Cross Country Skiers do Triathlon #2

I thought I'd report on the second triathlon - The Island Lake State Rec Area Sprint Triathlon - that I did along with NordicSkiRacers Ryan Robinson, Greg Worrel and Yvon Dufour, and a friend of Ryan's Michael Kotajarvi. Much nicer weather - sunny and warm.

Me on the far left in the red Hammer Nutrition suit, Ryan on the far right with the shiny head... (photo by Erica Kotajarvi)

Unfortunately, the timing of the event was not the best. It appears they chopped a minute off everyone's time in the swim, plus some of the transition times are missing. I've adjusted the swim and total times by a minute.

The swim was 800 meters, the bike was 12.5 miles, and the run was 5K. There were 251 finishers.

Times (the a few pointed notes about timing)

NordicSkiRacer	Swim	Trans	Bike	Trans	Run	Total
Winning Time	10:37	:26	32:46	?	19:45	1:03:42
Ryan Robinson	?	?	33:38	?	19:13	1:09:08
Yvon Dufour	15:06	:48	32:25	?	23:00	1:14:19
Mike Muha	14:36*	1:50*	35:02**	?	24:58	1:16:26
Greg Worrel	16:05	1:23	38:25	?	29:39	1:25:32
Michael Kotajarvi	19:45	1:30	37:42	?	28:52	1:27:48

*Wrong! Ryan and I came out of the water at the same time, and we were behind Yvon. And I had a pretty fast transition! Not sure how they screwed up this time. I'm guessing Ryan and I were closer to 15:30 for the swim.

**Hmmm...looks like the bike includes the transition time. Why do I know this? Well, I caught Yvon on the bike and we entered the transition area just a few seconds apart. And there's no way Yvon was 2:37 ahead of me coming out of the transition zone - I could see him less than a 100 yards ahead of me.

I also notices in the times that a number of runners had sub-14 minute time for a 5K that was mostly over a grass running surface. Looks like some people missed the turnoff for the second lap just before the finish line.

Overall Rank*

NordicSkiRacer	Age Rank	Overall Rank
Ryan Robinson	2	6
Yvon Dufour	5	19
Mike Muha	3	28
Greg Worrel	10	78
Michael Kotajarvi	21	107

*Officially. Unofficially? Who knows...

Oh well, it was a great training day with lots of intensity! That's what counts. And we generally did better than our first triathlon the previous week. That's a confidence booster.

And we'll give the organizers the benefit of the doubt - this was their first triathlon at this venue.

Registered for the Yellowstone Ski Fesitval

In less than 10 weeks, I'll be on snow out at the Yellowstone Ski Festival in West Yellowstone. I've been looking forward to getting back to West Yellowstone every since the first time I went three years ago. Every college cross country ski team in the country is there, along with US Ski Team members, masters athletes, racers, and wannabes. It's the scene. There's so much energy that you can't help but get enthused!

Of course, I'm out there for a purpose: To get in some early season skiing. Most importantly, I want to practice my diagonal stride. It takes me a little while each season to get comfortable striding again. Because we rarely have good tracks in southeast Michigan, I frequently feel less than adequately prepared to stride in the first couple races of the season.

I do occasionally diagonal stride on rollerskis, but it's just not the same. There are so many more variables to deal with on snow: kick, side-too-side sliding, hard vs. soft snow. Even though most of the early season classic races are mainly doublepole events for me, getting my striding down is a priority.

I'd also like to work more on my skating. After all these years, my V1 is finally coming together and I'm anxious to climb a few hills on snow.

Plans are to flying into Bozeman on Thursday night, November 15, then drive to West Yellowstone the next morning. On Wednesday night, November 21, it's a return trip to Bozeman, and a plane out the next day, on Thanksgiving.

Alas, I'm missing Thanksgiving dinner with the family (my plane doesn't arrive until close to 10:00pm), but I'd pre-arranged permission to be gone...

Greg Worrel and I are taking advantage of the Michigan Cup Special Rate arranged by Curt Peterson at the Yellowstone lodge ($69 for a room with frig).

Here's a few articles from my last trip:

• West Yellowstone Report: Top 10 List The top 10 most memorable moments at West Yellowstone Ski Festival...

• West Yellowstone Report: Great Skiing, Dining Hell Thanksgiving’s waxing nightmare turned into Friday’s perfect day of skiing. Mid-20’s, sunny, no wind – it was hard not to jump and holler.

• West Yellowstone Report: Day 1 of the 5 Day Camp It was a long drive up to the South Plateau. It’s only six miles, but with a convoy of vehicles, we only went as fast as the slowest one. Its snow and ice covered logging roads all the way. Several front wheel drive vehicles have to be pushed this day.

• West Yellowstone Report: There Really is Snow! Take 5 NordicSkiRacer teammates, a bunch of Grand Rapids folks, John Aalberg and many other coaches, some snow, then shake (not stir). Go ski.