Lifetime Fitness Triathlon-July 12th, 2008
This past weekend, I competed in my second LTF Triathlon in Minneapolis, MN. The
last time I competed in this race, it was the famous Equalizer
Triathlon, when the men competed against the women, and the first to
cross the line, earned a bonus check.
This
year however, the race became a normal race format and the men and
women competed against each other for a very large prize purse of over
125,000 for the men and the women---each!
The race took place in a beautiful area of the city, just south of downtown Minneapolis. I started the race at 7:03 AM, along with twelve other women, while the men started just before us at 7:00AM. I
was able to preview the course the day before and check out the one
loop swim, technical and curvy one-loop bike and, flat two-loop run
course. Once again, I was able to have much support and
cheering at this race because my husband grew up in the Minneapolis
area and we have many family members in the area. My parents, sister and niece also made the trip up from St. Louis. It was great to see everyone and have a little down time after the race to relax. We were able to spend the weekend in Elysian, MN where my in-laws have a lake house. I was able to get in some great boat rides and also watch my husband barefoot water ski! Ironically,
my good friends from college who are both beginning their residency
programs in Minneapolis, live just a half- mile from the race site, so
I was able to see them as well. We ran together in college, and my friend, Jenny, runs the loop where our swim venue took place daily. I think next year they are even thinking about competing in the triathlon!
I started the race off, exiting the swim in second position, with a large group of swimmers exiting the water with me. I
have to say, this race felt very similar to an ITU World Cup race
because of all the technical sections and twists on the bike course. Although the race was a non-draft race, a large group of us swam and biked near each other. I think with the course lay-out, it is very difficult to “get away” on the bike course. Once I got out to the run, I felt pretty comfortable and ran solidly in second place throughout the final leg. Emma
Snowsill dominated right from the start, and I knew I would not be able
to run her pace, but cruised my way down the shoot to grab the
runner-up position. It was nice to be able to enjoy the moment and give a couple of high-fives, since I did not have a sprint finish. The
men on the other hand, had a very close finish with Simon Whitfield
winning the sprint finish and Andy Potts just three seconds behind.
I was very pleased to walk away with the generous, $25,000 prize purse and will plan on returning to Minneapolis next year. The day before the race, I had the opportunity to check out a similar model of my soon to be new car, the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Toyota
had a booth set up at the race expo and I was able to answer questions
about triathlons to age group athletes, and at the same time they got
to check out the new 2008 hybrids Toyota has out on the market. I
can’t thank Toyota and all my sponsors enough for making races like
Lifetime Fitness and other races part of the Toyota Cup happen. I should be in my Camry driving around the Springs any day now!
Now my focus is completely on the Games. For
the next five weeks, I will be focusing on my training, resting and
peaking for the biggest race of the year, actually the biggest race I
have competed in so far in my athletic career. I am very excited and can’t wait for the experience. I have three weeks until I depart Colorado Springs, but I still have five weeks before I will be toeing the starting line.
I will be sure to keep you posted on all my adventures.
Sarah
