September 19, 2004

Like Pardeeville, we had quite a crew from Madison competing in this tri. We all trained a lot between July and Sept. Swimming twice a week. Running every other day. Biking every day. Labor Day weekend was spent at Devil's Lake, going through each event.

The night before the race, we stayed in Baraboo at Kathy's sister's place which is a convenient 10 mins. from the park. It was a cool morning, but dry (unlike last year). The water was surprisingly cold. This will be the last year I would swim this tri without a wet suit. It was also very windy which made the water extremely choppy. I wasn't the only one who had troubles with the swim. I couldn't get a rhythm and waves kept beating me in the face. Still, I had my fastest swim yet.

I decided against wearing socks on the bike which gave me my fastest swim-to-bike transition. Having sent my Trek to the shop to get replaced - I road a friend's steel Gunner. I had to replace his tiny cassette with a larger one (11x34) to help make up for the lack of a triple chain ring up front. It made a huge difference for the steep climbs. The bike coarse (same as last years) is the most challenging I've ever tried. The majority of the first 5 miles are all up hill. There are some real nice down hills but most the riders I passed were on the up hills.

Tracking the last 5 triathlons, my bike-to-run transitions are getting worse, only by a couple of seconds, but they are getting slower. I know putting on socks slowed me down this time, but I can't run with out them (big blisters - must find quicker socks). I used some quick-zip laces on my running shoes which made a huge difference.

My run was nearly identical to last year's. I was feeling good till I got caught by one friend who was in my wave and had never swam very well - ever. We ran in together, at least until I split and sprinted the last 50 ft. - he was 1 sec. behind me.

PLACE	BIB	AGE	TIME	SWIM	TRANS1	BIKE	TRANS2	RUN	M30-34
130/733	245	31	1:28:47	8:25	1:47	52:53	1:37	24:08	22/60

see the results for myself and Kathy for all past triathlons

The media

Two swimmers

Three swimmers

Media frogs

The family

Cold matty

5 min. transition

Biking out

Specialized

Celeste