Training appears to be paying off. I shaved a total of 6 minutes off from last year mostly on the run, and the wind was blowing much harder this year on the bike and swim course. Got a little too much sun, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good :). It's a nice change from just last year when this race would have zapped all my energy for a couple of days. I'm not training for speed, more for endurance, but this is still improvement that must be celebrated. YAY! *shuffle-half-step* Update: here is a video on Graniteman:

http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-stcloud-076-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=immersiveplayer&maven_referralParentPlaylistId=c20d3b2e562483f0ddb9a7fc7e7cca0a2bb3c538&maven_referralPlaylistId=439bca0a1d8e5137d7a315a99e7352ce589003e1&maven_referralObject=792598048&maven_referrer=staf

There...back to work.

After the race I was hanging with some friends old and new:




Some neat peeps I must say. I'll see them again in Baxter, it would be cool to train with others, but I barely find time to get my own butt out the door, I kinda need to be flexible only to myself with the insane hours I'm putting in. Ironman training has become a part time job. This week I'll be throwing down 13.5 hours or so, next week 15.5 and the week after that, including my first half iron distance race, 17 hours. Yes most of the hours are on the bike, so I have been researching more routes. Washington county looks promising, using the Gateway trail http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/gateway/index.html, from downtown St Paul to get out of the city. From there I have access to a bit more country road and a few paths: http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_residents/parks_division/parks_and_trails/


I'm thinking about how triathlon has changed my life I find there are really only four things I really need to do in this life: Be Born, Find Love, Tri (double entendre intended), Die. I'm leaving taxes out, I'm not feeling terribly cynical right now.