Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon - Olympic Race - Triathlon


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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC
85F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 26m 55s
Overall Rank = 227/1820
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 29/254
Pre-race routine:

Arrived Sat afternoon with the intention of riding some of the course but ended up getting there late and just picked up my packet, walked around the expo, grabbed some freebies and hung out with a few ADKers. Ran into Paul Fritzche, who is one of the nicest pro's you'll ever meet, and chatted with him a bit before his pro meeting.

Stayed with Jim Fox, Kevin Crossman, and Steve Becker at a friend of Steves house. We all invaded his living room for the night. In bed early and up at 4:00 to get down to transition. We left the house at 4:30 and wanted to be at the race site at 5:00 so Kevin could get a prime spot in transition, he was going in the Elite Amateur wave. I plugged the address in the GPS and it took us on a road that was nothing but stop and go traffic lights until it said we had arrived at our destination ....... but we hadn't. We were in the middle of town, Kevin just about sh*t his pants. We ended up finding the race site, put the bike together and headed down to transition. I noticed a rubbing noise when I applied the rear brake, a loud rubbing noise. The wheel seemed to spin true enough but when I applied the brake it pulled the wheel to one side. I couldn't figure out what it was and just went with it.

As we walked into the transition area they were announcing that the swim had been canceled because a swimmer had drowned during the sprint race the previous day. It was not the uplifting, motivational chatter that is normally found at the beginning of a triathlon. Many thoughts and prayers were going out to the family as I set up my transition area.
Event warmup:

Since there was no swim there was a lot of time to get ready for a duathlon. I just walked around, jogged a bit to try and get the old "plumbing" going.
Swim
  • 25m 13s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 32s / 100 yards
Comments:

With no swim and what little running I have been doing I just took this first run very easy. Stayed very comfortable and chatted with people. It was already getting hot and muggy and it was only 7:30 in the morning.
Transition 1
  • 02m 4s
Comments:

Nothing too exciting. There was a lot of ground to cover in transition, this was a pretty good T1 for me.
Bike
  • 1h 07m 25s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 22.12 mile/hr
Comments:

I decided to leave the flat kit behind and go with no water bottles for the ride. I had the NeverReach and added about 24 oz of water to it. I was looking forward to getting on the bike for the entire 5K. It felt great to be in the saddle! I settled in to the aero bars and reached down to take a sip of water from the NeverReach. I didn't know I was going to get a shot of protein too! Apparently I should get in the habit of cleaning off the mouth piece after a 3 hr drive with the bike on top of the car. THAT WAS ONE CRUNCHY SIP OF H2O!! Since I had my shot of protein I figured I might as well take a hit of gel to balance things out. I just settled in to a "comfortable hard" effort. The roads were very crowded with riders of all levels. I was trying to encourage the Team-in-Training riders but at the same time let them know that they need to stay right unless they are passing. That seemed to get me some dirty looks like I was being an ass. Oh well, the ride must go on. :-) The hills on the course were short and sweet just crowded. There was very little race ettiquette on the course. People were riding 3 abreast chatting in the middle of the road. Guys were entering the corners wide and cutting to the inside like there was noone else on the road. This was a ride I was just going to enjoy, not race. I don't remember the names of the roads on the course but there were some cool views out there. I was keeping on top of my hydration and took a gel at the beginning of each lap then another about 5 min before the end of the bike leg. I had no Garmin or bike computer so the ride was somewhat "naked" with only a HRM to go by. I passed the transition area in 33 min and started on the second loop. My bike was still making a crazy vibration when I touched the rear brake so I mainly used my front brake. I ended up getting the song Copacabana stuck in my head again. Ugh! I think I passed it on to about 5 other riders as I went by them. I'm thoughtful like that. :-)The second loop was the same as the first only about 1 min longer. Overall I was very pleased to get off the bike with no accidents with how crowded it was out there.
What would you do differently?:

I could have pushed much harder but it just wasn't safe to.
Transition 2
  • 02m 19s
Comments:

This was actually a pretty smooth transition, just a long run to the timing mat.
What would you do differently?:

Nada
Run
  • 49m 52s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 08m 02s  min/mile
Comments:

Legs felt great and I found a very comfortable pace. HR was a bit higher than my effort but I figured it was only a 10K. The first few miles felt good, it was hot and I was taking water and Gatorade at each aid station and holding 7:30's or so. I am not sure what happened to the mile markers but when I looked at my watch at mile 4 I saw 40 minutes! I was floored. WTH? I just started to walk, then ran a bit and walked a bit, chatted with some other runners and figured that these last two miles were going to suck. The finish line wasn't getting closer and faster by walking so I leaned forward and started to run again. Just a few steps after I started running I heard someone say the 6 mile mark was just ahead. WTF?! I started hightailing it for the last 1/2 mile or so just trying to pick people off in my AG. I don't know what happened to the mile markers or to my mind but that was the strangest 10K I have ever run.
What would you do differently?:

Pay attention more and stay focused. (That's just not in my nature though) :-)
Post race
Warm down:

Hung out at the finish line for a short time, grabbed some food and packed up transition. Rode back up the hill to the car and headed home. I stopped on the way home and hooked the Compex unit to my quads and repeated the recovery mode all the way home. THAT FELT GREAT!!!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Ummm, lack of training and too much weight!

Event comments:

Good race, apparently it has a 30% track record of turning into a duathlon. (2 out of 6 yrs) I probably won't do it again but it was a good experience to do once.






Last updated: 2009-11-22 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:25:13 | 1640 yards | 01m 32s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/254
Overall: 933/1820
Performance:
AHR 150, MHR 160
Suit:
Course: 5k instead of swim due to some unfortunate circumstances of a drowning in the sprint race the day before.
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:04
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:07:25 | 24.85 miles | 22.12 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/254
Overall: 134/1820
Performance: Good
AHR 154, MHR 171
Wind: None
Course: The course was a 12 mile loop with A LOT of people. For as many turns and hills as there were it was actually a pretty fast course. Roads were in great condition. What made it a little dangerous was the beginners riding 3 abreast in the middle of the road.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 90
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:19
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:49:52 | 06.21 miles | 08m 02s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/254
Overall: 300/1820
Performance: Below average
AHR 157, MHR 181. Mile 1 - 7:23, Mile 2 - 7:37, Mile 3 - 7:50 then I have no clue.
Course: Flat as a pancake, hot as hell!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4