Philadelphia Triathlon in Fairmount Park - Olympic Distance

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Philadelphia Triathlon in Fairmount Park - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC
75F / 24C
Sunny

Total Time = 2h 15m 34s
Overall Rank = 53/1544
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 7/222

Pre-race routine:

Get up @4:15. 2 Ensure, clif bar, OJ & coffee (my usual HIM pre-race meal--should have dropped one Ensure). Arrive at race @5:45. Set up transition and hop on a bus to get to the swim start.

Event warmup:

Short swim--mostly just to get used to the water. No real race warm-up to speak of.

Swim

24m 17s
1500 meters
01m 37s / 100 meters

Comments:

Positioned myself right behind the front row in about the middle of the wave. Got swimming OK off the start after only a couple minutes of bumping. Found myself a little to the left of a group from my wave, but there were a couple people out with me around my pace. Tried to settle onto some feet, but either I kept zig-zagging too much trying to line myself up or they were zig-zagging. Felt like I was wasting energy worrying about it, so I just moved to their side even though I lost much of the draft benefit this way.

After 1000m we passed under a bridge. At this point, it appeared to me that the buoy line curved with the river from right to left. But you could take a straight line right to the turn buoy. So that's what I did. Though I seemed to be the only one and I'm still not sure if this was the right call or not--think it saved ground, but certainly gave up any draft.

Overall, the swim felt solid but not particularly strong or fast. The lack of a good warm-up may have made a difference here.

What would you do differently?:

Do a better job getting out quickly on the start and staying with some good feet. Maybe try a longer warm-up even with the long down-time before my wave started.

Transition 1

02m 34s

Comments:

Took my wetsuit off right out of the water. Still caught on my ankles a bit, but seemed easier pulling it off than usual (when I wait until reaching my rack). Was a little slow in getting my socks on (I'll have to consider ditching these if I really want to start trimming the seconds) and even spun my helmet around wrong at first. A little sloppy, but nothing major went wrong.

What would you do differently?:

Iron-out the details. Haven't done many short races so I don't spend much time worrying about a few wasted seconds in transition.

Bike

1h 04m 27s
24.85 miles
23.13 mile/hr

Comments:

I rode the course pretty solidly. My legs felt a bit tired from the past week of training, but mostly they did what I asked of them. I think my pace/effort was pretty consistent throughout. And I was "zoned in" for this race more so than any other I've done. Really didn't notice much around me other than bikes in my way that I had to negotiate and my family at the end of each lap.

Probably drank only 24oz or so, which is light for me but the conditions were pretty good too. Also took most of 2 gels which I had watered down in a flask so I wouldn't have to worry about wrappers.

What would you do differently?:

On fresher legs, I could have pushed harder on the pedals but tactically felt I executed pretty well.

Transition 2

01m 41s

Comments:

Came to full stop at the dismount and ran in my shoes. Got my stuff quickly, but still felt like I was standing around at my rack a little bit trying to make sure I hadn't forgotten something.

What would you do differently?:

This stuff should all by "auto-pilot" so that I can just keep moving and think about running.

Run

42m 34s
6.21 miles
06m 51s min/mile

Comments:

Felt good throughout this run. Walked through aid station during mile 2 & 4 to get down a cup of Gatorade each time. Had legs for a kick in last 1/4mi, so I went for it. There was 1 guy ahead of me by maybe 100 yards and I ran him down near the finish. Felt a little bad about that since I didn't even have any idea if he was in my AG, but honestly I was just so happy to have a finishing kick I didn't really think about it at the time.

What would you do differently?:

Think I could have pushed a little harder throughout the run.

Post race

Warm down:

Walked back to my family (who I heard but didn't see in my final sprint) and waited to cheer in others (LaurenSU02, my sister, her boyfriend and my friend Brian). Then grabbed some food and hung out for awhile before hiking up the hill to the car and heading home.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Focus is IMLP right now, so the only thing I did to "taper" was to cut back my Sat ride to 3hrs. Fully rested, I'd be getting close to placing in my AG--still need some better running legs for that though.

Event comments:

While the bike gets a little congested (especially on the second loop), the race is very well done and it's right in Philly which is nice. And, of course, when you get weather like we had it makes everything seem better and the little "nits" fade to the background more.

Last updated: 2007-01-29 12:00 AM

Swimming
00:24:17 \| 1500 meters \| 01m 37s / 100meters
Age Group:	20/222
Overall:	127/1544
Performance:	Average
Suit:	Full westuit
Course:	Schuylkill River. Point-to-point course, mostly downriver with in-water start.
Start type:	Deep Water	Plus:	Waves
Water temp:	76F / 24C	Current:	Low
200M Perf.	Average	Remainder:	Average
Breathing:	Good	Drafting:	Below average
Waves:		Navigation:	Average
Rounding:	Good

T1
Time:	02:34
Performance:	Average
Cap removal:	Good	Helmet on/ Suit off:	No
Wetsuit stuck?	Yes	Run with bike:	Yes
Jump on bike:	No
Getting up to speed:	Good

Biking
01:04:27 \| 24.85 miles \| 23.13 mile/hr
Age Group:	4/222
Overall:	37/1544
Performance:	Good
Wind:	Little
Course:	2 loop course around the river and up into Fairmount park on 4 separate occassions--these were the hills.
Road:	Smooth Dry	Cadence:
Turns:	Average	Cornering:	Average
Gear changes:	Average	Hills:	Average
Race pace:	Hard	Drinks:	Just right

T2
Time:	01:41
Overall:	Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike		Average
Racking bike		Good
Shoe and helmet removal		Average

Running
00:42:34 \| 06.21 miles \| 06m 51s min/mile
Age Group:	24/222
Overall:	111/1544
Performance:	Good
6:47, 7:00, 6:53, 6:57, 6:50, 6:49, 1:18 (missed mile 5 marker so just split the time for mile 5 & 6)
Course:	Along the river, first away from the finish line and then looping back and passing the finish out towards the Art Museaum again. Make the final turn-around and come back to the finish line. Basically flat.
Keeping cool	Average	Drinking	Just right

Post race
Weight change:	%
Overall:	Good
Mental exertion [1-5]	5
Physical exertion [1-5]	5
Good race?	Yes

Evaluation
Course challenge	Just right
Organized?	Yes
Events on-time?	Yes
Lots of volunteers?	Yes
Plenty of drinks?	Yes
Post race activities:	Good
Race evaluation [1-5]	4