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 Swim
Comments: Whew.. the swim. Well I was 82nd out of 95 in my age group so that's a good indication of how the swim went :) I felt FINE in the water when I was warming up and when we were out there waiting for the race to start. Once we started though I couldn't breathe at all. It was horrible. I tried swimming the front crawl and couldn't breathe, breast stroke was not much better and it was tiring my arms out. I went into survival mode, flipped over on my back, and started backstroking. I made it to the first bouy and kept at it. People that I have talked to say I must have had a panic attack. I'm not sure if that's what it was or not. I've never had a panic attack before. I couldn't breathe. It felt like my mind and my body were not working together. My mind was calm the whole time and I think that was a good thing because I probably would have had to be pulled from the water if I was mentally AND physically freaking out. It's just that my heart rate and breathing were crazy and I couldn't get it under control. There was NO WAY I was going to quit though so mentally I did something right and kept myself moving. My body just freaked out. I used the backstroke for a bit, flip over to see where I was, then backstroke method until I reached each of the bouys. It took me a while, but I made it through the swim. I was still trying to catch my breath and get over the trauma of being in the water so I walked to my bike instead of running. It helped me calm the heck down. What would you do differently?: Not freak out! :) I'm confident that this will get better with practice so I'm not too discouraged. I need to be in the water at least three times a week and I haven't been doing that. My parents live within walking distance of a river where I can get OWS practice in. I'll work to make sure I am stronger and calmer in the water so this doesn't happen again.  Transition 1
Comments: This wasn't so bad for my first effort. I would have saved a good bit of time if I actually ran to my bike, but I needed to calm down. I got my wetsuit off OK and unfortunately had to put socks on because of my blistered feet. Got my helmet and my sunglasses on OK. Once I put my bike shoes on, I felt something weird near my toe, thought it was my sock bunched up but it wound up being chapstick....grrr. Had to take my shoe off, dump the chapstick out, and put the shoe back on. What would you do differently?: Run to the bike, not put socks on, not have chapstick in my shoe, and just practice T1 more. I don't think I did too bad, even though the time was pretty slow. It was my first one and I made some rookie mistakes.  Bike
Comments: This was my 2nd longest ride to date on my road bike and the first time I was clipped in for that long. My confidence on the downhills is getting a lot better, but I am still having problems with cornering. That'll come with practice. Like the swimiming, I haven't been putting a dedicated effort into biking and I need to make sure I get out on the bike at least 3 times each week. On the results, my average pace is 16.2 so I'm not sure if the course mileage was longer than advertised?? I really enjoyed myself out on the bike course... loved it. Steve was there to take pictures and I passed him a few times. This was a very spectator friendly course. Also, he made some friends with other spectators and I heard someone yell.. "go Traci!!" while I was at one of the turn arounds. That was awesome. Another woman out there on the course told me I was looking good...very encouraging. What would you do differently?: Get my butt out on the bike so I'm not a biking weenie :) Transition 2
Comments: I unclipped and ran my bike to the rack. I was looking forward to the run. I had some difficulty getting my bike back on the rack and had to spend some time tying my shoes. What would you do differently?: Get some of those laces that I don't have to tie, learn to rack my bike quickly, run faster!! Overall though I felt this transition went pretty well.  Run
Comments: I was happy to be running, but I was tired. I thought the run course was kind of boring, but it was flat so who cares? :) My legs were very tired, but I was able to pick off 4 or 5 people in my age group on the run. Steve biked the path following the run course and gave me some encouragement and took pictures while I was out there. What would you do differently?: ohhhh.. do some bricks. That would help. Post race
Warm down: Crossed the finish line (they announced my name as I was coming across and that was AWESOME!!) got my medal, and went to find Steve. I was feeling a little dizzy at this point and had to sit down under a tree for a bit. Rested there for a while then got up to find the food. Ate a veggie sub & a banana and I started to feel a lot better. I think I need to reconsider whether I should take in nutrition during races that are around 2ish hours. The half marathon I felt the same way at the finish and felt a little dizzy until I got some food. I'm not sure if it's normal to feel that way after a race or whether I'm doing something wrong. I figure I should feel tired after a race, but it kind of freaks me out that I am dizzy to the point of needing to sit down... who knows.. I haven't passed out yet :) What limited your ability to perform faster: Not enough effort put into swim and bike training. I love to run and have been focusing my efforts on that. If I want to be a better triathlete, I am going to have to put effort into all three sports. My little freak out in the water also limited my ability :) This was my first triathlon so I learned what I need to work on. Event comments: I loved this race and really enjoyed my experience. For my first race, it was a big one, and that was kind of overwhelming and also exciting. They had 10 waves and over 1000 people. I think at my first 5k there were 150 people there. I can't wait to start working on the swim and bike with renewed focus and effort. I really want to improve in this sport. I just started running a little more than a year ago, my first few times on a road bike (in December!!) were a disaster and I couldn't even bring myself to put both feet on the pedals (I'd just push myself a long with one foot.. yup it was that bad and I have a lovely video of it.) I am officially hooked and can't wait to race again.. whoo! I've come a long way from the comfort of team sports and consistent coaching to trying something new and on my own. I loved it. Last updated: 2008-04-30 12:00 AM
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United States
Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC
Sunny
Overall Rank = 625/1083
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 41/95
I had a short day at work so Steve and I drove up mid afternoon on Friday. We were expecting the traffic to be light, but a two hour trip up to Philly took us four hours.. yikes. I went to pick up my packet at the expo then checked into the hotel. I got a feel for where we needed to park on Saturday morning and we drove past the transition area as well. It was nice to see the layout of everything the day before so I knew what to expect.
We went back to the hotel, checked in, decided to bring our bikes in to the hotel with us since the area was interesting. Steve didn't race, but he brought his mountain bike so he could get around easier and spectate.
We went to TGIFridays for dinner and ate around 8:00. Evidently that's the place to go on Friday nights and it was crowded and loud..definitely a fun pre-race dinner. I had some fried macaroni and cheese (couldn't resist.. I love that stuff!) some pasta with salmon, and a Sam Adams. The pre-race meal of champions :)
Once we got back from dinner, I made sure I had everything packed for the next day. Laid out each transition and then packed everything into my bag.
I went to bed around 9:30 and slept fairly well. Woke up to the cell phone alarm at 4:20 (good thing I set it because the hotel was supposed to give us a wakeup call at 4:15.) We wound up getting the hotel room for free (saved $177!!) because they have a guaranteed wake up call policy.
I made some peanut butter and banana sandwiches, grabbed my stuff, and we headed out the door. The morning was smooth and uneventful since I had everything ready to go. We were out the door by 5:15.
Got a great parking spot, inflated my tires, and talked to the guy next to us for a bit. He just decided to sign up a few weeks ago and really didn't know anything about tris. He was awesome. I wish I knew how he did. He had a great attitude!
I got to the transition area a few minutes before it opened at 6:00. Got marked, found my rack, and set everything up. The person at the end of our rack brought a spider man helium balloon so it was really easy to find during transitions.
After I got everything ready, I ate my sandwich, hung out with Steve, walked down to the swim start and exit, familiarized myself with the transition area and felt ready to go.
I got my wetsuit on around 7:30 and headed down to the swim start. I was in the first wave. I swam around for a bit in the water and everything felt good. I was feeling a little nervous, but not too bad at all. I was ready!