Chaska River City Days Triathlon Quickie Race Report

This race recap isn't going to be nearly as thorough as the one I did for the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  It isn't because I don't have a lot to say, but I've got other things on my mind.  But we'll get to that in a moment.

In short, the race today went GREAT.  I either met or exceeded all of my goals.  Let's take a look:


Swim - 1/3 of a Mile

2009 Results - 11:34 - 2:07/100y
2010 Goal - Sub 2:00 splits
2010 Results - 9:18 - 1:42/100y

The swim went WAY better than I was expecting.  I ended up 24th out of 299 racers and 2nd in my age group.  Are you KIDDING me?!?

Bike - 16 Miles

2009 Results - 54:33 - 17.4 MPH Average
2010 Goal - 18.5 MPH or faster
2010 Results - 48:27 - 19.8 MPH Average

I didn't FEEL like I was going very fast during the bike.  The hill climbing out of Chaska is pretty tough, so I must have made up quite a bit of time on the flats and coasting down back into town.  Now, if only I had the cash-flow to invest in an honest-to-goodness tri bike.  That'd be sweet.

Run - 5K (3.1 Miles)

2009 Result - 27:27 - 8:52/mile
2010 Goal - between 8:30 and 8:45/mile
2010 Results - 25:19 - 8:10/mile

Again, I didn't FEEL like I was running that quickly.  I didn't even feel like I was running at my normal training cruising pace - which is usually in the 9:00 to 9:30 range.  This was especially the case on the long uphill, but I managed a 9:10 first mile.  My 2nd mile clocked in at 8:50.  This was close to my goal pace, so I knew I had to book it down the hill for the 3rd mile if I wanted to reduce my average split.  It must have worked, because I managed a 7:10 split.  Cripes!  I haven't run that fast since high school. 

I really dig this sprint race.  It's a fun course and there are just the right number of participants for it to feel well populated, but not crowded.  Since I usually do longer races, the hardest part was knowing how to pace myself.  I knew I could push harder, but wasn't sure how MUCH harder.  I was just blessed to pick paces that left just enough gas in the tank to tackle the run.  Another bonus is that, unlike a 1/2 Ironman, I won't have to take a week off to recover from the race.


Well, that's all for now.  I'm off to pack for a trip.  My wife and I are flying out early tomorrow morning for a vacation with some friends.  Here's what I taped to the monitor at my office:

Toodles!