July Aquathlon 2010

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Place-Warner Park Beach Madison, WI
Weather-Beautiful
Racers-About 100
#of Chicken Wings eaten during race-5

One Aquathlon per summer includes a time bonus for eating Quaker Steak Wings after the swim and before the run. Last summer I got beat by a few guys who ate the wings even though I finished ahead of them so this race I decided to eat some wings and see what happens.

KELLY SERVING UP THE WINGS

The swim was a little rough in the beginning. This race continues to attract fast swimmers and there were definately a few UW swimmers attending. Since it's a mass start, the first 100 yds or so get a little bumpy. This just adds to the fun though. My friend Rob was on my left and Cindi and Mark in front of me. I always try to line up near some fast people rather than try to find them in the mass after the start. I accidently bumped Rob while running into the water and he started grabbing my arm and pulling and pushing me. Once we started swimming, there was some more bumping from both sides, but it generally strung out pretty nice. It did seem that the water was more cloudy than usual making it difficult to see swimmers in front and draft.

The swim went by fine and I came out around 12th or so and not feeling to tired. I was thinking about the wings during the swim. I stripped my wetsuit, put my shoes on and headed to the wing table. The limit is 5 wings with a 30 second time bonus per wing. I started eating the first wing and had to stop to catch my breath because I couldn't hold my breath long enough to swallow. After the first one, it got better and I managed to put down all five. Unfortunately there is no wing transition so the time spent eating is unknown. I did talk with Krupa-the Guru of all things timing about this after the race.


PHOTO OF THE WING STOP AFTER SWIM AND BEFORE THE RUN

Nevertheless, I finished the five and was off on the run. The wings were like a performance enhancing drug, and I felt great the first part of the run. I was clipping people off left and right and felt really strong. Nick came up behind me and he usually is quite faster but because of the wings I was able to hang with him for a while. I saw a UW swimmer ahead of me who hadn't had any wings and I used my wing power to take her down. As I approached the turnaround I could see how far everyone was ahead. I reminded myself that most of these people had not had wings meaning they had to beat me by at least 2:30 to finish ahead.

I ran the hill a little slower than usual to avoid puking up my super food. I made it to the finish straightaway having only been passed by Nick on the run. About 1/4 mile out, I looked back and saw a badger runner gunning for me. I used my wing energy to hold him off by a few seconds.

The best part was seeing the look on other people's faces who finished ahead of me but I ended up beating because of the time bonus. The wings definatley helped me out as I finished 4th overall and last month was 7th. Such a fun race.


ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL AQUATHON

Sign up for the next two Aquathons HERE.

Pardeeville Triathlon 2010

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Weather- 80 and sunny-no wind
Start Time- 8:00 a.m.
Distance- Sprint

My summer so far has consisted of fun runs, bike rides with friends and swimming when it's hot out to cool off. I noticed it was July and I haven't done a tri yet so I decided to do Pardeeville the night before the race.


Swim: The water was quite warm but everyone still wore a wetsuit to swim faster. I raced in the elite heat so we got to go off first at 8:00. My friend Jon was racing and last year I finished one place ahead of him. We are both former swimmers so I hoped to draft off of Jon in the swim. The race started and I got behind the leader (not Jon). After the first turn, he seeemed to be zigzagging and a few others were coming up on our right. I got behind the guy passing us and we rounded the second buoy next to each other. Normally I would save energy and just draft behind someone the whole race but I knew I was going to lose some time on the bike and run so I decided to hammer the last stretch and come out first.

T-1 I lost one spot to someone whilst putting on my shoes but then passed him on the road when he was playing with his shoes on the bike.

Bike-I tried to hang in as best as possible but got passed by several bikers. The nice part was that everyone was spread out and I didn't see any drafting at all. I was happy to get off the bike in about 7th or so.

Run-I knew I was ahead of Jon but also knew he ran 18 flat last year. I got passed at about mile 1 but felt o.k. There was a guy in front of me who looked to be slowing and I caught him and passed him at mile 2. The rest of the run was uneventful and I felt strong at the finish but very hot. Ended up 6th out of about 350.

The race was a lot of fun and I saw tons of friends all happy at the end-many took home plaques for age groups. We stayed until the end and cheered in the last finisher who started crying at the finish. It's impressive to see how many people come out for these races and I love seeing all the smiles on peoples faces at the end.

I wasn't smiling because Jon beat me by one place. I guess next year is my turn again.