Final Race Thoughts: North Mankato and Waconia Relays

So it's been 2 weeks since my back-to-back relay race weekend, but I haven't posted my final thoughts.

In my North Mankato Triathlon race report, I noted that I swam well and was among the first out of the water in my wave.

Me hitting the beach (seen before in my race report).


Our relay team post-race with our 2nd place medals! (And all our kids.)

It was 400 meters, and I swam it straight and hard. I noted I was technically the 2nd team swimmer out of the water, but the 1st swimmer was the guy who accidentally cut the course and was DQed. And looking at all overall swim times, I was the 16th fastest there (out of 163). But I could have been ranked so well because it was a smaller race that didn't attract crazy fast people.

Then the next day I did an 800 meter swim at the Waconia Triathlon.

Swim photo from my race report.


Getting our 1st place team awards. (Devon only had a babydoll tee for me to wear.)

I didn't swim as well at Waconia. I'm DEFINITELY better at shorter swims - I can't maintain a pace as well as I should be able to over a greater distance. On the final stretch of this swim, I actually felt a little fatigued from the 400 swim the day before - I didn't think that'd be an issue! It didn't really slow me down, but I DID feel it. I was the 5th swimmer out of 12 teams. There are 3 reasons I was slower: this race draws more speedsters, I didn't swim quite as well, and I can't hold on to my speed very well as the distance increases. Here my swim would have been ranked much worse when you compare it to everyone's individual swim times: I'd be ranked 61st out of 169.

Both races were great venues. Being Pharmie and I are from southern Minnesota (and the distances are right my alley), we really hope to race the North Mankato Triathlon as individuals next year.

If you missed them, click here for my family relay race report at North Mankato, and click here for my best friends relay with buddy Devon at Waconia.