I thought the cuyuna area near Ironton would be a good swimrun location in Minnesota...

run the mt bike trails/swim the many mine pits...repeat....

At one point DKT was looking into putting one on...

I am interested. There are so many possibilities. The city lakes would be cool you could run swim run swim around cedar/nokomis/calhoun/isles. Looping in MN Masters might be worthwhile as they coordinate the open water series that might serve as a good baseline for courses.

Exactly. I've been travelling a lot, plus winter, so I've been swimming at home, running on layovers which got me thinking about swim run!

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Not sure who DKT is, but I'm heading to Minnetonka at some point this summer...just looking at the map, it seems like a perfect place for swim/run. It looks well-populated, so runs probably will be flat and some could be paved. I've never been, so maybe it's too privatized or something. Maybe a local who's been a few times can clue me in.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

How much do you know about Lake Minnetonka?

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

very busy, tons of both boat and car traffic, populated by grumpy rich people. it is the greenwich of MN.

Already turned off and not surprised. Perhaps our neighbors to the east have some suitable bodies of water. I've heard nice things about 'Sconnies

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

The boundary waters is the perfect place for this. Swim in the nice cool lakes and run the portages.

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Ryan

Are there any lakes in MN that would be fun to swim all the way across? Other than Superior, what's the largest lake I could swim across? Red Lake looks quite big and would be cool to link up the two sections, however it seems as if parts of the lake are off-limits to non tribe-members.

ANother option is MIlle Lacs Lake, as it looks as if it's been done before. Lake of the Woods up north...how cool would it to be to swim from MN to CA if logistically/legally possible.

I am naive, but I am taking as big advantage as possible of this MN summer. Lifelong swimmer, plenty of OWS experience, not that I've been swimming much lately.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Have you looked at a map? Mille Lacs is 26 miles across. Most of it is on tribal land. Lake of the Woods is several times larger. You do not even want to drive through Red Lake, let alone swim there. Before you mention it, Vermillion is notoriously tough to navigate. No matter, there are literally thousands of large lakes here.

Since you mention that you have not been swimming much lately, do you have any idea of what you are attempting to accomplish? I know many English channel swimmers and they will swim 40k a week for a year before even making an attempt. What you are co contemplating is arguably more challenging, not to mention support and logistics, permitting, etc.

Reach out to MN masters if you are interested in doing some local OWS while you are here. Minnetonka 5m/10m, Lake Pepin, or JJ Hill will more than satisfy your urge.

Slowtwitch never disappoints. Relax homeslice, I didn't say I'm doing this tomorrow or even this year. I'm just thinking about what would be fun to try. By "not swimming much lately" I mean 3-4k 2-4x a week, depending on my travel schedule (hence why I've been running more and interested more in swim/run stuff). I did plenty of 2-4 hour 10k+ swims in small MN lakes last summer, with my lady paddling alongside me.

And, not that I have to justify myself to internet people, but here's what I mean when I say "plenty of OWS exp." I started swimming in Lake Michigan (live in SW MI) when I was 15. Cold water exposure down to about 55 sans wetsuit. Every year, I started swimming longer and longer, culminating in a 25k race, finishing in about 6.5 hours. Not bad for a 18 year old slowpoke. Swam in 4 or 5 HIM Steelhead relay teams. My longest ever swim is 8h. I've done 8 or 9 10km races, and probably 15 5k races (in smooth conditions, I've been just under an hour). All non-wetsuit, because I wanted to have a shot at winning and these were USMS-sanctioned.

Yeah, it's going to take more than 4 months to get in shape for a 26+ mile swim. It's not outside the realm of my ability, only outside what I might be able to commit for training all summer/winter for a 2018 late summer swim. A lot of people do stupid sh*t that they aren't ready for. I don't mind failing, I do it plenty. No, I'm not training for the channel...yet. Maybe one day. That thing is a different beast, from logistics to weather/water conditions. A friend of mine attempted it many years ago and got within 2 or 3 miles of France and had to pull the plug because he was near hypothermic and despite swimming for 2 hours, didn't make it any closer to shore due to the current. That's a b*tch.

I'm asking about water quality and if it's safe to swim in those lakes from someone who might have first hand experience. I'm a curious person, not stupid...I'm not driving up there tomorrow to give it a go.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

My mistake. I assumed that you had not thought this through when you mentioned swimming across Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, and Red Lake, each of which are small freshwater oceans, of hundreds of square miles (thousands in case of LOW) in area. I stand corrected.

It's all good...I understand. I had an idea of how large they were, but I didn't know exactly how big. I have to say, I didn't think Lacs was that big! I did read a few short, small non-specific articles of a few MN'rs that have swam it...it's not a large number. I still dream one day of crossing Tahoe, Lake Michigan and English Channel!

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

I made up a course, but it's mostly illegal. We'd either have to be sneaky-sneaky at night (or out of season when the park service isn't looking) or be super-official planny-planny.

I prefer the illegal way...planning this sh*t is way too expensive and time-consuming.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

which lake? I do not mind cannonball run style although fing with Indian police is not a good idea.

I've fished Mille Lacs a few times, and that lake would be a serious swim. As a kid, that was my first "big water" fishing experience, so it left a mark on me. When my family talked about Mille Lacs, it was with reverence and hushed voices. Fishing there was a right of passage. Swimming it would be interesting. My thought would be to go west-to-east, but you still can't see all the way across it. There's something about that lake - it's moody as hell. It's relatively shallow, which might help water temps. If you started out really early in the morning, you might have enough calm water for a few hours, but it doesn't take much of a breeze for it to turn into pretty harsh whitecaps.

For swim-run opportunities, I would look to nearby Brainerd, although it's a bit touristy and could be busy on any given swimming day. Other options worth considering would be Alexandria or Detroit Lakes. Lots of lakes, although I don't know how easily connected for the runs. The BWCA would be a dream come true. Of course, the permitting and rules around the BWCA make it a solo or few people doing it kind of thing, rather than an event. But, that's part of the appeal to me. Swimming a portion of the Mississippi could be cool, too.

Lots of options in the Land 'O Lakes!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

apparently i can't slowtwitch...the photo didn't attach...what kind of website only lets you attach photos under 250kb...anyway.

But basically it's a rip on Otillo whereby we transverse N-S the major lakes in the Metro/Uptown Minneapolis area.

Start at theo wirth park, work your way south via Lake(s) Cedar, isles, Calhoun, Harriet and Nokomis. A litt under 3 miles swimming and a little under 12 miles running.

http://imgur.com/a/yeag2

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

It would, and is. Ignite Swim Run Minnesota July 2018.

This

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Unfortunately, the race series (Ignite SwimRun) is trying to do it "big deal" style with an expensive entry fee and the participation in the races is extremely low...16, 2 person teams (32 finishers) completed the long and short course combined in Minnesota this weekend on a great course.....

As soon as I saw what they were charging for entry fee and how they were going about it I knew it would not likely get enough numbers.....

An event like this needs to grow locally, without the bells and whistles, and with a reasonable entry fee to get some numbers......gain some mystique and curiously and grow through word of mouth locally.....get success at one event and then, add other events slowly......the big splash national series has been tried before and failed and this looks like a series that will go that way............

Just got back from a week on Vermilion at Pehrson's Lodge, and got some great open water swims in. That would be a fantastic venue for a swim run, but it would be tough because so much of the south side has been developed with cabins everywhere. I don't think you could do it without going on private land. Plus the boat traffic would make things interesting for sure.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Were you there?

I heard the opposite from people that participated. They appreciated that they did their best to give a big race feel even though the numbers weren't great...the first year.

Did you do the race? Were you even there? I'd be very surprised if you were and saying what your saying.

As far and going one by one.....why?

How exactly were they going about it, please expand on that so I have a better understanding.

It's not your money and I've yet to hear anything but good from people who have actually done their events. Let it run its course one way or the other before talking smack about thier goals and effort to increase the sport and organizing a championship. Hell, they've got some fast teams showing up and it's going to be a blast watching them compete, how is that a bad thing. There's a co-ed team from Minnesota that'll kick some.....
Show up and see if you can keep up, I'll put my money on them.

You want Lake Minnewaska. The beach in Glenwood to the beach in Starbuck is 7 miles. Probably need some sort of support boat to make sure you don't get run over though.