Trinona: A Race To Experience!

Well folks, I believe I am safe to call Trinona my favorite race after participating the past two years!  The triathlon was this past Sunday, June 8th and was AWESOME!  The Trinona venue is a beauty to behold, in the Mississippi bluff country. The swim starts in Lake Winona, with Sugarloaf Bluff visible in the distance. The bike is an out and back format into bluff country--the way out is a bit of a climb, but after the turnaround the decreasing elevation helps to ramp up some serious speed on the way back.  Finally, the run course winds around Lake Winona and allows for an excellent view of the bluffs!  Of course, the picture perfect weather made for an even more fabulous day!  We had sun and blue skies, low 70 degree weather, little wind, and 72 degree water temps!  A huge thank you goes out to the weather gods for providing us with such a glorious day.

 

Posing With Sugarloaf Bluff Pre Race

As far as my race goes, I was definitely more nervous than I normally am.  The combination of healing from injury, hoping my foot would tolerate the race, and the minimal training I had done made for a few butterflies!  However, considering all those factors I had a satisfying race and FINISHED!  A goal I had started to take for granted pre-injury. 

Time Trial Start

Heading into transition from a bike in the bluffs!

Results:

Swim:  9:27 (27 seconds faster than last year)

T1:  2:00

Bike: 38:01  (41 seconds slower than last year)

T2:  1:51

Run: 32:07  (6 mins and 13 seconds slower than last year)

Finish Time:  1:23:25

I am pretty excited that my swim and bike times were very similar to last years race even with my lack of training!  I also expected my run time to be significantly slower due to injury, so that was not a surprise.  However, I still placed 10th out of 23 people in my age group.  And did I mention it felt great to be out competing again?

Mom and I post race!

Some serious hardware!

On a side note, the finisher medal we received last year had a misprint and declared the race "Battle For The Buff" (which I thought was hilarious)!  However, this year they got it right with awesome hardware declaring the race "Battle For The Bluff"!  

If you have the opportunity check this race out!  You won't be dissapointed. 

Caught In Action

A received and found a few action shots from Trinona and thought I would share!

The start of my swim wave!  I am the one wearing the black wetsuit and white swim cap!  Ok, I can be a little more specific...I am to the left of the woman in the multicolor pink tank.

Getting clipped in and heading out on the bike!

The joy of the finish line!

Stay tuned for an update from Graniteman St. Cloud this Sunday!

"Trinona: Battle For The BUFF"

Well I decided to try a new race early in the season:  Trinona!  I LOVED IT!!  The event took place in the beautiful bluffs of Winona, MN and was celebrating it's 5th year. Race day brought temps in the high 50's to low 60's, some wind, overcast skies, and rain.

The swim course was the weediest I have ever swam in.  Some triathletes did not finish the swim, due to getting tangled up in the weeds and having anxiety about them. I persevered through and on to the bike portion I went. Thankfully the rain stopped while I was racing but roads were slick and dirty.   The bike out and back course in the bluffs was followed by an out and back run along Lake Winona.

After crossing the finish line I learned I was 5th place in my age group and only 17 seconds off of 3rd place and making the podium.  Of course this is the point I think to myself:  if only that van hadn't turned in front of me on the race course causing me to slow down on the bike; maybe I shouldn't have been so cautious on the tight turns on the bike course; I could have had a smoother transition; or picked up my run pace!  Of course hind sight is always 20/20 and I have now thought about how to shave the time off for the next race!

One of the highlights of the race has to be the finishers medal--it was beautiful. However, it had a great misprint in it.  Instead of saying "Battle For The Bluff", it said "Battle For The Buff".  Definitely a 5 year commemorative medal!  :)

Next on the agenda will be Graniteman St. Cloud where I will be doing the swim portion of the relay team.

A few photos from Trinona:

Beautiful bluff country!

 

Transition area overlooking the lake and bike course in the background!

 

Two thumbs up for a great race!

The Pack represents at Trinona!

Medal misprint!  :)