My Upper Lip Tastes Like a Pretzel (2006 in Review)

My first event of the year was the Ironman Bike Ride out of Lakeville, MN, on April 30, 2006. Participants could choose to bike the 30, 60, or 100 mile course. I knew I could do the 60-mile course easily, so I was considering the 100 mile course. And when I found out there were “Lag Wagons” to pick you up if the course was too much, I was sold on the 100-mile route!

The day left something to be desired, however. It was raining, cold, and there were 25-30 mph winds. The winds weren’t a problem at first. I did my first 35 miles in 2 hours and still felt as good as new. But when the course turned southeast at mile 35, the wind was head-on. I made it from Lakeville to Jordan to Belle Plaine to Montgomery to Lonsdale to Dundas to Northfield (86 miles into the course) and had to throw in the towel. I could not make myself finish those last 15 miles – I had nothing to prove to anyone. Those last 50 straight miles of wind and rain beating straight into my face had taken it’s toll, so I found a Lag Wagon, kissed the driver on the lips, and said “Take me home!”

Wet, cold, windy, shitty

First meal after the Ironman Ride. Top notch!

My second event of the year was a fun one: it was an Indoor Triathlon at the Lifetime Fitness in Chanhassen, MN, on May 7, 2006. “Indoor Triathlon?” you say? “How does it work?” you say? Instead of having to travel a certain distance as fast as you can, this triathlon has athletes going as far as they can within a certain time limit. So it was a 10 minute swim in a lap pool, 10 minute transition, 30 minute bike on a spinning cycle, 5 minute transition, and a 20 minute run on a treadmill. The distances are then translated into points (the farther you travel, the more points you get) and everyone is ranked against everyone else. Good stuff!

It almost turned deadly due to the amount of guacamole that I had consumed the night before at a party. I was in the bathroom doing unpretty things 3 times in the half hour leading up to the swim. I literally went straight from the toilet to the pool to warm up 5 minutes before the gun sounded. I made it through OK (thank God!!)

My third event on May 24, 2006, was very unofficial. I signed up months ago to do an Olympic Distance Triathlon in July, and I wanted to make sure that I could do one. So I went to the Y and swam 33 laps (roughly 0.9 miles), ran through the locker room and hopped on my bike, biked 25 miles, dropped my bike off at home and ran 6 miles (6.2 miles is the official run, but I only ran about 6). The swim took me 44 minutes, the bike took me 1 hour 33 minutes, and the run took me 58 minutes. With transitions, my total time was about 3 hours, 20 minutes. The times were NOT fast. But more importantly, I finished, I was still upright, and I felt great!!

My fourth event (which will bring us up to date) was the Apple Duathlon in Sartell, MN, on May 27, 2006. This duathlon was a 5k run, 33k bike, and 5k run (roughly 3.1 mile run, 21 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). This was spectacular! I had a great time, even thought the bike course was hilly and my odometer crapped out so I had no idea how far into the course I was. My total time was 1 hour 54 minutes (my first run was 23:04, my bike was 1:06:29, and my second run was 23:24).

My bike (middle left) and Sarahs bike (middle right)

Post-race pizza and bread