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Off Week. Not a Week Off...

Saturday, 15 November 2014 00:10

By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)

Like I mentioned in my last post, I hadn’t taken a week off of swimming yet, so very last minute on the way to the gym two Mondays ago I decided it was time for an “off week” at the pool. I changed up my normal routine to give myself a break from the usual grind, no worrying about speed or times just swim. Mostly I was trying to keep a decent base so you’ll see the true distance swimmer in me came out as my sets were long, repetitive and what some may consider boring. That said, you still might see some bits and pieces you’d like to try and add to your workouts. Check out what I did:

Guessing For Candy...

Friday, 14 November 2014 06:00

Who is the little girl in the photo?

Here's a hint: She grew up to become a star triathlete. In fact, she is on 2014 Team Minnesota. Who is she? Use the Comment feature below to let us know who you think it is.

Another hint: It's either Heather Lendway, Dani Fischer, Cathy Yndestad, Suzie Fox, Elaine Nelson, Diane Hankee, Nicole Heininger, Christina Roberts or Bridget McCoy.

Suzie Fox sent MTN baby or childhood photos of all the abovementioned women, and threw in a shot of Ruth Brennan Morrey for good measure. We will publish all of those photos on Sunday and we encourage everyone to guess who's who, either here or on MTN's Facebook page.

This is sooooo fun. FYI, the MTN Guys were only able to correctly guess THREE of the women. If anyone can guess seven or more correctly, we'll give them some Fun Size Snickers the next time we see them.

Payne-Fully Obvious...

Tuesday, 11 November 2014 00:10

Minnesota Multisport Awards - Just as it was obvious to the Selectors that Heather Lendway would win the Performance of the Year award, it was similarly so for Matt Payne. It was "Payne-Fully" obvious that he would win the men's POY.

Matt held serve at every distance except IM this year. But then, he has yet to do an IM. His 1:55 CR at Buffalo was the fastest Olympic effort by a Minnesota amateur this season. (FYI, Ryan Bailey popped a 1:54:57 at Life Time - Oceanside, which was contested well after the MMA winners were determined and will, for award purposes, apply to his 2015 resume.) Payne's nominated 4:02 at Liberty trumped every other 70.3 effort by amateurs from our state. His amateur wins at Oakdale and Du Nationals were the best run-bike-run performances, and his sprint efforts at Lake Waconia and Sprint Nationals were unrivaled by his Minnesota peers.

Which of his nominated performances--CR at Liberty or win at Best of the US--was the studliest, then? ...

Heather's Greatest Performance?

Monday, 10 November 2014 00:10

(Great YndeCam photo - Heather Lendway way off-the-front at Life Time Tri - Minneapolis.)

Minnesota Multisport Awards - This is one of two final posts explaining how the Committee determined award winners. Here are some of the arguments behind their selection of Female Performance of the Year: Heather Lendway's Course Record win at Life Time Tri - Minneapolis.

Though DANI FISCHER's victories at Best of the US (largest BOUS margin of victory to date: 4:07) and Long Distance Nationals (4:23:37 - fastest 70.3 time of the year in the US by an amateur woman), were epic, with a capital "E," it was obvious to the Selectors early on that one of HEATHER LENDWAY's nominated performances would win the POY Award. She is simply a cut-or-two (or three) above the rest of her peers, the most pro-ready amateur in the US. Not only that, she is argubly the fastest amateur female that America has ever produced.

From the standpoint of "speed," the Committee agreed that HL's 1:04 at Lake Minnetonka may have been her finest effort. (A strong argument can also be made for her outright win in 1:25, which was not nominated, at Square Lake.)

On the other hand, her dominating effort at Life Time - Minneapolis was perceived as being both fast and internationally significant, even more than her victories at Milwaukee Nationals (the most competitive US...

2014 TEAM MINNESOTA: WOMEN...

Sunday, 09 November 2014 00:10

2014 TEAM MINNESOTA - WOMEN - As we did with the men on Friday, here are the women who made this year's Team Minnesota. Included are last year's rankings, in parentheses, and their 2014 ranking points and totals.