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PHILADELPHIA TRIATHLON - Give it the Ol' Philly Tri - TriathlonSprint


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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
Enviro-Sports Productions
92F / 33C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 40m 38s
Overall Rank = 77/436
Age Group = 20-24
Age Group Rank = 2/24
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 6 am (too late!!!), got dressed and headed downstairs to eat. Tim made me a bagel with PB and mixed up my Gu2o while I prepared myself mentally. Hit the bathroom, made sure I had everything I needed in my bag and left the house.
Event warmup:

Approximately 4 mile bike down to the race. Tim and I drove to this parking lot on top of West River Drive and biked from there. We didn't leave my house until around 7 am, so I was starting to get really nervous about getting down there in enough time. We cut it too close and my nerves were pumping.
Swim
  • 15m 5s
  • 805 meters
  • 01m 52s / 100 meters
Comments:

Self start, so I decided to be in wave 2. I wanted to get out of that water and onto the bike as soon as possible. Plus, I hate the anticipation of the race start when you are in a later wave.

I jumped in to the water about 1 minute after the gun went off for the first wave, meaning I had to tread water for 3 minutes. Not so bad when you have the wet suit on, though. On that note, most people opted to not wear a wet suit, since the water temperature was 80 degrees. I figured what the heck, though, it'll give me an edge and help me out of the water.

I positioned myself in the front of the wave. I started out closer to the back, but then I realized that I was (1) being a chicken sh** and (2) I wrote on my last race report that I needed to be a little more aggressive and position myself closer to the front.

The horn sounded, and we were off. I had to maneuvor around a few men to break away, and after that, there was pretty much open space to swim in. My breathing was great, but my sighting wasn't. They only had 2 buoys positioned across the first straight-away. I relied on watching other people to hope I was going the right way. I started to feel a little nauceous at this point, and did one of those wet-burps-its-actually-puke in the water. Gross. Kept on swimming and felt another one coming on. This one tasted like my PB bagel. I finally rounded the first buoy and made the turn. Broke away from another cluster and found someone to draft off of. I used him/her until I made it to the next buoy, then passed them on the turn.

At this point, it was a diagonol swim in. There were no more buoys on this stretch, which made sighting impossible. I just kept my head in the water as much as possible and treaded on. I was hoping I was swimming accurately. I passed a few more people so knew I was on the right track. I finally found the boat ramp we had to run up on and sprinted for the finish. Had some difficulty catching my footing on the ramp and struggled to get up. I looked at my watch and was stunned that I put up a strong time.
What would you do differently?:

Eat breakfast earlier.
Transition 1
  • 01m 41s
Comments:

Before the race, I told myself that I was going to stop immediately after I got out of the water to peel off my wet suit. Well, I struggled pulling my cap and goggles off so much that I kept running. Then, I couldn't find my pull cord and had trouble unzipping my suit. I got to my transition area and struggled even more with the damn wet suit. I can never get it off fast enough.

The one thing I will say is that I still managed to cut my T1 time down. I decided to bike without socks, so that saved me from having to dry off my feet and put on the socks. I like this a lot.
What would you do differently?:

Work on getting my effing wet suit off.
Bike
  • 50m 35s
  • 17 miles
  • 20.16 mile/hr
Comments:

Out of T1, I was pretty happy with how quick I was on the bike and motoring away. I got up to speed and passed some people in the beginning. On the first loop, I only had 2 people pass me, both men. I told myself I didn't want to be passed by any women (but on the second loop, I was) and so I tried to keep a strong pace from the get-go. This was the first time I used an Aero bottle, and it helped with hydration and allowing me to not slow down to grab my bottle.

The bike was pretty uneventful. I pushed myself and kept it in a higher gear for most of the time. I have found that cycling my gears helps me. If I keep it in a tough gear for a while, then back it off for 30 seconds, give myself a little time to spin, and then reapply the tough gear, I am actually more productive. I did that in Stone Harbor and again during this race.

About 6.5 miles into the first loop (8.5 miles), I saw my sister walking with my niece and nephew. I gave her a quick holler to let her know I was coming by, and she cheered for me. At that point, I had a little extra momentum and was able to kick it up a notch coming by the marker for lap 2. First loop was about 25:36. This is a little off, as I think I started my watch a little after I was on the course.

Second lap was much of the same as the first. I think I only got passed by about 6-8 people, most of which were men. I believe only 3 women passed me. Loop time: 25:22. Again, estimate.
What would you do differently?:

Nada.
Transition 2
  • 01m 14s
Comments:

This time astonished me. I know my transition times are always slow, so I changed up what I did somewhat. Racked my bike, took off helmet and glasses. Put on socks and shoes, grabbed a quick drink. Struggled with the water bottle cause I couldn't get the cap on. Grabbed hat and race belt and started walking out of T2 while putting this stuff on.
What would you do differently?:

Don't worry about the water cap.
Run
  • 32m 2s
  • 4 miles
  • 08m 01s  min/mile
Comments:

Mile splits:
8.07
7.44
7.52
8.10

I started out on the run and immediately knew it was going to be a hard run. The sun was scortching and Kelly Drive has no shade. My stomach was a little funky, but I tried to push myself on the beginning because I know I always feel like crap the first 5 minutes or so. I passed a group of men struggling in the heat and found a guy to pace with for a while. I was right on his heels and found the energy to pass him. Although, I had to pass on the right because he wouldn't move over for me.....guess he has a problem with women passing him. At the mile 1 marker, I looked down and was disappointed with my time. I knew I had to pick up the pace a bit. I grabbed a quick sip of water and dumped the rest on my head. At this point, cooling off was more important than hydration on such a short run.

Mile 2 I stepped it up, but not enough apparrently. Some woman came FLYING by me. I yelled to her "Great run pace!" and she was off like a shot. That motivated me somewhat and I picked it up. At the turn around, I had another boost because I knew I was halfway there. Grabbed another water, sipped it and ended up choking on it. Dumped the rest over my head and coughed away for a good 15 seconds.

At this point, I saw a women in teel up ahead. I made it my goal to catch her before the end of the race. I started drilling away at the distance between us. Around mile 2.5, there was only about 10 feet in between us. I picked it up and was able to run aside of her. We were about the same pace, but I didn't have the energy to pass her completely. I wanted to tell her that, to make sure she knew I wasn't trying to intimidate her or try to use her as a pace, but I didn't want to waste my energy. She stopped at the aid station at mile 3 to grab a drink, and I capitolized. She was behind me for the rest of the race. I had 2 guys pass me and say "Nice pace' to me, so I was feeling alright. I just wanted to hot run to be over with. I saw the chute in sight, and I picked it up. I sprinted through the finish and passed a man right at the end.

After grabbing my medal, the woman in teel came over to me and said "great run. it was really nice pacing with you." She had a smile on her face and shook my hand. She was really nice.
What would you do differently?:

Stop being such a baby about the hot weather, suck it up and run like I know I can.
Post race
Warm down:

Grabbed 2 bottles of water (one for me and one for Tim) and found Tim and my family. Chatted with them for a while and then headed over to see the results. Posted second in my AG. Missed first by 17 seconds, damn it!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

the heat
eating too early to race start

Event comments:

I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the age group winners walk up. The race director just rattled the names off the list. The cool thing, though, is that it is a personalized plaque. I'll have it mailed to me in a few weeks.




Profile Album


Last updated: 2006-07-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:15:05 | 805 meters | 01m 52s / 100meters
Age Group: 4/24
Overall: 49/436
Performance: Good
Suit: blueseventy wetsuit
Course: Triangle course. Started on the Kelly Drive side of Fairmount Park, looped under the bridge to a straightaway and then a diagonal finish.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:41
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:50:35 | 17 miles | 20.16 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/24
Overall: 140/436
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Two loops along Kelly Drive/West River Drive.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 90s
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:14
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:32:02 | 04 miles | 08m 01s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/24
Overall: 117/436
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back on Kelly Drive. Run out 2 miles on the road, make a right turn and run back on the path.
Keeping cool Bad Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2006-07-31 12:31 PM

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Subject: PHILADELPHIA TRIATHLON - Give it the Ol' Philly Tri


2006-07-31 12:49 PM
in reply to: #498310

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Reston
Subject: RE: PHILADELPHIA TRIATHLON - Give it the Ol' Philly Tri
Awesome race, Laura!!! Second in your AG is great!!

Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!
2006-07-31 3:50 PM
in reply to: #498310

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Southeast, PA
Subject: RE: PHILADELPHIA TRIATHLON - Give it the Ol' Philly Tri
Great race...well done! Where are you going to put all this hardware??? You'll prob. be getting another piece at Wildwood.
2006-08-01 12:10 PM
in reply to: #498310

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Extreme Veteran
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CT
Subject: RE: PHILADELPHIA TRIATHLON - Give it the Ol' Philly Tri
Awesome race!! Way to overcome the pb burps
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