strokes. A lot.

We tried our best with the canoeing, but our best included near-constant jokes about ice bergs, apologies for splashing, and a couple of late-race chants for the last bridge to appear.

The bike ride was brutal. We had biked the route of the triathlon the weekend before, so we had an idea of what we were in for. Or so we thought. After our trial ride, we both came away thinking the route was much more manageable than we had anticipated. However, the day we did the pre-ride we hit wind at one corner. Yesterday a 15-25 mile an hour wind was in our face almost the entire time. It was a slow ride, and if you compare last year's results to this year's, you'll find that average bike time was much, much slower.

It should be mentioned that this year the race organizers seem not to have recorded a transition time between the canoe and bike portion, as they have done in previous years. It appears that most of the transition time got added as the bike time, so that also lengthened the average bike time.

The run was good and flat, but fairly hot. I was surprised at how many athletes walked the final event. It's fairly clear from that experience, as well as the gear the athletes brought, that the event attracts more bikers than runners. That was contrary to my assumptions about the race since the run was, proportionally, a longer event than the bike.

My sister and I picked up a lot of things we would do differently. A major thing would be doing more multisport training in the same day. We both commented afterward that it took to about the halfway point in both the bike ride and the run to start feeling our rhythm, when the event went from a struggle to feeling like a challenge we could master. We also need to canoe more. Maybe she and I will do that some this summer and in summers to come, rather than waiting until April before our next Root River Triathlon.

Anyway, if you want results, you can find them here. And if you want the homepage of the race, you can find that here.

Best quote of the day:
"God, even their life jackets are belly shirts."

Edited to include:
One final note about this tri: the support was fantastic. My sister recruited her mother-in-law to watch our two girls so that our husbands could take care of our equipment. It turns out that our husbands did more fishing than equipment wrangling because of the great volunteers at all of the transitions. Now, the husbands did load the canoes and bikes onto and into the cars, so they didn't get off free, but they did make the high school aged volunteers carry the canoes up the hill to the car. These were the same high school volunteers that caught the canoes and brought them to shore in the transition between canoeing and biking. Another great feature was the elementary school aged kids at the water stop. They were so excited to be passing out water, you felt bad when you turned it down.

Running makes you beautiful

Running makes you beautiful
Originally uploaded by superturbo.

Social Mapping

I have started a Sanoodi account. The maps themselves don't appear much different from the usual mapping sites, but Sanoodi does have one advantage. They are making these maps part of a social network. So not only can you get a map of all the activities you've completed in your neighborhood, you can also find everyone else in your neighborhood and contact them. I find the USATF site a little easier when creating a map, but it is impossible to contact anyone else who's mapped any local routes. Well, at least not if you don't want to appear like a creepy stalker. On USATF you can see the runs that have happened in the neighborhood, and the user that mapped them, but you can't see the real life person attached to that username.

Heart & SOUL Row, Run & Ride Triathlon

One of the people I ran Cross-Country with in college now works for an organization that is running a triathlon on April 29. This one looks a little more difficult than the Root River Triathlon, because it is slightly more miles. It still looks fun.

Root River Triathlon

I believe my next race will be the Root River Triathlon on May 19 in Houston, MN. I've been looking for a triathlon, but have not yet signed up. I need some help with the swimming portion, and I have yet to convince my local Y to provide a stroke clinic, like I've seen offered at other Ys. Luckily, this one starts with a canoe rather than a swim. It is also weighted toward the runner, with an 8 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. Most tris I've seen are 12 mile bike rides and 5k runs.

Fools Five

I did not run in the Fools Five in Lewiston. However, I did look at the results. Looks like it was a good race and I missed out. Maybe I'll make the 30th year race.

River City Running Club

I drove down to LaCrosse this morning to run with the River City Running Club. It was so great to have a group run again. The time flew by as I met interesting people. Now, if only I didn't have to drive 45 minutes each way...

Any Winona runners out there looking to organize? Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Edit: I've gotten hits from people searching Google for the River City Running Club. They have a new account, which may mean they've been harder to find? Hopefully this link will get you there:
http://www.rivercityrunningclub.com/

Rochester Resolution Run

The results for the Rochester Resolution Run can be found on the Rochester Track Club site. This race was actually run on New Year's Day. What a great way to ring in a new year.

LaCrosse Y New Year's Resolution Run

I returned to the LaCrosse Family Y (Onalaska location) for the second in the Y's holiday running season. They made an announcement before the race that the course for both the 5k and 5 mile runs had changed from that of the Jingle Bell Run. It had been, indeed, long. So we all ran much better times in 2007. See the times at their site.

Y Holiday series

I ran in the first of the La Crosse Family YMCA Holiday Running Series. My time was a little slow, which was disappointing since I felt like I ran a faster race. When I compared the times of the people around me versus the Turkey Trot, I found that they all were a bit slower than the previous race. So it may be the colder weather, but I'm betting the race was a little long. I'll just have to remember to compare the Holiday Running Series against itself and not compare it to other races.

Y Holiday series

Are there any Winona runners planning to run in the Y Holiday Series in LaCrosse?

Mapping routes

If you haven't already found it, you can find some good Winona area running routes at the USA Track and Field Site.

You can also contribute your routes and rate the routes contributed by others.