Madeira Beach Mad Dog Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Popped in a GU right before the start, ran in with everybody else. First few hundred yards seemed crowded, and I felt boxed in. Somewhere about 300 in found some feet and followed them inside buoys, realized this then swam back-think of Frogger the video game.

I need to make time to get back in the gym. I have been feeling slight fatigue in my shoulders and I think this is leading to the slowdowns in my swim time

I like the beach run off, it puts you directly into transition. No mucking about in tide pools, running up ramps through shower areas etc. The mount line seemed to sneak up on me, luckily I found a not so crowded spot and clipped on

I was pleased with this transition, I did not sit down to put shoes on. Maybe someday I will learn that cool trick of running and jumping on the bike with the shoes already clipped in.

Given my cycling experience I am somewhat pleased with my time in this segment. I only gave up position to riders smaller than I and who obviously put down some coin on gear. I saw a clean race this year, no packs of riders drafting and treating this like their Sunday ride.

I need to learn how to spin my way out of hair pin turns, I found myself mashing my way out. Most of the time I felt that I was geared right for the slope, and of course carbon wheelsets and frame would make me go faster

Decided not to take feet out of shoes whilst riding due to crowded dismount area and speeding in

I'm still not comfortable going sockless, especially with the beach runs. I should work on this. I did sit down for socks and shoes. My Brooks Glycerines are not the most Tri friendly kicks out there

Run is my weakest link, but my bricks paid off here. I felt that my legs were ready to go after only a couple hundred yards. My pace was right around where I train to. Running through the thick sand really slowed me down and took me some time to recover. The beach runs are getting redundant for tri's in FL, but I just have to deal with it.

Improve pace, run more intervals.

Walked around the expo, had few beers and a couple of slices of pizza.


Speed skills on the run


I think this is my favorite race. They set up a really big tent for the expo, set up plenty of fans to keep people cool, and the proximity of the transition area to the beach is great. You get 2 bridges on the ride and you don't have the entire run on the beach. Overal, great venue, great volunteers and some very fast competitors.