Category Archives: Fitness

2018 DL Younglife Triathlon Review

Each of the last three years I have competed in the Younglife Triathlon that takes place in August in Detroit Lakes. It is an amazing value at $60 with early registration for a fully featured and supported Olympic distance Tri. Each year they seem to tweak the formula just a bit to make it a better event, but for 2018 they made a couple of weird decisions that makes 2019 a make or break year for me.

Continue reading

St. Croix Fat Cat Triathlon 2018

It went pretty well… we won?  🙂

You should definitely register here if you are down for a fun, hard morning where you get to paddle, run and then bike your way across a beautiful countryside!

Standing at the finish line

The results show that over 120 people participated, and I know that many have been coming back year after year to do it.  The gals behind us on the bus were talking and I overheard that a couple of them had come back from Texas specifically to do this race as it was now a tradition for them and their girlfriends.

Not having to fly in from Texas to race is a real advantage here, given that this is in Scandia anyone can drive from the Twin Cities metro and easily compete and enjoy the event.

Continue reading

Dam to Dam 39

D2D LogoThis was the last year for the Dam to Dam race that concludes in Des Moines and starts on scenic dam nearly due north of the city. It has a certain reputation as an iconic Iowa running event in no small part due to the cash purses available for the winners. Many people I know have run this race. Last fall my good friend Dave challenged me to run it – if I did, he would too. I took him up on it. What follows is the uncut experience that I had.

Continue reading

2017 Detroit Lakes Triathlon Retrospective

IT WENT GREAT.

My overall goal was to finish in less than 2:50, which was a repeat of my goal from 2016 which I missed my just over three minutes.

The weather for the day was awesome.  Very calm, neutral wind and the temperature (61 degrees with a 3MPH wind out of the south, which happened to be back to the beach) was ideal for a high level of exertion.  By 9:50 at the start of the run it had only climbed to 66 degrees with a 4 MPH wind.

Continue reading

New Bri Tri

Today I completed my first ever triathlon…

June 22nd, 2015 I bought a bike, a Trek FX 7.3.  This changed my life.  This neon green chariot of awesome, which I was eventually riding about 100 miles a week, culminated in riding in the Saint Paul Classic where I road it 50 miles in one go.  While on one of my rides in late August (which I thought of in my head at that time as bombing runs, an hour of fun exercise outside, zipping around curves and always pushing for more speed) I wondered what I should do next.  I considered actual bike racing but quickly discarded that idea.  Competing against single sport athletes was likely going to be a source of frustration, plus looking online didn’t turn up many local newbie friendly events.  What else then?  A triathlon.  I had never swum any distance ever.  I despised running at that point.  What do you do when you are only passable at one sport?  Do three at once.

Continue reading