My Bucket List Confession

John Edelson on the podium at last!

I ran another tri this weekend.

 And it's time to admit that I don't have much of a bucket list. Many of the items on there are really pretty silly. I had always wanted to earn a black belt (check!). I wanted to score a goal in a college soccer game (not checked, not going to be). I wanted to start and run a company (done!). And after a race, I've always wanted to be put on a podium.  Well, this past weekend, at the second of the Key Biscayne MACK Sprint Triathalons, I earned a medal for third place which got me onto the podium. So CHECK!

Disclosure, in my age gender category, males 55-59, there were only five competitors this Sunday.  But I beat two of them (plus all the guys that didn't show up) so as far as I'm concerned, it counts!  I placed in a trithalon! Here's my time.

My analysis of the time: pretty good.

Overall I moved well. I was the fastest in swimming, very competitive on the bike, and I dragged a bit on the run.  My transitions improved but were a little slow still. This is my third sprint triathlon this year. 

2014 Times:

7/20/2014    1:09 Key Biscayne

 7/4/2014     1:09  Tradewinds Park which means no hill on the bike and flat water swim)

6/8/2014  1:10  Key Biscayne 

 I probably swam too hard since although my time was good, I had a series of panic attacks in the water when I thought I might have to stop and ask for help.  Part of the problem is that I took a swimming lesson where they totally changed my breathing (it turns out I'm not supposed to hold my breath! Who knew?) and also my stroke (arms aren't supposed to be straight) so I was trying a new stroke which I had only practiced twice.  So this might have overly tired me out.

Transitions.  Still pretty weak.  I'm going to try elastic laces on my running shoes next time and put some talc powder in my bike shoes and have a shoe horn on hand. I seem to have spent a lot of time trying to get my foot into the shoes and then getting the strap into the brace.  With talc and a shoe horn, I can probably slide my foot into something that is already loosely attached. 

So what's on the agenda?

1. I've laid off the trianing a bit (which was never that organized and intense) and this week I'm back to taking the local boxing class.

2.  I'm looking for more local triathlons or 5Ks. 

http://www.bocaratonroadrunners.com/run-calendar/

3. I'll miss the next Mack tri since I'll be in Alaska.

4. But I'll back in September!

Independence Day Triathlon

Independence Triathlon
Finishers Metal

I enjoyed my second sprint triathlon of the summer this morning.  It was in Tradewinds Park so the swim was in a flat water lake, the run and bike were flat (no bridges), and there were no 180 degree turns.  And I did a new personal best knocking a minute off my previous time bringing it down to 1:09:39.

Still, my time and my position were a little disappointing.  On my previous tri this summer, I was in the top half of my age group and only five minutes behind the winners.  Today, I finished in 1:09:39 (versus 1:10:33 last month) which put me 161st out of 367 which put me just into the first half of the people.  But it only earned me a 12th out of 18 in my category and I was a full 17 minutes off the winning time.

My group, males age 56-60, was weirdly fast. Maybe it's because there was no International Distance so all the more intense athletes dropped down into the sprint. This might be it but it doesn't explain why my specific age group was so fast.  For instance, with my time of 1:09, if I was in the younger 50-54 age group, I would have been 10th out of 27, well into the top half versus well into the bottom half in my actual group.  But then, if I was 61-65, 1:09 would have gotten me a 6th out of 10. And I would have had the same position (6th out of 10) if I was 65-69.  So it seems that it was the old men in general who were extremely fast.  The winner in my age group (a Clay Wilson) was 16th in the overall race and finished in under 53 minutes which is very impressive, arguably elite.

2014 Independence Day Triathlon (.25s-10b-3r) Race Results for John Edelson Male 55-59 on 07/04/2014
	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
Time	0:08:53	1:39	0:30:55	1:48	0:26:25	01:09:39.50
Pace/Speed	0:35:32		19.4		08:48
Cat Place	9/18	12/18	15/18	15/18	11/18	12/18
Cat %	53	35	18	18	41	35
Sex Place	116/232	130/232	143/232	182/232	119/232	121/232
Sex %	50	44	39	22	49	48
OA Place	167/368	207/368	184/368	289/368	162/368	161/368
OA %	55	44	50	22	56	56
Click here for Full Results

List of John's Triathlons

1:09:39  July 4th, 2014     Independence Day Tradewinds Park M 55-59

1:10:33  June 8th, 2014   Mack Cycle Key Biscayne - M 56-60

1:22:15 July 22nd, 2012   Mack Cycle Key Biscayne - M 51-55

1:17:53  August 19 , 2012   Mack Cycle Key Biscayne - M 51-55

1:24:18  2005   Tri Fort Lauderdale 2005. This was along the beach and in Birch state park
There's also a tri from 2005 to be found...I can't remember if it was in Key Biscayne or up near Del Ray.

Relevant Links:

Triathlon posts on this blog

http://www.athlinks.com/   - A collection of all my times on registered races

When my son started running

Daniellas Run (the one I did with Kate and David)

Made it Out of the Water!