That is the margin of victory for the Lakes Country Triathlon I won this past weekend… a 1/2mile swim, 17mile bike and a 3.9mile run.  Last year I came in second place by about a minute, due to a very slow swim time, so it felt great to get the win this time around.  I didn’t even know it was going to be that close because the second place finisher, Matthew Payne, was in wave 2 and started 3mins behind me.  The only thing that saved me was my run time, 5:26 mile pace for 3.9 miles.  I can’t believe I am running so fast this year after not running all spring due to an ankle injury.  I think I tied my PR time for a 5k during the +6k run.  Check out results here http://www.pickleevents.com/events/lctri/.  Not too bad for only my 4th triathlon… I try to do one per summer to change it up a bit… race-wise.

Overall the event went well…I swam, biked and ran faster than last year.  We got to the event a little late but my wife was very supportive in getting me all setup in the transition zone and getting my registration packet.  Even with the extra help from Marybeth and my cousin Jeff (who lives and works in Brainerd) I didn’t have enough time for a warm-up so I pulled my wet suit on and headed to the start line. I borrowed the wet suit from Evan Pengelly which helped me a lot more than I think it was going to help.  The swim went very well besides getting kicked in the nose shortly after the start.  I got a sweet time trial bike from Mark Brynes which helped lead to a 24.6mph average on the bike leg.  The run went well and my legs didn’t even feel that rubbery after transitioning from the bike leg.  I still need to work on my transition speed… but I don’t like to rush things… I’d probably forget something…. like putting my helmet on before the bike leg or something similar. Here are some pics my wife snapped with the powershot.  I’ll add more later if I get some emailed to me.

Sweat in my eyes!