Madison Triathlon

The Dave Parcells Madison triathlon was my first triathlon of the year. Work, school and family conflicts have limited my events to 7 local running races, a ¼ marathon, a 10K, 2 5 Ks, 2 baby carriage 5ks, an extreme scramble that I ran to keep Chevaughn company and a ½ mile open water swim. All races were within 15 miles of my house with the exception of one of the baby carriahges races I did on vacation in New Jersey and the swim . A good running year. I topped my 10K and 5K PRs and extended my long run (a 4-1 run/walk) to 10 miles. My biking as been limited to riding around the flat 0.7 mile industrial circle our ambulance headquarters is located on while I am at work with my emergency radio hooked on to my belt, ready to race back to quarters should we get paged.. My longest work ride has been 20 miles. My swimming, which is my strongest event, has been marginal, but thanks to living so close to Cornerstone I have managed to get some workouts in.

My usual anxiety before a race wasn’t quite as bad as normal. I pretty much decided two things. 1. All I was doing was driving an hour down to Madison to do an open water ½ mile swim, ride a bike 13 miles and then run a 5K. Not a bad work out and a good test for my fitness. I would take my own sweet time. I just had to complete it. And 2. Being a triathlete is a means for me to keep old age and death at bay. As long as I have a race and am racing I am still alive. So to stay alive, all I have to do is race. Not going would be sort of like throwing in the towel. Not a good thing. With all the hecticness of my life lately, working 40 hours a week as a paramedic, 28 hours as an EMS coordinator, going to nursing school, as well as driving the older girls all over town and back and watching Zoey, I have found my workouts a great break –besides hearing Zoey shout “Daddy! Daddy!” When I walk in the door, they are the highlight of my day. Going a year without a triathlon would not be the best thing in my now three year quest. I did 6 races the first year (4 at Lake Terramuggus, Niantic and Lake Compounce) and only two last year (Winding Trails and Lake Compounce).

I felt in reasonable shape, plus this would be my first triathlon with a wetsuit and my first with bike shoes and toe cages on my previous regalar pedaled road bike. I had a hybrid the first year. Not recommended to anyone.

The drive down was dark and rainy – the one condition I have trouble seeing it. Fortunately there was no little traffic on route 9 and having been to the Madion Beach Club last year for their mile swim, I felt confident about getting there on time. I arrived a little after six, found a decent space in transition and got my packet, and markings.

In the 50-54 group, I was in the 4th wave and thought I swam pretty well. The sighting was very easy with the way the course was laid out and the large yellow buoys, although I do feel I need to sight more than I do, as when I look up I feel I am not always in a straight line. The water was clear and refreshing and I quite enjoyed the swim. I was just going easy, hardly kicking at all.

My problem started with getting out of the water. I knew I was supposed to start taking the wet suit off when I started running out of the water, but it didn’t work out that way. It wasn’t until I was in transition that started taking it off. I had applied Body Glide so the top came off easy enough. I sat on the small box I had brought for balance and ease of changing, and I got one leg out, but I just couldn’t get the second leg. I did get it off, but I was in transition a long time. Reviewing the results my T1 time was 4:40, which was the 351st best time (put in context they only had 345 official finishers).

But the bike went well. Sure I was passed by quite a few people, I did my share of passing, particularly on some of the rollers. Again, I was just taking it easy—the road was wet -- but I felt strong. I didn’t drink anything from my water bottle, which I was surprised at because this year I have become much more adept at grabbing the bottle than I used to be. I guess I didn’t want to slow down. I averaged a bit better than 15 mph, which is good for me because my work rides are closer to 13.

My 2nd transition was about 2 minutes. I made certain to drink and double knot my sneakers.

As soon as I started running I felt really tired and realized my heart was racing. My ears stopped up sort of like they do in an airplane and I felt very uncomfortable. Each breath I took echoed in my head like I was wearing a Darth Vader mask. I thought about stopping to see if I could shake water out or try to do something to make me more comfortable, but part of my goal was to run the entire race with no walking, so I kept on, running quite slowly. One foot in front of the other I made it to the finish. I kept saying. I will not die as long as I am still running. As soon as I stopped running, my ears went back to normal. Very odd. Instead of unbuckling my ankle bracelet, I leaned on my knees and let one of the volunteers take it off.

A bottle of water, a banana and a bagel and I felt fine.

I ended up coming in 288 out of 349. I know I run just to finish, but I always look at the results and think , damn if I had given more thought to the transitions, I would have finished higher or shake my head and thinkl dam I thought I was in better shape, I can run much faster than that. While I am not too competitive in these races, I am competitive with myself.

It’s a shame that they are not having the Lake Compounce race again this year because it would be a better gauge of my progress. I will definitely do the Madison race again next year and hopefully finish stronger. I like having year after year comparision races.

Next year I am hoping to do many more triathlons as well as hopefully, my first Olympic. Next up for me likely will be the Hartford Half Marathon where the plan will be to run/walk. There is an outside chance I will be at Hammerfest next week doing the swim as part of a relay. I’m working and will need to get off.

**

Total time: 1:52:04
288 out of 349.


368 (includes relays)
Swim 161th 17:44
Bike 304th 54:26
Run 330th 33:10

Very slow in both transitions: 4:42 2:02

Results