Madeira Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I had a great swim today!! The water was FLAT! No current, no waves, no nothing. It was like swimming in an 800m pool. My breathing was great. I kept up with the lead pack, albeit near the rear of the lead pack, but with 'em. First wave was all men 30-39 and the physically challenged. So there were at least 75 of us in the water for that first wave. I was 14th out of the water in my AG. A position and time PR for an 800m swim.

Nothing.

Quick and easy T1. I noticed I'd forgotten to unvelcro my straps on my shoes before the race, but I just did both of them with both hands as soon as I got there. My shoes slipped right on, I threw my helmet on, clipped it and grabbed my bike. I was as far as possible from the bike out as I could be, but I was as closest to the bike in, so that ended up working to my advantage. Ran with my bike to the bike out, got on the road and clipped in.

Nothing. Perfect T1.

Had a pretty fast bike today. I realized I was at or over 20mph more than I was under it. So I was pretty confident in my bike today. I know I can get faster still, cuz I got passed by more people than I passed, but I did pass about 10 or 12 thru the course. Funny or not so funny thing...at mile 11 when we came over the bridge again, they made us dismount, run our bikes over a DRAWBRIDGE (hello...cleats in drawbridge...ouch!) and then get back on. WTF!!! But it was a quick off and on. In some areas, I was cruising at 24 or 25 for a while. My max speed was 31.2. Bike still needs improvement. But I know for a fact that the new Racelites did their job! I had a very positive bike experience today.

Go even faster. The "tri bike bug" is getting closer to biting me.

Easy T2. Just racked, threw off helmet, and grabbed a quick swig of Gatorade with some GU (Vanilla...not bad). Slipped on the socks, shoes, and race belt. Off I went.

Nothing.

My run could have been a little faster. I really hammered it on the bike for the last 4 miles of the course, so I probably used a little too much cuz it took me a while to get my legs under me on the run. When I left transition, everyone was there watching (Terri, Jessica [who handed me Gatorade and then I splashed it all over my face!!], and my mom) so I almost sprinted out of transition and about a quarter mile up the street. Probably too fast cuz I immediately felt like I wanted to slow down. My first mile was about 9 minutes. I kept thinking, ok just a little faster, the last half mile is on sand so you still have plenty of time to save up energy. WROOOOOOOOOONG. Not the last half MILE...the last half OF THE RUN. UGH!! A mile and a half up the road and then we turn, go up onto the beach and the last 1.6 is all sand. Funny though, I picked up my pace on the sand. My last half mile was at a 6:40 pace. I had gotten passed by a few guys in my age group. Managed to keep them in my sights thru the race. Passed another couple guys along the road. Then on the sand a guy in my age group stayed right up with me. I'd go faster, he'd go faster. I'd slow, he'd slow. The two guys I was pacing were right in front of me. So the guy that was with me and I passed them. They passed us back. We were about a half mile from the finish. I said, that's it...see ya. And I headed away from all THREE of them. Then about 500 yards later I rocketed past one more guy in my AG. Sprinted to the finish, while panting, and picked up four AG spots in the last half mile! Great run today!

Nothing except not run so fast right out of T2.

Lots of water. Lots of it. No puking, no pain, just water. Met my mom at the finish, walked around a bit, and then met up with Jessica. After I caught my breath we all went to see Terri in the food tent to let her know how I did.


I think at this point it's my bike. I've upgraded so many things and I think I've hit an impass with this bike. I'm gonna stick with it for now, but I'm gonna start saving up for a tri bike. I think I can totally kick ass once I get me a lighter, more agile and more balanced bike.


This race is a PR for this distance. Technically it's faster than Wildman, but those distances were skewed. The 800m was no more than 700, the bike was 11, not 12 and the run was 2.75 miles, not a 5K. This is the best effort and hardest I've pushed so far this year I think. I gave it everything I had, I remained positive the whole time and I never got psyched out or angry. I wound up being 16 of 36 in AG, so that meets my top 50% in age group goal...and I was 206 out of 649 overall...so that's within the top third overall (31.7% exactly)...I can't be happier about the results!!! This was definitely my best race of the year so far in a great many ways. I'm so happy my mom got to see this race and not another, she'd never seen a triathlon before yesterday (she was with me watching Terri's supersprint) and she'd never seen me race a tri before.

This was the pinnacle of a wonderful weekend with friends and family. Awesome race today, I'm sooooooooo happy! Well, except for the ticket. :) But oh well, suck it up, right?

WOO HOO FOR MAD BEACH!!! I'll definitely do this one again, and I just might join the Mad Dogs too...