Philadelphia Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

You know, I'm not a fast swimmer, but I really thought that if I freestyled the whole way, I should be able to minute a MOP swim. Not to be. And why, oh why no matter how short or long a swim distance is, it always feels like you are swimming for hours?

Try and actually swim faster. I am always so concerned about hyperventilating that I cannot distinquish between breathing heavily due to increased heart rate (good) to hyperventilating (bad). Someone told me to sing a song. That actually helped. Thank you.

The transition at this rate were a disaster. My aerobottle fell off, my cycling shoes inserts had buckled and I couldn't get them on. My socks had disappeared. I didn't have enough back-up water. This was ridiculous.

Make sure the aerobottle was on tightly, put the socks in the cycling shoes, make sure I have back-up munitions :)
I also told everyone to make sure they put their bike in a smaller gear to start the bike. Did I do that? Of course not!

Some of the bike was my best ever! I was hauling and passed more people than I ever have at a triathlon. I have to slow down considerable even on slight hills due to my weight which really threw my averages in a big way. I think barring that and not having an aerobottle I may have hit 19mph average. At times I was going 24-25 mph. Wow, that's fun. I also would like to increase my aerobic threshold and "hold the hurt" longer.

Not start to dismont at the wrong spot. The girl I was trying to beat the whole time (and did until I blew it) just passed me at the end. She didn't want an old lady to pass her. Still need to get more comfortable aero as the back of my arms started to become uncomfortable, as did my saddle.

Okay, this was a disaster too. I found some compression knee socks and put them on but remembered how hard they are to put on and then I was afraid of covering the chip on my ankle with my knee socks. It took a ridiculous amount of time for this. My transitions at this race were absolutely disastrous. It was like a comedy of errors. Again, no back-up water, but I knew there would be some on the way to the run so nothing dangerous. Oh yeah, I forgot to tie one of my shoes too.

Be more prepared!

It's a turn-around loop in the hot sun. I shuffled, but for some reason I shuffled much more slowly than my normal horrible run. It just boggles the mind how I can't run. Even people jiggling more than me were faster.

Need to learn to get that inner ooomph.

Hung out with some members of Rhonda's Rookies and my family who saw me race for the first time in 4 years.


I had a horrible personal family emergency on Friday and wasn't sure I was going to do this race. Because I had an obligation to those I worked with, I "walked the walk". I'm glad I did because I felt better.


This was a very interesting race for me. I was looking forward to a fun race to wipe out the debaucle that was Eagleman. My only goal was to have fun. I also wanted to do the bike in less than an hour. I was so honored to be named as a Diamond Girl for women who inspire and received a "lifetime achievement award" as I get to race the Philly Women's Tri free forever. Yippee. Anyone know anyone wanting to get into this game, just have them contact me. We'll start up again in the winter.