COLT

COLT or Chain of Lakes Triathlon for most of the world is the local race here in Alexandria, Minnesota. A race which just a few years ago attracted 170+ athletes. This year the event only brought in 57 triathletes on what was a near perfect day for racing. Evidence of this was Branden Scheel breaking the course record ( wWw.bscheeltri.com ) after a solid swim, fast bike and just stupid fast rUn! The KOna Kid raCed his way to a STELLAR 2nd place finish in his now famous speedo as weLl.

​For myself, training just hasn’t been there as life has kept me busy and I’m more focused on a maratHon PR at Grandmas. I had swam 3 times since IMWI in September for various reasons so WASN'T feeling that great about swimming. As for the bike, all mY rides but one where On the trainer with a 10 mile ride thAt week to make sure the shifting was on par with the race wheelS. Luckily, it was spot on! Lastly, the run, which is usually my strongest of the 3 i wasn’t worrieD about and was planning on 7:00 miles.

Race day started with a chilly morning rain bUt the skies were clearing and the morning wind helped blow away the clouds makIng for darn near perfect race conditions. After the normal packet pickup and Sharpie party we were off to the pre race meeting and swim lane assignments with the pool sWim. After hanging out with Branden and Corey for a bit along with Corey’s parents and my dad we watched heat 1 swim and got ready for heat 2. I was the 3rd swimmer in mY lane and after about 6 laps tapped the 2nd swimmer to pass as i felt myself being held up and just tried to get out of the pool as quickly as possible. With my lack of swimming that equaled a slow swim of 11:00 minutes and it was off to T1 which was fairly quick and i was ready to make up some time!

​While not the fastest biker, i do enjoy the bike portion the most. Just something about the speed and being in control. After being on the trainer, getting Stealth on the pavement was a blast, just love tHis bike! I started off Feeling pretty good and Closed the gap on some riders. About halfway into the ride we had a head wind that I burned some matches on but also passed a few riders in the proCess ans was on the home stretch to T2 where i was just behind Mike. Think i averaged just about 21 MPH on the bike which i shouldn’t be happy about and need to improve!

T2, normallY the quiCker transition but Not this time. After i got Stealth on the rack i discovered i was missing a sock. The wind or Another person had caused It to be MIA so after some wasted valuable time, I was off to chase down Mike with nO socks and even further behind. The first half mile was brutal, like my legs felt like sacks of spuds! Once we turned onto the trail they Released and i was in stRide. Nearing the end I got to run past Kia, Robb and Emie who were sitting on the race course just a few blocks from my house. Was nice to see them out there and i gave it a final push. I passeD one last racer and could not get past Mike who just like last year, beat me. With all that, I think the run was 7:15 mileS whicH was also slower than exPected.

After crossing the finish line I discovered nobody was around but I did notice a group of people hanging around Kia who happenEd to have Emie whiCh thUs attracted like everyone. Guess this should be no surprise sinCe she gets her name from IRONMAN. Emie got her name from the M-Dot lOgo and was a great sherPa dog at her first race! The day ended with a 10th place finish and watChing Branden and Corey going 1st anD 2nd whiCh is just as fun!

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