"Pre" Race Report: Trinona Triathlon!

This will be the start of my Trinona Triathlon race report, but it will just be all the pre-race stuff that leads up to starting the race. It's been a busy weekend. No time for a full report now, but I'll be back with the rest of it shortly. (I did this 5 years ago when I did Trinona and brought 1-year-old Henry with me: I had a post that was all pre-race stuff, and then my race report a day later.)

I headed down to Winona on Saturday afternoon:

My bike in the backseat, its front wheel in Henry's car seat, and my race wheels in the back.


While I was heading to the race, my boys were playing with their cousins.


My wife and my son's head!


It was a WINDY drive to Winona! This was from a car driving parallel to the freeway.


The temp when I pulled up to Lake Winona.


The lake, with THEE bluff in the background (that I would NOT have to climb in the sprint).


Baby's first elevator ride.


Sweet simple room at the AmericInn in Winona.


Hotel room shirt selfie. Race director Dave liked that
I wore an old Trinona Time Trial shirt to packet pick up.

I got settled into my hotel, went to church, grabbed a Subway sandwich, and enjoyed the quiet in my room:

Watching COPS in bed while eating a sub. High class.


Running to HyVee because I realized a sub wouldn't fill me up. There's the bluff
again that the Olympic Distance would be climbing the next day!


This is heaven for a Dad with 2 little boys. Love you guys! (But love this too!)


Eiffel all tucked in for the night.


Watching the weather for the next morning. We were all a bit worried
about possible storms at the start of the race. Yikes!

I was in bed around 9:30 with lights out at 10:00. I slept like a ROCK until about 3, and then slept OK until my alarm at 5. I made 5 servings of oatmeal (yes, really) and saw that the weather forecast had shaped up and looked pretty clear through the race! I took a hotel room selfie while "taking care of business" in the bathroom:

Me in the bathroom, and some bathroom art. Race director Dave
requested special vaginal-based artwork for me. I think.


Still plenty of uneasiness in the sky heading 3 miles to the race from my hotel.


Eiffel with her sexy wheels on. And note the bug spray in the back of my tri bag - I come prepared.


My traditional pre-race photo... which leads to this next video...


THIS IS A WEIRD THING TO HEAR IN A PORTA POTTY! (Turn up the volume.)


Transition filling up. There's Eiffel with the disc. And I'm glad I still have my TOE COVERS
on my bike shoes (see them next to my wheel?). Being it was 80 degrees. Sheesh.

I tested my bike a bit, got my transition area all set up, and started walking down the shore to the swim start. I kept bumping into this one family (their room was across from mine, the Dad was racked just down from me, etc), and we started chatting. After a few moments, he said "Hey, do you happen to be 'Speedo Steve?!?'" Yep, that's me. His name was Mike B, and here he is with some woman in the middle and his daughter on the left:

Just before the swim start. (I got this photo from FB as Mike and I were tagged together
by a mutual friend - this photo was public, so I'm assuming it's OK to share here.)

You'll need to remember Mike for my race report coming in the next day or 2 because he'll be brought up again...

It was 80 degrees, a bit humid, a bit breezy but not bad, and nice and cloudy. We were ready to RACE. Trinona has a "time trial" start where everyone is sent off in pairs every few seconds. I was just maybe 2 minutes back from the start of the SPRINT waves (the OLYMPIC distance had taken off an hour earlier).

We worked our way down to the lake, and WE WERE OFF!! Full race report coming SOON!

UPDATE: Here's the rest of my race report!