LTF TRIATHLON OBSERVATIONS

This is the third year in a row that I’ve gone down to watch the Lifetime Fitness triathlon. How could I pass up the chance to watch the best in the world compete 15 minutes from our house? This year I brought Kinsey along with me. I don’t want to be one of those pushy parents that force their kids to participate in certain activities. Of course, I think it’d be cool if she decides to run or do tris. I think exposing her to these events at an early age could lead to her involvement without being pushy. It worked with me.

Anyway, here are my observations;

There are some hot, fit women in the sport. Probably some hot, fit men too – but I didn’t notice.

Triathletes have their age written on their calf, so you know how old these hot, fit women are.

This particular tri starts its athletes in 3 second intervals (rather than in age group waves). I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to the start order, so it’s very difficult to see who is fast and who is slow.

The weather was brutal, particularly for the age group athletes who started later in the day. While the course is shaded, that doesn’t really help when it’s 97 degrees out. Water temp was 83.

70-80 people needed medical treatment due to the conditions.

I can’t believe no one got run over on this course. The run portion is on the paths around Lake Nokomis. Spectators were just walking across the paths without looking to see if anyone was coming.

There was a water table set up right after the run started. When the first 4-5 runners went by the volunteers just stood there watching. They weren’t holding out any water. Finally, they started to hold it out for the athletes.

Coolest thing I saw; a pro had a flat tire 100 meters onto the bike course. He asked a biker standing nearby if he could swap front wheels with him. The pro basically gave this guy a $500-$600 race wheel in exchange for his training wheel. Granted, it was probably free from his sponsor, but still it was pretty cool.

“Star” sighting for the day (other than the Pro triathletes) included, Olympian Carrie Tollefson, former state 3200 record holder and Stanford runner Shannon Bergstedt, and current state 1600 and 3200 record holder Elizabeth Yetzer.