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Cold Water Makes You Slower...
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Wednesday, 21 May 2014 06:10
Photo - Winners Heather Lendway and Devon Palmer doing some post-race glow-basking.
BLAINE TRIATHLON - Cold water makes triathletes slower. This was especially evident at the 3rd annual Blaine Triathlon last Saturday. Racing conditions were semi-ideal, except for the water temp, which was announced as 51.4-degrees. Some said it didn't feel that warm.
Mercifully, the swim was shortened from by a little more than a hundred meters, from .33 to .25.
How does cold water make one slow, you inquire?
It makes you shiver and your hands don't work, and your feet get numb and you can't talk good. Transition times are doubled, or tripled, or worse. Then it's hard to ride fast. Doing so only makes you colder and your teeth chatter harder and you get those convulsive shivery spasms that can make you crash if you already have lousy balance and negligible core strength.
Then you have to run on dead feet that make clumpy noises against the asphalt.
NOW Rocks in Cary...
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Tuesday, 20 May 2014 06:10
By Diane Hankee
RACE REPORT - The National Long Course Duathlon race in Cary was beautiful and challenging. No regrets going to this race!
The run course was a five mile out and back, that we completed two times. It was mostly on a trail that had a mile and a half of a 1:1 slope - the kind of hill you would seek to train on and could have walked up just as fast. The run course also had a little mud for a short section that added some excitement and sliding.
The thirty-two mile bike was fast and rolling, mostly sheltered by a park forest. There were a lot of athletes from around the Country which created some great competition in the female field. However, it was unfortunate to see a few draft packs on the bike and some females mixed in there. ....
Venerable...
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Monday, 19 May 2014 06:10
APPLE XXXII PREVIEW - Here's some historical stuff about our state's oldest (32-years) multisport event:
PRO MEN - COURSE RECORD (5K-33K-5K course, which has been used since 2004) - David Thompson - 1:19:57 (2010) - COMMENT: Since '04, DKT has raced here six times without a loss. He has posted four of this event's Top 5 fastest times. David plans to race in Sartell on Saturday.
PRO WOMEN - COURSE RECORD - Brianna Boehmer(WI) - 1:33:23 (2004) - COMMENT: A super person and former track and XC runner at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), Boehmer raced at Apple three times: 2004, 2005 and 2006. She won two of those races, and placed 2nd in the other....
Minnesota is Du Central...
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Monday, 19 May 2014 04:10
We're seven races into our spring du calendar and it's already apparent, at least to us, that, once again, Minnesota is arguaby the most talent-rich du state in the country. In 2013, three Loon Staters--Dan Hedgecock, Ruth Brennan-Morrey and Jenn Scudiero--earned USAT Duathlete of the Year awards, Hedge and Ruther as pros, Jenn as an amateur. We'd be shocked if something similar didn't happen this year, too.
Last Sunday, Dan and Ruth proved that they are still on top of their games with big victories over depthful fields at Gear West.
Three of the brightest stars on the 2014 national amateur du scene are Diane Hankee, Matthew Payne and Nate Hoffman, athletes who were not part of the US or MN DOY discussion last year. Hankee followed up her wins at Falls Du (CR) and Oakdale with a...
Borat Moments & Dropping Bricks...
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Monday, 19 May 2014 00:10
By Matthew Payne (matthew-payne.blogspot.com)
RACE REPORT - Last Saturday I opened up my 2014 multisport season at the Oakdale Duathlon. Normally this is a low-key, friendly little local race and I wouldn't be too concerned with the results, but this year I was actually feeling a little bit of pressure leading up to it because A) it was my first race as part of the Gear West Development Team, and I didn't want to race like a bum my first time out, and B) I just dropped a brick of money on a new bike, and I'd just feel stupid doing that and not racing well.
I'm very happy to say that I exceeded my own expectations by several miles by finishing 2nd to DKT (close enough to actually see him cross the finish line!) and breaking the old course record by almost 3 minutes in the process.
The Pre-Race Jams ....
