Phily Tri - Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

77.5 degrees, so I wore the wetsuit. I started off a little rougher than I had hoped, didn't settle into a rhythm until after I got to the bridge. Settled in and swam smooth the rest of the way.

I haven't been to the pool as much in recent weeks as usual. Gotta get back in there.

Took a little while to get the wetsuit off over my ankles/heels. But overall not terrible.

I was very happy with my bike segment. This was my first race where my bike rank was better than my swim rank. The time in the saddle is definitely paying off. Most of my training rides have some very challenging hills, and that definitely paid off in this race. I maintained 13 mph up the hills and was able to pass several people during the inclines.

Got my feet out of the shoes just before the last 180 degree turn. Getting to my rack went well, but then I discovered the wreck of a rack that was waiting for me. Our rack was busted, with the top bar only standing about 2 feet off the ground. I lifted it up, slid my bike under, and used my bike to prop up the rack for the guys coming in after me (there was only one other bike on the rack before mine).

Notify someone before the race starts that our rack needed help (it wasn't as low as 2 feet off the ground before the race, but it was clearly not assembled correctly. Before the race another guy and I tried to fix it up a little so it would stand sturdy and tall. Thought we had it but apparently not.

I also stopped to put on my IT Band strap.

I have been struggling with "IT Band Syndrome" for about 2 months now. 2 months ago I was trained up for and completed a half marathon with no issues (on race-day that half actually only ended up as a 9.5 mile run due to course flooding). My next couple runs were fine, then all of a sudden I couldn't run more than a mile without pain. I have been stretching like crazy and running rarely, and before this race I had only gotten up to 2 miles before knee pain forced me to stop. I was very happy to be able to get through this 5k without having to stop. My knee never bothered my (although as I write this 2 days later it is definitely a little sore). While not lightning fast, an 8:40 pace is decent for me.

Straight to the massage tent (love that). Had some delicious tomato-pie and a cookie.


Not enough time in the pool, IT Band syndrome.


Once again a fun race (my 3rd time in it). I actually kind of like the individually identified rack sections, although I would probably hate it if I was all the way at the end of an aisle. (This eliminates some of the advantage of showing up real early to get a good rack position.)

2 minutes off of last year's time, mostly due to my improved bike pace.