Lifetime Fitness Race Report

This weekend was the first of four straight weeks of racing and it couldn’t have started out any better. This was my first time racing the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon which takes on the south side of Minneapolis, only 15 minutes from my house. The competition at this race was definitely stacked, as two of the top Elite Amateurs were racing, as well as plenty of competition from out of state and Minnesota.
The race started early, but the 4:00AM wake up call was a lot better than the 3:00AM wake up for Hy-Vee a couple of weeks ago. The pros started first with the elite amateurs following shortly after. I wish I could have watched some of the pro's race but I did get to hang out with them after the race - details coming....

I have been working on sighting better in the open water so when I came out of the water at 24 minutes, I was really happy with that. The bike course was very technical with lots of turns and bumpy roads, so I wish I would have had a better bike split, but that will come with more experience and time in the saddle. I was happy with the run because I came off the bike in 8th position and caught most of the pack of women in the first 3 miles. The run course is two loops and I hoped on the 2nd loop I'd be able to catch a few more girls. I thought I was running faster the second loop, but the 3rd place finisher must have kicked it into gear, because I couldn't see her and she finished about a minute ahead of me. It would have been nice to get that 3rd position, but I was very happy with how my race went. I was also happy to hear as I was making my way to the finish line that Cathy Yndestad claimed first for our division. She is a top elite in the nation and was going up against other top athletes and this was a great race for her to win.

Now for the part of hanging out with the top professional triathletes. After I crossed the finish line I was approached by a volunteer informing me that I was the fourteenth woman to cross the finish line overall (pros included) and that I was chosen to be randomly drug tested. I was like sure – no problem. She said to go ahead and do what I needed to do, she would shadow me and when I was ready we would go to the church where they were doing the testing. I had no idea what to expect and thought this would take a couple of minutes, but wanted to let Derek know what I was doing so I gave him and Owen a quick hug and told him I would be right back. When I walked into the church basement, Andy Potts, Matt Reed, Greg Bennett, Laura Dibens, Becky Lavelle, and Sarah Haskins were all in there! It was pretty neat to be in the same room with them for a while and listen to them talk about their race – especially the men since it was so close at the end. The testing went a little longer than expected – about a hour and a half longer! First, I was very dehydrated and cold (I had my racing suit on and was sweaty and still wet). We're starting to potty train Owen and finally I realized that it's really hard to go to the bathroom when someone is staring at you. I do understand the need to do this type of testing and the company that did the testing was very polite and professional – let’s just hope that I am not that lucky number next time!