Heart of the Lakes Triathlon (1/2 Mile Swim, 21 Mile Bike, and 5.3 Mile Run)

July 15, 2007
Annandale, Minnesota

Minnesota has a great triathlon scene, and in many ways the weekend of the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon and the Heart of the Lakes Triathlon are its zenith. We've got the best short course athletes on the planet in town and thousands of athletes racing at two great events. What could be better?

While this week is really exciting, it is also a lot of work for those who work in triathlon. I've had a booth at the Lifetime Fitness triathlon expo these past years and I really enjoy talking with folks about triathlon and how coaching can help them. That is the good part, the bad is that I spend all day on my feet. I don't mind that per se, but it is surely a factor in influencing my race at Heart of the Lakes. To sum it up, I was under recovered. I'd been up late working for days on end and spent a lot of time on my feet. The day before Heart of the Lakes I felt so tired I thought of skipping the race entirely. In the end, I couldn't miss the chance to race at Heart of the Lakes. I love this race and since I didn't race last year, I couldn't miss it again. The times would be what they were, I was going to be there.

Race morning came earlier than I wanted but I proceeded to get myself and my stuff ready. I was really pleased with my bike as I've been playing with my position lately and with the increased drop from the seat to the aero bars I was pretty sure I'd really made my position one for speed. I also got my wheel cover on and I was psyched by how fast my bike looked. With a machine like that, I felt I had to go and give it my all. I don't have any race photos in which the bike appears but I snapped this one the day afterward.

I got to the race venue and all went fine. I saw some folks I knew including a client, and enjoyed chatting with them. They announce the water temp at 74, which is just about my favorite. Cool enough for the wetsuit but not so warm as to make it uncomfortable. I warm up without my wetsuit, I like to do this so that when I get the wetsuit on, I feel even faster in the water. Not that I am fast in the water, but the added confidence and positive feelings I get from the first strokes in the wetsuit are always encouraging.

Race
I was in the 6th wave and enjoyed watching the others start and the elite wave finish. I was a bit worried about the swim as I've had some problems in my last 2 races with huge amounts of chest pressure making it almost impossible to swim. I figured it had to do with my pre race nutrition, particularly too much sports drink too close to the race start. So today, I dropped the sports drink entirely figuring that would likely get rid of the problem. I line up towards the back and outside of my wave and take off in a relatively relaxed way for the half mile swim. I start swimming and all is going pretty well. I'm holding a decent line and I'm not getting clobbered or bumping with others. I get going for awhile and am really happy that I'm not experiencing the breathing problems I had been. I keep at it and the swim is really quite uneventful, just the way they should be. I get out of the water in a time that isn't good but at least I could keep swimming and enjoying myself.

Transition 1
I had some trouble getting the wetsuit off for some reason. Aside from that, I got to my bike, got the aero helmet on and got after it. This transition is pretty big and I was happy to get to the dismount line so I could get my bare feet off the pavement.

Bike
I started and was immediately passing a number of people. Such is the experience of an athlete who bikes much better than they swim. Due to road construction, this race had to change its bike route this year, which was a little disappointing to me as I really like the old course. We ended up spending more time on a relatively busy highway. There was not much traffic but because we were all on the shoulder I had to jump out into the road and ride across those holes in the pavement used to make sure people don't veer off the road. I started to grow tired of hitting those things.

While it is pretty common for me to feel less than perfect in the first miles of the bike, I kind of felt like I was worse that normal. I looked at my power meter a few times and the values I saw there were far lower than I thought they might have been for how the effort felt. I fully understood the reality of the day pretty quickly and resolved myself to make the best of my situation. I was not going to be my best but that was out of my control. I did have control over how I executed the effort and I'd just have to let the results be what they were going to be. I didn't' matter if I was happy with my performance or not, I was there to race hard and have fun and that was what I tried to do. I really enjoyed riding my bike in the aero helmet with all the folks around. While my power was pretty low for me, I felt like I was going pretty quickly, at least as far as compared to those who were around me. I only got passed a few times, which was pretty good, though since the guys who did pass me left me in the dust I was sure I wasn't going too well.

In the very last miles of the ride, I finally felt like I was starting to get some power going. I used that positive vibe as best I could as I rolled into T2. This transition was pretty uneventful aside from the fact that I decided to let myself stop in the porta potty. I haven't stopped to use one of these in a race aside from an Ironman and a marathon and so this was a big change for me. I just didn't have the mental strength to feel like I had to pee for the whole run. As I exited the transition area I see a client coming in who started in a later wave, which was great as he was having a great race.

Run
The weather was great for a summer triathlon, not too hot while still sunny. I start off and the run is going pretty well. I am moving reasonably well and I am doing what I need to do. There are lots of people around and I'm enjoying myself. I missed the first couple of mile marks so when I check it, over the toughest mile of the course, a slight uphill with the most heat, I was pretty happy with the time. I knew I didn't have a lot more than that and keep focusing on keeping posture good with a high foot turnover. This works and pretty soon I'm getting close to the end of the run. I keep at it and enjoy running across the line.

Post race
I love the post race area at this race. They've got great post race food, a mist shower and I always seem to have good conversations with fellow athletes. This year didn't disappoint. I got to watch my client finish, and he did a great race.

Power Review
I did not look at the power meter too much in the ride. When I did I saw values for my current and average watts that were far lower than I thought would be ideal. Towards the end of the ride, I simply stopped looking as it simply didn't matter. A day later now, I've gone over the file, which you can download here. It shows pretty much what I thought it would. I executed a fine race in the sense that my power does not fade, I largely avoid power spikes, and I kept the average power and the norm power pretty close together. All of that was good. The values themselves, however, are lacking. I'm pretty confident that my functional threshold power (FTP), the wattage I could hold for an all out 1 hour effort, is between 260 and 270 on my TT bike. As an aside, it's higher on the road bike. For this race, I should have been able to average at least 93 percent of that value, more likely closer to 100 percent of that value, and I as far from that. My overall average for the effort, which took less than 1 hour, was 230 watts with the norm power at 245 watts. I am left a bit annoyed in that I am not happy with the power I produced. I'm taking consolation in the fact that I played the cards I was dealt pretty well but at the end of the day, that is not quite enough. Oh well, such is what is great about endurance sports, there's always another race to test ourselves. See you at the races.

November 9

The Dig It crew is a hearty one and Michael was our latest example. He did his first cross race on a cold for Minnesota day today. Not only did he race well, he had fun too.

Nice job Michael!

October 25-26

Jason was in New Jersey for the PhysFarm Level II seminar on Training Plan Design and Periodization. Jason learned a lot to pass onto his athletes.

October 19

RuthAnn and Beth kick it at the Duke City Half Marathon in Albuquerque. Beth won her age group and RuthAnn came in 3rd, both with PR performances. Impressive runs for sure!

October 12

Dig It's Jill shows she's one tough cookie as she runs a PR at the Chicago Marathon just 5 weeks after IM Wisconsin. Nice run Jill.

October 11

Justin Hurd, who Coach Jason advises, shows shows his strength at IM Hawaii. On a challenging day, for the big island no less, Justin did great in his first attempt at the World Championships as a pro.

October 5

The Team Dig It at the Twin Cities Marathon. We setup and monitored the 5K pace clock on a rainy and chilly day. Nice job to all finishers. Dig It's Clifford showed great form in the 10 Mile race and took minutes off his time from the year before. Nice run Clifford.

September 28

Jason in racing mode at the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Italy. It was a fun day of action.

Here the bike awaiting its trusted rider.

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September 27

Jason serves as Assistant Coach with the elite athletes of Team USA at the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Rimini, Italy. It was a fun day filled with great competition for Team USA.

Here is the women's team poses for photos immediately after their finish.

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September 7

Dig It athlete Jill has a great day at Ironman Wisconsin. Jill exceeded all her goals and finished strong and could smile too. Hard work and dedication sure paid off, nice job Jill!

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August 31

At Ironman Louisville, Noelle does a great job on a hot and windy day in Kentucky. Noelle backed up a good swim and bike with solid run. Crossing the finish line with a smile on her face, Noelle showed how to get it done. Nice job, Noelle.

August 10

At the ITU Long Course Duathlon World Championships in Geel, Belgium, pro Justin Hurd, who Jason consults with on training, put in a great performance to finish 5th overall. In a perfect job of pacing, Justin ran, biked and ran with the best in the world. Way to go Justin!

Coach Jason was in action at the Town Hall Team Time Trial with 3 others from his bike racing club. The Birchwood Aged team might not have won, but we had fun.

August 2

At the Full Vineman in California, Dig It athlete Scott completes his Ironman dream with a solid debut race on a hot day. Awesome performance Scott!

July 6

At the Lake Steven's 70.3, Jill continued her great long course progress with a PR. Way to go Jill!

Dig It was a sponsor of the Duluth Duathlon. Coach Jason was there along with Todd enjoying a steamy day of running, biking and running again on the shores of Lake Superior. Here Team Dig It poses for a picture at the official Dig It Triathlon water station.

June 14

A great day at the Liberty Triathlon today as Noelle, Jill, Scott and Josh show their on track for long course success later this summer. Way to go guys!

Here Coach Jason and Jill hang out after the race.

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April 27

At the US National Duathlon Champs, Francois culminated his spring campaign with a 3rd place in the 35-39 age group. On a rainy and tough day in Richmond, Francois was solid across the board, yeah baby!

The 35-39 podium, with Francois on the right.

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April 5

Coach Jason joins the USA Triathlon National Duathlon Committee.

January 1

Coach Jason joins the PhysFarm coaching consortium. This group is dedicated to applying cutting edge exercise physiology and training software to use for all athletes. The newest software developed by PhysFarm, RaceDay, proves itself as a great tool for multisport athletes.

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December 12

Coach Jason now a USA Cycling Level 2 coach. Clinic in November was great and Jason learned some cool stuff and is ready to bring it to use with you.

November 25

Check out the newest edition of Midwest Events magazine for Coach Jason's article, "Spending for Speed."

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October 6

Coach Jason wins the inaugural Kickin' Leaves Duathlon in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The new race had a small field but a great course. Hope everyone can make it there next year.

Jason poses with bike and trophy at home after the race.

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2007 Dig It News

A full account of Dig It news from 2007 and early 2008 can be accessed on our latest news page, with archived links at the bottom.

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