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Rookie Performance of the Year....
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Tuesday, 04 February 2020 23:10
Few would disagree that Paige Schulz's 10:09:12 third-place finish at Ironman Mont-Tremblant was the 2019 Performance of the Year by a Minnesota rookie. Schulz's 3rd at Chisago in 4:42:17 was a terrific effort, too, as was Caryn Herrick's victory at Hopkins Royal, but Paige's IM performance is at or near near the top of the all-time list of best first-year female multisport performances.
We'll let you be the judge of where it ranks. Eight of the last ten Rookies of the Year have been women, and here are what we consider to be their premier freshman efforts:
2018 – Heather Taylor's rookie POY was her victory at CyMan Triathlon in Bondurant, Iowa.
2016 – Hanna Grinaker's jaw-dropping 1:30:00 at Lake Waconia, lowering Susie Fox's 2015 CR by 3:05.
2015 – Dani Vsetecka's amateur win at Pigman Half IM (4:41:34).
(In 2014 Nick Nygaard edged Kelly Trom in the polling for ROY.)...
Female Masters Performance of the Year....
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Sunday, 02 February 2020 23:10
2019 was clearly the “Year of the Female Master” in Minnesota. Two of the Top 3 women in the state last season were over 40; an unprecedented five masters women were named to the Team Minnesota roster.
There were so many stellar performances by quadragenarian women that determining our unofficial Female Masters POY was an especially difficult task.
We were able to narrow the contenders to four performances. Three of those efforts were at the 70.3 distance:
- KORTNEY HAAG, 40, Maple Grove - Kort's victory at Chisago. Her time was a Masters Record – 4:32:52, lowering the prior MR by 4:12, and her margin of victory was 4:36.
Haag has won nine half IMs in her career.
- BECKY YOUNGBERG, 44, Eden Prairie - Becky's Course Record victory at Square Lake 70.3, arguably our region's most challenging half IM. Her time was 4:44:31, which lowered the women's CR/MR by 28 minutes. Her margin of victory was 7:43....
What is Your Ideal Race Weight?...
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Friday, 31 January 2020 23:10
Fro
m Triathlete.com
Dr. Stacy Sims is a leading sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist who has worked with hundreds of professional athletes and age groupers to help improve their training, performance, and health. This week she addresses questions about race weight and snacking before and after workouts.
I’ve heard a lot about hitting “race weight”—how do I know what my race weight is and how should I achieve it?
There are always conversations around race weight: “I’m only eating X amount to get down to race weight” or “I’m doing fasted training to help me get to race weight.” You can even Google “Ideal Race Weight” and you’ll discover online calculators! But what exactly is race weight and is it necessary for the amateur triathlete? ...
No Longer Addicted to Data...
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Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:10
B
y Maddy Pesch (From Facebook)
My story of letting go of data in triathlon and my life! Numbers can give information and be a positive motivator, but for me data took over in a negative way.
I started obsessing over data as a swimmer. In college, I had all my swim times memorized. Not only my best times, but nearly every time from every meet. I could even remember most times from practices years into the past. It wasn’t that I was writing these times down or looking up meet results. I just automatically memorized my times because they were so important to me. They were how I measured my success in the sport, but they also became how I measured my worth as an athlete and person. I was terrified each year at my championship meet that I wouldn’t go a best time. I equated it to failure of the year’s work.
I continued to focus on time my first few years in triathlon. When racing, I would check my time immediately after the swim. Fast times energized me, but slow times got me down and worrying I would bike and run slowly. On the run, I would feel fatigued and look at my watch to see my pace slowing. I would tell myself I didn’t have what it takes....
Female Grand Master Performance of the Year...
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Monday, 27 January 2020 23:10
Thus far we have revealed our unofficial picks for Juniors, Male Masters and Male Grand Master Performances of the Year (2019). In each case, the official MMH honoree also took the unofficial POY title.
Until now.
Our selection for Female Grand Master POY was not even nominated for GMOY, though we gave serious thought to nominee Pam Stevens' record-setting performances at Timberman and Heart of the Lakes.
After scrutinizing all of the women's 55-and-above performances in our state in 2019, we came away impressed with the efforts that "pushed the needle," which is another way of saying that they came very close to "raising the bar." Megan Webster (Square Lake Sprint), Tracy Serreyn (Maple Grove), Lisa Hines (Graniteman races), Rhiannon O'Connor (New Bri), Helen Gunther (Timberman) were some of the needle pushers.
Pam Stevens, of course, was a bar raiser....
