Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon - Olympic Race - TriathlonOlympic

I decided to start off sort of easy, was hoping to average about 8'/mile and come in between 24-25', just to test the ankle and not push myself since I had never trained for nor done a duathlon. Actually felt great - a little twinge on the medial aspect, but stride was ok and my energy level was good. Did first mile at about 6'41". After the turn around, I felt like my effort level was increasing but noticed my speed decreasing according to my Garmin.

This was my first duathlon, so despite how good I felt at the beginning I probably should have paced myself a little better. I was just happy to be running and not be in any real pain - and I don't like running 5k's slower than 7', so pushed it a little harder than I should have.

I took a little extra time in transition to make sure I took in some water and Accelerade before unracking my bike. With the high temps and beginning the race with a run, I was concerned about over-heating and hydration. My bike bottles on my Xlab also didn't fit under the bike racks very well, so wasn't very smooth getting the bike out.

I need to practice some basic bike skills and get better running and jumping onto the bike, but I did get into my shoes faster than last race. I think the extra time making sure I took in some fluids was not detrimental on this day.

WOOOOHOOOO!! Felt like I was flying! First time I've averaged over 20 on an Olympic (and first Olympic on my P3). I felt great on the first loop - don't think I got passed by anyone until a couple of pros lapped me just before I was finishing the lap. I really focused on my cornering and turns and felt like I was flying through them. I did respect the last downhill and turn before transition, but didn't find it as scary as many warned it was (still, better to be overly cautious than not cautious enough). Began to tire a little going into the second lap, and felt some pre-cramping tightening in both my calves. My ankle also began to increasingly bother me throughout the second loop. Managed to refill my Aero Drink from my left-side rear cage water bottle, but need to work on getting my bottles from the rear cages. I cut the throttle back a little bit 3/4 of the way through to try to prevent cramping. At the end of the second loop, I decided to unstrap my shoes before the Black Road hill so that I could get out of them in time for transition. Unfortunately I did it a little too early and ended up not strapped in for longer than I needed to be. At the bottom of the hill, some volunteers were waving ambiguously and a sign behind them pointed to transition inside the pylons they were in front of. I headed this way and came to a stop before I could understand that they were saying "keep going, its up ahead". I gently suggested that they move the sign - next time I saw it, it had been turned over so you couldn't see it. Unfortunately my right calf developed a mild cramp when I stood back on the pedals. I somehow (accidentally) got my left foot back into the shoe and unclipped from the pedal. As I hit the actual dismount line, race officials were screaming at a guy ahead of me to slow down. I also felt my left calf begin to cramp. I can't describe what happened next, as I'm not sure what happened, but my bike was suddenly stopped and I was flying over my handle bars. I managed to land fairly softly on the heels of my hands, got at least one foot down and kept my bike from totally slamming the ground. As I stood back up and righted my ship, a volunteer handed me my bottles that had launched out in the semi-crash. Some nice lady asked if I was ok - physically I didn't have more than an abrasion. As I ran into transition, I noted my right sock was missing (weird).

Pace myself a little better. Not injure myself by training stupidly two weeks before the race. Apparently I need to practice my dismounts (or go to circus school). As I mentioned, practice getting my water bottles out of the Xlab - especially the left side. Pre-race hydrate and warm-up better - I think that may have been part of my cramping issues.

I'm going to take a mulligan and blame this transition on my crash landing rather than myself - I think the adrenaline was surging after almost synchronized cartwheeling with my bike and my brain wasn't processing well. I racked my bike ok, and took time to put on my Ace neoprene ankle wrap to try to help out my ankle. I made it about 3/4 of the way towards the exit to transition when I realized that my bike helmet was still on. I turned to the guy I was running beside and said "I'm running with my freaking helmet on!" He advised me to toss it to the side, but I wasn't expecting to win any cash prizes to make up for the cost if it went missing (plus I was already down a sock!). Apparently Liz was yelling to me from just outside the transition fence to give it to her. I didn't hear her (and that's probably a violation of USAT rules), so I turned around and trotted back to my transition spot and put the helmet back. I think I was also making sure that I remembered to carry my Accelerade bottle with me to try to get some extra energy and fluids in due to the heat and my cramping. You can see the above bike notes for my other issues earlier at transition (finding it, dismounting etc.)

Not crash. Take off my helmet. Not get injured and feel the need to take extra time to put my ankle bandage on (not sure if it helped, anyway).

The fact that my age group rank was better on this run than on the first run but my overall rank was worse may mean a couple of things: 1)My age group doesn't know how to pace themselves 2) None of us had trained for a duathlon 3) The heat kicked our a**es.
I knew coming off the bike that this was only about finishing. The ankle injury, the cramping, the heat - this was a huge mental effort to finish. The only reason I didn't walk the entire thing is that it would have prolonged the suffering. I really didn't care about my time, and this was a good mental exercise in trying to block everything negative out and focus on what I could control - putting one foot in front of the other until I saw the finishing shoot. This was the first race I've ever done that I actually took a walk break for the purpose of just walking. At the last turn around I knew I wasn't feeling right and actually had some goose-bumps and shivered (not normal on a 90 degree day while running). I was worried my body might be on the verge of crashing, so I took a 20 second walk break to check the vitals and focus on the last 1.5 miles. I also walked at every aid station on the last 4 miles to make sure I got in some fluids and dumped water on myself. I got passed by quite a few in my age group, and lots of other people I had dusted on the bike, but I also saw some of them start walking and I passed them later. After the last water break I paced myself with someone from my group who caught up to me at the stop. We chatted a bit (or maybe I just rambled deliriously). I offered to sprint with him at the finishing chute, but he said I could have the prize money to myself. Probably stupid on a day like that, but I wanted one more cramp (right hamstring) to help commemorate it!

Move to Venus to train in a hotter, more humid, more toxic atmosphere. I honestly could not have done anything different on this day in this physical condition (i.e., not get injured, train and condition better)

Got my iced towel at the finish, did a little stretching to make sure my hamstring spasm didn't become a full on debilitating cramp. Headed to the medical tent to get a bag of ice to wrap around my ankle. Removed my sweat and water soaked shoes. Got a quick post-race massage. Realized the little kids handing out medals had missed me!! I tracked them down and got my finisher's medal (damn straight I wasn't leaving this one behind)!. Ate a piece of tomato pie, had 4 bottles of water, a Regen shake, eventually remembered to stretch better.


My ankle and conditioning were major and related factors. I did not get a chance to really train in the heat wave we've had for the last 2 weeks, and I think my mind and body re-adapted to A/C living. I had not trained to race 9.3 miles running. Mental errors (not taking off my helmet, stopping too early for T2) cost me at least a minute. I was stupidly worried about overhydrating pre-race - I think I did not pre-hydrate well enough. Bike handling needs to be better - it cost me time at the end, and could have hurt me and/or my P3 :-(


I will definitely try to fit this race in again. My only complaint, really, is the post-race food. It is good, but I think a little more variety (fruits etc) would help. As much as I love pizza, I have trouble forcing down slices of salty tomato pie after a race (ditto to post-race hoagies). The organizers can't do anything about the air temp, but I thought they were well prepared with aid stations fully staffed by volunteers who could hold 6 cups in each hand! I would have preferred a triathlon, but I'm happy I can now call myself a duathlete. I'm only rating the course as Too Hard due to the temp - the bike and run terrain are actually fairly flat and fast - the ability to not handle the course well was totally due to my conditioning and decision making.