Philly Tri Official Thread (Page 4)

This weather is killing me. Racing sprint on Saturday - can you run-bike-run?  

Supposed to clear up tomorrow...I'm hoping that will be enough to make Sunday's event swimmable.

Is it the river condition (green/red) or the actual current (cfs) that dictates these decisions?  

Tomorrow just has to be a duathlon though...

Huh, looks like they swam this morning! I'm very surprised. Guess the RD makes the call based on something else. I know they check for debris and current, as well as temperature. Guess goose poop isn't a factor

If they swam today I think for sure we will swim tomorrow, barring any unusual circumstances.

Hmmm... red and 79 right now on Rivercast. Wonder what the current is like.

Getting ready to hop on the bike and take a look. Obviously since they swam the RD didn't read Rivercast I'll post a report once I get back.

i'm in.  i'm just off Darby near the bike shop.  i sense triathletes around in the shadows but i rarely see any.  We are elusive creatures.

I run around Haverford college and Karakung and up Manoa all the time.  Usually take my rides up to Valley Forge but will do a loop up Darby Paoli road when i need to get an hour in.  I'm looking forward to the Y opening so we have a decent pool option.

Good luck everyone tomorrow.  I've been eating alot this year so i'm racing clydes :0.

I guess it depends on experience. I heard there was a lot of debris and a couple swimmers needed to be pulled. That's not unusual in a large race, though. And if you've done OWS anywhere around here debris is normal.

Just got back from checking out the transition area on my bike. The water is deceivingly pretty.

Did the sprint this A.M.  Water was ridiculously warm - at least 80.2 according to the last announced temp.  I thought there was a good amount of debris in the water (mostly wood and some garbage).  Slightly nastier than when I did it in 2010.  

Transition was really messy with lots of standing water. Hopefully it dries out by tomorrow.  In retrospect, I wished I had pre-clipped my shoes - Speedplay cleat was caked up and made clipping in difficult.

Slightly off topic...

but does anyone have a good suggestion to where might be a fun place to watch?  I was planning to stop by for a while with my dog since the start is only a mile or two from my house.

Anywhere near transition and you will see the most action, but it will also be crowded. If you're on the Kelly Drive side of the river you could walk down to the Columbia Ave. bridge early, see the swimmers, then walk back up to the path to Lemon Hill and see the bikers, and finally walk down to transition along the path on the MLK side and see people finish.

I think I have given up hope of a wetsuit swim.  I went out to the Open Water Swim this morning to get some practice swimming without a wetsuit.  I didn't do badly, but then I did one lap with my old wetsuit (no sleaves, no legs) and you can tell the difference.  We will see.  I am getting my bike together now and just hoping for the best tomorrow. 

Good luck everybody, I would say you guys can look for me tomorrow, I will be the guy with the shaved head and a nervous look before the swim, but at a triathlon, that could be anybody!

Well I will throw this open to all BT'ers either racing or volunteering tomorrow. I live by the Art Museum and by 11am will be in the yard BBQ'ing and having a post-race beer. If you want to say hi and have one with me, email me for the address.

And yes, the water is now 84 degrees, it's safe to say the swim will be sans wetsuit

CONGRATS to everyone who completed the tri today or yesterday!!!!

I found an awesome spot on MLK drive where I could watch the pros run, elite AGers bike, and slow AGers swim all at the same time.  Win!  Everyone looked great out there!!! 

The main thing I learned today?  Practice changing a flat before race day!  One girl had a great swim time, sped through T1, off like a shot on her bike, and comes running back to T1 15 minutes later because she got a flat and didn't know how to fix it.  Her boyfriend fixed it, but I didn't stick around long enough to know if that was legal. 

I ran along the Delaware river yesterday and was wondering why they couldn't set up a swim somewhere along there instead of the gross Schuylkil.  It's way deeper, but 100x cleaner. 

Great day for a tri. No idea how I did, but assuming my wave went off at the right time it was around 2:45. Must remember to start garmin. Given my incredibly slow swimming I am happy. Think my bike was pretty good but probably a little too good since my run was pretty slow.

A wetsuit would have been deadly, the water was 82 degrees. Much cleaner than I expected, too. No issues swimming without the wetsuit.

I could give a one word race report... disappointing!

I was WAY off my goal of improving last years time, with no explaination for it. 

I was actually happy with my swim while I was doing it.  I thought I sighted better then in the past and felt comfortable swimming without the wetsuit.  And the water was much cleaner then I expected.  I was happy until after the results were posted and I saw that I was so comfortable swimming because I was over 3 minutes slower then last year!  Yikes!

Bike was the same as always, I just don't have another gear to really push it on the bike.  I was around 1 minute slower then last year and last year I had to stop to put my chain back on.  No excuses this year.

I started out the run trying to get into a good fast pace, but just couldn't get my legs turning faster.  I think I was so disappointed with my bike that I let it bring me down. I just wanted to get it over with.  The good news is that I kept a consistent pace, the bad news is that pace was 15 sec per mile slower then last year!

I really need to figure out what went wrong.  I put a lot of training in for these triathlons and without much to show for it.  Early mornings, late nights, lunch hours in the pool, time away from my family. When I do well, I feel like it is worth it, when I don't I just want to stop.  But I am not ready to give up yet.  I need to get my diet together (Pizza and ice cream all the time does not a triathete make) and try and do those little things that will make the difference.  Two months until my A race, so there is still time.

Every one is a learning experience. Sorry to hear that you're disappointed. I'm somewhat philosophical. I have been taking swim lessons and going to the lake every weekend and was still one of the last out of the water. All that work sighting and swimming, and I went outside of the yellow buoy and past the exit! Of course it could be worse, look at the pro women who went inside and got DQ'd. My run was slower than normal too, but I've been doing sprints so need to adjust to the Oly length.

Neither of us is getting prize money. I'm having fun, even though like you I am totally critical of my performance. So go do another and relax. Save the pizza and ice cream for after the race. My son treated me to Philly Flavors last night and I had Rocky Road. No guilt

I can totally relate!  This is the first year in my six years doing this that i am not improving.  In fact, i am going backwards.  And even though I feel really good in the races, i cross the line and look at the time and say "WTF!!".  Definitely disappointing.

But, in my case, it is my fault:

1) training volume is way down and less consistent.  last year i was training for ironman and i was a machine all winter.  I was going into early season races totally fatigued and still blowing the doors off my times in races this year.  lesson i learned:  you can't cheat volume/consistency even for "just" and oly or a sprint!

2) weight/diet:  I, too, have a pizza/ice cream/beer issue and i have put on a bunch of weight.  weight really matters in this sport.  lesson i learned:  before i spend another $XXX on aero carbon stuff, i need to get my nutrition habits back in check!

Lastly, DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP OVER THE PHILLY SWIM.  It changes year to year based on current.  I swam 24:xx in 09' (massive current+wetsuit) and 29:xx yesterday.  I just looked and saw that Andy Potts' swim was almost 2 minutes slower than last year and he is a world class swimmer.  His overall time was 3:30 slower this year.  So, some of your time differences were likely attributable to the conditions.

Stay positive and keep at it.

You look fast!

Looks are deceiving

The video of the finish is actually decent, it shows me and this other guy racing each other across the finish. Would have been cool if they had caught us shaking hands afterwards.