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!

A Sprint Triathalon - Key Biscayne

In my quest for new challenges and to enjoy and push my fitness, I signed up for some triathalons this summer.  I did the first one on June 8th down at Virginia Key, part of the Key Biscayne Mack series. I had a great time and my time was respectable.  I finished it in 1:10:33 which placed me  5th place in my age category of Male 55-59, 118th overall out of 256.

The organizers just sent me a table which gave me my position on each part.  My swimming was fast, I was 2nd fastest in my group. And my biking was fast too, I was the 3rd fastest in my group. My run time, which I think of as my best area, was not as good, I was 5th.  And my transitions, I was slow: 6th and 5th respectively.  I guess I need to practice putting on my shoes!

New Bike! I'm really excited since I finally bought a bike that isn't a bad joke. I bought a new bike which is a modern racing bike. It's almost 10 pounds lighter than my old bike. I didn't got to crazy as in I stayed with aluminum and didn't go with a carbon fiber.  But, if I keep at it (and if my company stays solvent), I might get myself a carbon fibre one soon.

My previous bike was one that I had swapped for and it turns out to have been 25 years old.  I put toe clips on the old bike and use to do both the biking and the run wearing running shoes.

Here's the results of previous triathalons. I did two two years ago and a few a few years before that.  My time this time was actually better than the previous one: 1 hour ten minutes this time versus one hour seventeen minutes on my last one.  I have no idea why. This course might have been shorter or the conditions better. I think in both cases, I placed the middle of my group although I have moved up a group since my previous efforts.  And by up, I mean that I moved up to the 56-60 age group.

By the way, the pictures from the triathalon last year were taken by my wife's nephew who is a great photographer.  Anybody want to go take pictures at the next one?

2014 Mack Cycle Triathlon Trilogy #1 (.25s-10b-3.1r) Race Results for John Edelson Male 55-59 on 06/08/2014
	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
Time	0:10:10	2:30	0:27:41	2:07	0:28:06	01:10:33.96
Pace/Speed	0:40:40		17.3		09:03
Cat Place	2/8	6/8	3/8	5/8	5/8	5/8
Cat %	86	29	71	43	43	43
Sex Place	88/171	124/171	75/171	129/171	97/171	93/171
Sex %	49	28	56	25	44	46
OA Place	114/256	185/256	89/256	185/256	128/256	118/256
OA %	56	28	65	28	50	54
Click here for Full Results

Triathlon Key Biscayne August 19th, 2012

I did a second tri sprint this past weekend and made progress.

First of all, I brought a cousin of my wife's who is a photographer so the quality of the pictures is greatly improved.

Secondly, my time improved but the biggest improvement was in my first transition. Basically, after the last race, a few people took pity on me and offered me some basic guidance.  I learned that you are not supposed to wear socks (takes too long to put them on!) and that with elastic laces, you don't have tie and double knot your shoes. These two insights helped me knock 1.3 minutes off my schedule.

Beyond that, I knocked 1.7 minutes off my bike time but it's still pretty slow. I added clips to by pedals so that I could both push and pull and it seemed to help.   Also, btw, it's not just about the equipment. I also trained.

My run time also improved but only by a fraction of a minute.  I'm a little disappointed here because unlike the previous tri, I actually ran the whole time this time but I guess, to get there, I must have generally dropped by pace.

And, in case anyone cares, here's the specifics of my times and the full race results:


Total Time: 01:17:53.00 

 Swim Time: 9:35

T1 Time: 3:46
Bike Time: 35:15
T2 Time: 1:12
Run Time: 28:5
Overall Place: 205 out of 410
Overall Percentile: 50
Gender Place: 150 out of 264
Gender Percentile: 43
Category Place: 13 out of 22
Category Percentile: 43
Series Points Earned: 101.5807

Swim Details: 
Time: 9:35
Pace: 38:20
Overall Place: 215
Percentile: 48
Gender Place: 157
Gender Percentile: 41
Category Place: 13
Category Percentile: 43

Transition 1 Details: 
Time: 3:46
Overall Place: 165
Percentile: 60
Gender Place: 111

john edelson

Gender Percentile: 58
Category Place: 8
Category Percentile: 67

Bike Details: 
Time: 35:15
Speed: 16.68085
Overall Place: 273
Percentile: 33
Gender Place: 199
Gender Percentile: 25
Category Place: 17
Category Percentile: 24

Transition 2 Details: 
Time: 1:12
Overall Place: 115
Percentile: 72
Gender Place: 75
Gender Percentile: 72
Category Place: 6
Category Percentile: 76

Run Details:
Time: 28:5
Pace: 9:3
Overall Place: 185
Percentile: 55
Gender Place: 130
Gender Percentile: 51
Category Place: 10
Category Percentile: 57


BTW, I finished between Paul and Tim with an even 7 minute spacing.  There's another tri coming up Sept 9th which I might enter. And a special thanks for the help with photography, have you seen my post on the Kodak Instamatic?

Triathlon Results

This morning's Key Biscayne triathlon was great.  The rain, while we were swimming,  kept the sun from beating down on us although it did make our shoes and socks and bikes wet and soggy. And the headwinds didn't really help dry us out as much as I would have liked. The winds were odd in that no matter which way we ran, they were always headwinds!

 I met Dani and Paul there. Dani finished third in her category. Paul didn't pass me until the biking but I was basically pleased to finish.

 I was 12th out of 17th in my chosen category of males, 50-54.  However, it was chosen in the sense that I qualify for, and could have entered, as a Over 40 Clydesdale (for those of you not up on the lingo, this means kindof heavy. The cut off is 185 which I sadly easily meet. There are also 200 and 225 Clydesdale categories). As a Clydesdale over 40, my time would have placed me closer to the top!  Should I enter as a Clydesdale next time?  Or should I just bide my time until next year when, if I could get the same time, I would have also placed second. I got through my transitions fine but am not really in shape for a tri, even a sprint.  But, in three weeks (next time out), I intend to be. Watch out. 

 Here's my results (which showed up in an email when I was still having breakfast afterwards).  After analyzing them, it turns out that my biking is slow.  My swimming and running (even though I walked a little) were pretty good. And my first transition was slow but by second one (since I don't change shoes) was wicked fast. 

CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING
THE 2012 Mack Cycle Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy #2 (.25s-10b-3.1r)

Full Results are available at: http://www.multirace.com/TriResultsDetailed.asp?RaceID=570&p=1&c=1&a=1&r=1

John Edelson as if he won sometime

 Total Time: 01:22:15.99.  Overall Place: 225 out of 421

Swim Time: 10:41. 170th out of 421 in swimming
T1 Time: 5:3. 286th. What was I doing?
Bike Time: 36:57.  304th.  yick!
T2 Time: 1:7.  90th.  
Run Time: 28:28.  187th.  
Gender Place: 170 out of 280
Category Place: 12 out of 17
Category Percentile: 31
Series Points Earned: 100.0395

Race pictures:

Race completion certificate: 

Swim Details: 
Time: 10:41.  Overall Place: 170
Pace: 42:44
Percentile: 60
Gender Place: 133
Gender Percentile: 53
Category Place: 8
Category Percentile: 56

Transition 1 Details: 
Time: 5:3.   Overall Place: 286
Percentile: 32
Gender Place: 198
Gender Percentile: 29
Category Place: 15
Category Percentile: 12

Bike Details: 
Time: 36:57.  Overall Place: 304
Speed: 15.9134
Percentile: 28
Gender Place: 227
Gender Percentile: 19
Category Place: 16
Category Percentile: 6

Transition 2 Details: 
Time: 1:7    Overall Place: 90
Percentile: 79
Gender Place: 63
Gender Percentile: 78
Category Place: 4
Category Percentile: 81

Run Details: 

Time: 28:28.  187th. 

Pace: 9:10

Overall Place: 

Percentile: 56

Gender Place: 137

Gender Percentile: 51

Category Place: 9

Category Percentile: 50

Previous Race Results for John Edelson.  BTW, the internet is amazing! I just googled my name and triathlon since I wondered what my results were last time I ran this (in Key Biscayne 2005)!.(Also here).  I seem to have run a 1:16 that day.  

The net also reveals my time in the Ft Lauderdale triathlon in September of 2005. 1:24.  

I also see that in 2004, I ran the MLK 5K in Ft Lauderdale and ended at 23:24.

4

21

23

John Edelson

M

45

-

23:24

07:31

 Diamonds in the Park 5K, Davie, FL, September 20, 1998 (of which I have no memory):
9 JOHNEDELSON 40      FT. LAUDERDALE    24:41     7:57

 23rd ANNUAL SEVEN MILE BRIDGE RUN APRIL 24, 2004 25 223 JOHN EDELSON 46 POMPANO BEACH 54:18 8:00

These aren't all my runs in recent history. I've done Daniella's Run several times but I also run with the kids on that one so my times aren't really my own.

Well, I run with the kids that I can still run with (David is too fast for me to keep up with).

 I ran the Miami ING Half Marathon one year with Eddie Walker (2005? 2006?).

And way back when, in the mid 80s, I ran some races in DC and Boston including tagging along on the Boston Marathon in 1986 (3:20 is what I remember).

UPDATE.
More recently, there was the Independence Day Triathalon in 2014 when I finally got on a podium.

There's the Key Biscayne Triathanlon of 2012.

And the Mack 2014 July 2014 Tri which triggered a Bucket List Confession.

I was just looking online for my times and I found a site called http://www.athlinks.com/ which has a number of my times from the last decade in one place (update from 2014 Feb 2nd, day of Miami Marathon). Here it is:

John Edelson Race Results

Daniellas Run

We've run Daniella's Run 5K twice before. We noticed that it was not held last spring and we missed it.

So we were thrilled when Daniella's Run suddenly popped up again. Instead of being a stand-alone run, it was part of the  Live Strong, Live Long run at Gulf Stream Park this past Saturday.

A highlights was that Hunter F came along with Kate and David: his family was off doing the Disney Half Marathon.

The weather was perfect. It was very cool running the last mile around the horse racing track. On the flip side, the track was mushy and at first, we didn't know to stay on the narrow strip of hard packed-dirt. Instead, we slogged through with our feet gathering a heavy cake of mud with each step.  Since none of us were running for time, it didn't matter. As they say, it's all good.

As background, this run has some emotional significance to us.   Daniella Folleco was a girl who went to school with my kids. We know the family. She had cancer and died. She was, and her mom is, a delight despite this terrible bad luck. The run commemorates her and to me, reminds me how incredibly lucky we are to be healthy and all together. Daniella's Mom was there thanking people for showing up. Other parents from the school were there running fund-raising booths. It made me think of this old simple ditty:

The world is so full of wonderful things,
I think we should be as happy as kings.
(I just googled this: it was written by Robert Louis Stevenson who also wrote Treasure Island and Kidnapped)