Leadman Tri Qualifying Standards!

It's really happening! The Leadman Triathlon DOES exist and 2011 will be the inaugural year.

I now know my destiny... for 2012! :)

I had heard some buzz about this Tri last year from a friend who was out in CO doing the Leadville 100 MTB race. He had a conversation with the LTF CEO, and heard that an event like this was in the works. The Leadman Tri is a modification to the Iron distance triathlon, one that caters more to the swimmer and biker! (When you tack a marathon on the end of an Ironman, the advantage goes to the runners. Don't try and deny it, I will carry this belief to my grave.) :)

Leadman Tri distances are a little different; 250k in one day; hence the name LEADMAN EPIC 250.

5K (3.1 mile) SWIM

223K (138.6 mile) BIKE

22K (13.6 mile) RUN

I already received an email back on the Leadman Tri qualifying standards: (Note: these are for 2011 as stated.)

Christina:
 
Thanks for your interest in Leadman. The race is scheduled for May 14, 2011. Below are the standards for this year's race, not 2012. We will address 2012 this fall. Registration is now open at leadmantri.com.
 
The qualifying standards are one or more of the following:
 
OPEN DIVISION

Leadville 100 MTB Men: 11:30 Women: 12:00
Leadville 100 Run Men: 29:30 Women: 30:00
Ultra Triathlon* Men: 12:30 Women: 13:00
1/2 Ultra Triathlon** Men: 6:15 Women: 6:30
Marathon Run Men: 3:10 Women: 3:40

MASTERS DIVISION

Leadville 100 MTB Men: 11:30 Women: 12:00
Leadville 100 Run Men: 29:30 Women: 30:00
Ultra Triathlon* Men: 14:30 Women: 15:00
1/2 Ultra Triathlon** Men: 7:15 Women: 7:30
Marathon Run Men: 3:20 Women: 3:50

* - includes 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run
** - includes 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run

If you do not meet any of the above standards, please feel free to submit your own personal qualifications. We will be selecting a limited number of other athletes to participate in this inaugural event based on these submissions. Other information (i.e. time cutoffs) will become available as we finalize it.

Also, please note that in the time from submitting the ad to the present, we changed the distance of the bike and run. The current distances are 5k swim, 223k bike and 22k run. We simply could not resist the thought of the turnaround on the run taking place at Hoover Dam, thus we extended the run.

Good luck. Hope to see you in Vegas on May 14.

If I had known sooner, I'd have signed up for 2011. Knowing it exists is all the excitement I can handle for this year. Plus, that'll give me another year to prepare for 2012. SO EXCITED!!

Securian Half Marathon/11.6 mile Race Report!

Ok... whoops! The blog has definitely been on the back burner so far this year. I completely forgot I had a "race" back in Jan. that I still needed to report on. So, here's my official report:

I ran a Half Marathon in January! I don't think I've run a half marathon between the months of November and April EVER, so that was a huge feat in itself. I ran with a good friend who was nice enough to go slow with me. I didn't plan to race that day, I just wanted to do it as a long run, since I had one on the schedule anyway. The one quirk about this race (and it was too bad, because it was the most perfect Jan. day for a race, even being it was the dead of winter in MN) was they had the turn around point too soon! I knew something was up when we got to the turn around point and not too long after, we saw the Mile 8 sign. I knew we hadn't even gotten to Mile 7 yet so was suspicious that the turnaround was early. I had looked up the road while at the turn around and saw a race sign way off in the distance, but wasn't about to argue with the St. Paul police officer who was telling us to turn around at the barricade. Although it wasn't a full half, I look at it that I got a 11.6 mile PR that day. Can't beat a PR no matter how you get it. :) A race distance I've never done before and will probably never do again.

Here we are that day and notice there were no ice caked eyelashes or eyebrows. It was really a beautiful day!

Base training is going well. I'm the process of really focusing more on strength training and protein eating, following the guidelines in my latest read Racing Weight Quick Start Guide by Matt Fitzgerald. Great book, and I highly recommend. Now I just need to crack down and do it EXACTLY as is written before I can recommend it based on experience!