Phily Tri - Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Schuykill was like bathwater. no wetsuit. ran into some good sized pieces of wood/debris this year, but had very little contact. i don't think i swam the straightest route in the world....kept veering right.
My swimming stinks, mostly due to neglect, so i just tried to not use to much gas.

train

Good T1. 3rd A/G

Our bikes were racked at the swim entrance so we had a really long walk with the bike to get out of transition. for this reason i left my shoes on the bike and ran barefoot. this made my transition pretty fast but i did have some trouble mounting as my rubber bands broke and the shoes were flopping everywhere. i haven't done that in a while.

better shoe attachement

First lap was strong and being in the first wave was absolutely great...no crowds. Passed transition for the first lap in about 33 min and change.

Second lap was more eventful. Lots of crowds. On the first hill after transition I made the left turn and started going up the hill where the racers on the other side are flying down. I heard someone yell something and out of the corner of my eye saw an ejected water bottle screaming at me from the other side at 45mph like a guided missle. Had no time to do anything and hit it dead on with both wheels like a speed bump. Was amazed i didn't flatten a tire, damage a wheel, or go down. All was good, until...

I foolishly dropped my chain on the second Lemmon Hill climb. Not normally a big deal. but, I could not get that thing back on for the life of me. Guess I was flustered. Being on the steep pitch didn't help. Took me a solid 90 seconds. It happened in front of a photographer so i am probably in the background of alot of peoples pictures :).

Other than that, the ride was great. Felt like I managed the hills well by going a little harder than usual. 12/23 was certainly the right call.
2nd lap got very crowded.

Nutrition: One bottle water with 2 gu roctanes mixed. another reg bottle. Picked up another on the 2nd lap. it was hot.

Avg pwr 290w, nPower 320w.
Gear: P2, 808 front, Hed rear w/ cover. Conti 4000s w/ latex. Aerolid.



Not drop my chain. that stunk.

3rd a/g.
Keeping transitions under 4 min on this course especially with where my bike was racked is pretty solid. kept it simple. Happy here.

dropped my computer which i had to go back for. other than that, pretty solid.

Didn't have a watch with me so i just went by feel. Took it fairly easy at the beginning knowing i could easily overheat on the back half when it got into the sun. Just chugged along. Saw the leader and 2nd place guy coming at me before i reached the final turnaround. Leader was too far gone, but i thought i could catch the 2nd guy - and he gave me some encouragement to do so! - but even though i was able to pick up my pace, i guess he did too. Came in in 3rd.

maybe push a little harder in the beginning, but that is a risky game in the heat for me. i have walked the last half of this course before.

I was done by 9:30, so what else is there to do but eat some lunch. Had to wait for a good 90 min for transition to open. Still prefer the early wave, though.


crappy swim, dropped chain.


I got home and checked the results and was SHOCKED and bummed that i received a 2 min drafting penalty. I have no idea when that happened. Can't recall anything i did that could have been construed as drafting. Never saw a moto with officials on it. I guess it happened on the 2nd lap when it was crowded and it must have been by a stationary official (?). Bums me out because I hate drafters. It's all good, though, as those officials have a tough job on a very crowded, tight, course....but "I am not a criminal!!!".