Tri Tri again

The weekend after Grandma's was the Tri-loppet. There were some big changes to the race this year, with prize money being added and racing canoes disqualified from the prize money category. This meant all the fast racers would be in stock boats, which I have always done this race in. I end up with a huge time deficit coming out of the water every year and then see how much I can make up on the bike and run. I've only been beat by one person in the run in the 7 or so years I've been doing this race, so my goal is always to throw down the fastest run time. When the rule about stock boats was announced I debated finding a fast paddle partner and trying to contest for the win, but I have always had my most fun in this race running up from behind and not worrying about finishing place.

When spring came around focus went to marathons and I didn't get out paddling at all. This continued through most of the spring; for whatever reason I really wasn't looking forward to paddling. Erik finally lit a fire under me to get some boat time in so I would be ready for the Chippewa Triathlon. My first paddle of the year was out on the Mississippi with my friend Emily, and she gave me some good technique pointers that have made my paddling feel much more solid this year. That and even from the first time on the water I felt like I had some amount of technique and muscle memory in place, which is encouraging. Because of the late start to paddling though, my scheme of racing for the win at Tri-loppet kind of evaporated. Instead I decided to paddle with one of the Loppet kids and then see what I could do from there. My partner was a high school Sophomore named Quinlan. He had at least been in a boat several times and actually didn't have too bad of a paddle stroke. My steering is slowly improving, so we also ran a somewhat straighter line than I have in years past, so I was only a couple minutes slower out of the water than I have been the last few years.

Working on my steering

A group of EMVC folks decided to put together a relay team, so my goal was to give them a run for their money. Paul and his daughter Kathryn did the paddle leg. I figured if I were near them coming out of the boat I would have a chance to beat their relay team. I ended up beating them out of the water by 1:30 or so, and hammered the run to build up as big of a gap over Mike "The Moose" knowing Galen would be faster than me on the bike leg. Alex Reich also got out of the water a bit before me and I wanted to chase him down. I passed many people for it only being a 5k. I was 62nd out of the water, and by the end of the run I was probably in the top 25. My streak of posting the fastest run time was ended however, with a young fella named Patrick crushing the rest of the field on the run leg.

Finishing up the bike leg

I didn't catch Alex on the run leg, but I did catch him on the bike leg and moved into the top 20. At one point I saw Galen at another point of the course behind me and figured I was safe from getting caught by the EMVC team. I managed to work my way up to 17th place, just under 15 minutes behind the winner. Quinlan went on to win his age group, he was a hard worker, and I really enjoyed paddling with him. My run time was my fastest ever, by a good margin too, and my overall finishing time was 1 second slower than last year. Pretty good consistency for a nearly 2 hour race under varying conditions.

EMVC Triloppet Crew, great racing everyone!

After the race I stuck around to visit with folks and help tear down the course, drinking over a liter of Gatorade in the process I'm sure. I was feeling pretty tired, but Caitlin and Brian Gregg were talking about heading out for a rollerski that afternoon, so I would have felt lazy just calling it a day. Instead I met up with Jeff and Rob for a couple hours of running on the Mendota river bottom trails. It is nice and shaded down there, but I still went through an entire water bottle in the 2 hours we were out running.