chad.williamson: Memphis in May Triathlon Weekend

May 13 - May 19
S: 8,538 yds - 2hr 3min
B: 84.27 mi - 3hr 4min
R: 18.47 mi - 2hr 11min
Total: 8hr 33min

May 20 - May 26
S: 11,044 yds - 2hr 43min
B: 79.89 mi - 4hr 23min
R: 36.95 mi - 4hr 40min
Total: 11hr 46min

May 27 - June 2
S: 14,280 yds - 3hr 18min
B: 165.58 mi - 9hr 39min
R: 30.50 mi - 3hr 57min
Total: 16hr 54min

After a couple busy weeks, I'm finally getting around to the Memphis in May race report! 7 days fresh off of a half ironman race down at the beach, Lori and I headed to Tunica, MS for the Memphis in May Triathlon weekend. The schedule was a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic triathlon on Sunday. Just like the past 2 years, I was planning on doing both races as part of the Amateur Challenge. With a $5,000 prize purse paying out to 15 spots, it's a no-brainer. Basically, you do both races and you get ranked by your total combined time. There's no reason not to do it, right?? Here's how the races went down:

Part I: Sprint Triathlon
Swim - 7:38 (17th)
T1 - 0:46 (5th)
Bike - 30:12 (3rd)
T2 - 0:52 (31st)
Run - 17:41 (5th)
Total - 57:08.9 (5th overall)

pre-race free advertising for Accelerate 3

Our age group started at the back of a 800 person field, and it was complete and utter chaos. I felt like my swim was ok but spent pretty much the whole time swimming over and around people. It was not ideal at all. As soon as I got on the bike I saw Kendrick about 10-15 seconds up the road. Kendrick and I are very similar in abilities, and I knew that we would be pretty dead even in the Amateur Challenge. Careful not to overdo it, I smashed it pretty hard for the first 10-15 minutes because I wanted to go ahead and pass him and we were also riding into a pretty stiff headwind. Bike watts were very good and I was surprised with how good it felt.

too fast for the camera

Coming off the bike I was hurting but felt strong enough to really dig deep. Mile splits were 6:06, 5:54, and 5:43; a negative split and to my knowledge the fastest I've run off the bike for this distance. Small victories like this tell you that you're on the right track.

sprinting to the line

I knew I had Kendrick beat but I had to wait a little while to find out that I got 5th overall. I was hoping for a little better but can't complain because I knew I went full gas the entire way.

getting my award...more free advertising for Accelerate 3

Part II: Olympic Triathlon
Swim - 22:48 (23rd)
T1 - 0:54 (9th)
Bike - 58:23 (4th)
T2 - 0:52 (21st)
Run - 39:30 (7th)
Total - 2:02:26.9 (6th overall)

discussing race strategy

Firstly, smashing last years time of 2:04:18 by almost 2 minutes is another sign that things are on the right track! As was the case with the sprint race, our age group started at the back of a close to 1,000 person field. Somehow (same as the sprint) Kendrick was starting within 2 numbers of me so we would practically be going head to head on the course. This is good because we both knew that we would be racing for some cash, likely a $75 swing either way.


deep in thought, probably thinking about watts

K starting 2 numbers behind me

and I'm off!

The wetsuit swim was rather uneventful. It was rather hard to see the small orange buoys because everyone was wearing pink swim caps, but I think I did a good job at sighting.

exited the swim with Sara! too bad she started behind me :/

Onto the bike and I felt ready to crush it. As was the case with the day before, my legs felt great. We had a stiff headwind on the way out so I hit it a little harder than normal knowing that I could cruise in with the tailwind. I passed Kendrick at mile 18 and really tried to motor from there in order to drop him out of sight.

finishing the bike

Coming out of T2 I could see him wheeling his bike in so I knew I had my work cut out for me. He made the catch a little after mile 1. I was running 6:20's and he was running 6:00's but I said "what the heck" and shoved my chips in. I thought that I *might* be able to hang with him but figured even if I had to drop back it would still help me out some. Mile 1 was a 6:28 solo and then miles 2-4 were 6:04, 5:59, and 6:15 on his heels. I finally dropped (almost dropped too late and blew myself up) and ran a 6:41 mile 5 before recovering some for a 6:31 final mile and final sprint into the finish line. As it turned out Kendrick beat me by less than a minute, so I was able to edge him by about 15 seconds total for 5th overall in the amateur challenge for a nice pay day of $250!