Madison Triathlon 9-10-2011

A beautiful day to race in Madison. My goal was simply to beat last year’s time. Recovered from my illness, I felt confident. I had no issues with the swim. Unlike last year when it was low tide and I could sprint the first 100 yards, it was deep right away. I swam straight with few collisions. The only interesting part, was right when we finishing and were very close to the beach, I saw a woman next to me who looked like she was standing (she was in fact breast-stroking, so I stopped and tried to stand, only to feel no bottom.

The bike went well, no flats and I felt like I was riding strong and steady. When I set out on the run, I did have that occasional initial problem I get where one of the tubes in my ear clogs and it feels like every breath I take is echoed in my head like I am wearing Darth Vader’s helmet. It went away after a mile and I had no further problem. I hit the two mile mark and thought about stepping it up, but I decided to wait a little longer. In the end I no real second wind and only managed a fifty yard speed up at the end.

I didn’t wear a watch, and I had deliberately not looked at last year’s time, so when I crossed the time I had no meaning to me. I got a cold water and some food, and sat down, feeling reasonably good about my race. One of the nice things for me about Madison, is I am in the thick of the race. There are enough first-timers and one triathlon a year people that I am not too overmatched. Plus, I am usually in the fourth wave, and the fifth wave has newbies and women, so I don’t need to fear being out alone on the course as the last racer. There were in fact, still racers on the course, long after I had eaten, packed up my bike and gear and headed out.

When I got home and checked my last year’s result, I saw that I was three and a half minutes slower this year, which was a bit discouraging. However, when I saw the actually results on-line later, I felt somewhat better. Most of the lost time was in the swim, where everyone seemed to have longer times. I picked up six seconds in transition and 30 on the bike, while losing 90 on my less than inspired run. I finished in the 76% percentile, same as last year. Not quite getting out of the bottom quarter.

I have no more “comparison” tris this year, although I may do as many as 2 more races (thinking about the Cedar Lake race on the 27th and am definitely doing Clam Man in New Jersey on October 1.). I still hope to break my 5K record and top my half-marathon times from last year. I’d like to do at least one to show I am keeping Father Time at bay.

Results

2011

Swim: 19:41 180 of 374 (47%)
Transition 1: 2:09
Bike: 51:24 305 of 374 (80%)
Transition 2: 1:34
Run: 31:05 321 of 374 (86%)

Total 1:45:53 265 of 349 (76%)

lost 2:34 on swim (longer swim due to tides)
picked up 30 seconds on the bike
lost 1:34 on the run
picked up 6 seconds in transition


2010

Swim: 17:07 (184 out of 403) (46%)
Transition 1: 2:22 (235)
Bike:51:52 (328) (81%)
Transition 2: 1:27 (286)
Run: 29:28 (305) (76%)

Total: 1:42:16 (286) of 374 (76%)

2009

Total time: 1:52:04
288 out of 349. (83%)

368 (includes relays)
Swim 161th 17:44 (44%)
Bike 304th 54:26 (83%)
Run 330th 33:10 (90%)

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