Philadelphia Triathlon
Posted by Admin on June 23, 2008 in Training
Yesterday, I competed in the Philadelphia Triathlon. The race organizers actually put on two races; a sprint distance event on Saturday and an Olympic distance event on Sunday. The sprint distance features a swim that is supposed to be a half-mile in distance but probably figures to be close to three quarters of a mile. Thereafter, there’s a two loop bike course of a total of about 15 miles followed by a 5k (3.1 miles) run. The Olympic distance event features a one mile swim, about 25 miles of biking and a 10k (6.2 miles) run.
Two years ago, I did the sprint distance event but can’t remember why. Most likely, I didn’t sign up right away and thanks to the massive growth in triathlon participation, the race sold out. Last year, I did the Olympic distance and didn’t love my experience. I had just completed the Eagleman half-Ironman distance triathlon and had somewhat tired legs plus a few extra pounds that I should have shed by race day. In any event, I’m not in short course shape (we generally refer to Olympic and sprint races and short course, whereas half-Ironman and full IM events are long course) thanks to coming off of IM Brazil training which is all about long distance endurance. I’ve tried to get in as many high-intensity training sessions as possible in the weeks following my return back from Brazil , but there simply hasn’t been enough time to really get myself to the level of speed that I expect. While every race is important to me, I wasn’t terribly worried about how I’d fare since I’m much more focused on the NYC Triathlon (my “A” race) which is 4 weeks away. As such, this Philly race was moreso a primer and a test to see how I would perform on a short course.
My good buddy Craig has a friend who lives about 10 minutes from the race site, so we’ve stayed there each year we’ve competed. What a luxury to have free digs and nice ones at that! Craig didn’t sign up for the Olympic distance event in time and could only register for the sprint distance, so he raced Saturday. Despite a late night Friday night, I got my tired self out of bed at 5:20 a.m. in NYC on Saturday morning and drove the 110 miles to the race site in time to see Craig quite a few times on the course. On the run, I cycled on the sidewalk that was adjacent to the run course and tried to chat him up a bit to help ease any pressure or stress he might have had. At the 2 mile mark, I bid him adieu but not before giving him a pep talk to really pick up the pace for the finish. He did a great job and is a very talented runner.
On Sunday morning, the plan was for me to drive to the race site and for Craig to get up a little later, then go on a light recovery run to the race site… but sleep got the better of him and he didn’t awake until after 9:30. He wound up staying at home since by the time he would have gotten there, I would have been done. I gave him a ton of flak for that but hey, he did provide me with a free place to bunk so all is forgiven.
My pre-race ritual was pretty much on track in the morning except for my ritual final bathroom stop which became impossible thanks to ridiculously long lines. They only had about 20 porta-johns at the swim start despite the fact that there were thousands of athletes. By the time my heat was ready to get into the water, I still had 15 people ahead of me, so I had to abandon the line and hope for the best. Traditionally, I need to go to the bathroom before a race several times. Don’t know why, but I’ve learned over time and after 100+ races that this it’s just the way it is, and not having been able to address it that morning was very concerning to me. Nonetheless, I scrambled myself into the wetsuit, got into the water and quickly went through my race plan. Before I knew it, they were counting down from 10 to 1.
The Schuykil river is known to Philadelphians as being somewhat yucky, but I’ve found it to be perfectly fine each year. It’s got a bit of a current, or so people say, but I didn’t feel as if it was terribly significant that morning. I did love the 75 degree temp though! As soon as the gun went off, and as soon as I put my face into the water, my goggles filled with water. I swim all the time and know my equipment very well, so I was perplexed by the sudden failure. I couldn’t swim that way, so I fiddled around for maybe 10 seconds until the seals around my eyes were secure. It might have been a mixed blessing since it gave me plenty of room to swim without getting knocked around given that most of the swimmers were ahead of me. I settled into a good rhythm for maybe 15 minutes and my navigation was generally pretty good. I went through a difficult spate for another 5 minutes or so where I reverted to the breast stroke for a few seconds here and there to sort of reset things physically. I managed to get back to a good rhythm till the final turn which takes all the swimmers to the swim-departure point and on to land. That last stretch past the final turn was rather crowded which made it tough to exhibit good form given so many bodies around me.
The swim-to-run transition (“T1”) was generally pretty good. I’m pretty good with my transition set-ups. As soon as I mounted the bike, I felt stiffness in my hips. Ever since a marathon racquetball session last weekend with my buddy Brad, I’ve felt stiff in the glutes and hips but it wasn’t clear how last weekend was attributable to the discomfort on this bike segment. In any event, after just a few miles, the course takes a turn up a long climb. Again, not knowing how much gas I’d have in the tank, I didn’t know if it would be wise for me attack the hill and potentially kill my legs. So, I went up at maybe 60% of my intensity and immediately recovered once it flattened out. Shortly thereafter, there were flat sections and a significant downhill section. I have really few issues with high speed (skiing, driving, blading, etc.), so I put the hammer down and got my speed up to over 40 mph. Unfortunately, the course features quite a few turns and with so many other cyclists on the road, I had to be wary of someone making a wider or narrower turn and potentially taking my line. All worked out in that regard thankfully. Thereafter, there were several other climbs of moderate gradient and one that is very steep though short. For some reason, I decided to get out of the saddle and attack it. I could see most everyone else suffering pretty badly and while my legs did burn a bit, I was amazed at how quickly I recovered once the road evened out. That set forth a new strategy to climb all of the hills hard thereinafter. My first loop clocked in at 35:49, so my goal was to come within a minute of that on the second loop. I had figured that I wouldn’t have a faster time on that second loop, but given last year’s time on the bike, being within a minute would give me a comfortable margin against last year. Things worked out well and I found myself passing or staying close with some of the crazy fast triathletes with disc wheels and aero helmets.
The bike-to-run transition (“T2”) was also rather smooth and I got onto the run course pretty quickly, albeit with a slow pace. I was amazed at the lack of pep in my stride, and despite the feelings of wanting to just walk, I worked as hard as I could to find something consistent to hold onto pace-wise. I tried short strides, medium strides, a forward pitch in my upper body, a more vertical posture, etc. At the first mile marker, my time was 9:17. Abysmal. I began to freak out that I wouldn’t beat my awful run from last year with such a slow pace. I looked for it but didn’t see a mile 2 marker but at the mile 3 marker, my time was 27:00 which meant that I had reduced my average pace to 9:00… but it also meant that I had run faster than 9:00 in miles 2 and 3 to get there. That was an important ray of optimism for me that I was getting faster. I didn’t see a mile 4 marker, but had guessed at where the turnaround point on the run course would be time-wise and used that as my motivation, as if to say, “Only three and a half minutes to the turn-around.” Well, I either ran slower than I thought or miscalculated things because the turn-around point was about 2 minutes beyond my prediction thus setting forth a new sense of panic. But, since I generally felt like I was getting faster and since I couldn’t be sure of the math, I banked that I must have estimated things incorrectly.
When I got to the mile 5 marker, it looked as if I’d have about ten minutes to run the final 1.2 miles. I figured that to be something like an 8:20 pace which is normally a piece of cake for me, but with how things were going, I wasn’t sure how possible it was. I then remembered that my treadmill workouts always start off with an easy pace and increase in intensity by half-mile per hour increments every x number of minutes, and that despite being tired, I’m able to run at a 6:30 pace for 5-8 minutes. So, I transferred that reality to the current situation and pushed myself to significant levels of discomfort (the fast pace hurt!). I checked my watch periodically and kept announcing to myself that based on the 10 minutes or so, I had 9 minutes of hard work ahead of me, then I had 8 minutes of hard work ahead of me, and so on. At about the “3 minutes of hard work ahead of me” mark, I began to see the familiar markings of the finishing area and immediately thereafter, the mile 6 marker. I glanced at my watch and realized that I had just run a 7:50 mile. With only two tenths of a mile to go and knowing that I shouldn’t leave anything in the tank, I ran as hard as I could and passed a few folks in the finishing chute en route to crossing the finishing line.
When I checked my watch, after of course a few minutes of hand-on-the-knees panting, I found that I had beaten last year’s run time by a lot. Call it endorphins, the natural high, whatever, but I felt fantastic. I checked my overall time and guessed that I had bested last year’s time by about 7 minutes. Oh man, I had such a huge smile on my face. I wish that I had had someone there I knew to show it to, but I did have the official race photographers take a few pics, so they’ll be around for posterity.
After getting some post-race food and water (they had a great offering of pizza, heroes, cookies, etc.), I went back to the finishing area to see a few triathlete friends from NYC who were also racing. I glanced over to the side at one point and instantly recognized a new friend, Stephanie, who I met at Ironman Brazil . We were so thrilled to see one another among the throngs of thousands of people. I met her boyfriend and we chatted each other up about the rest our respective Brazil vacations and today’s race. I love stuff like that.
Unfortunately, my good friend Helene had a terrible experience on the run with her stomach and despite a great swim and bike, didn’t enjoy her day. I saw her in the transition area after I got changed and collected all my gear. I was very concerned for her but she was in good spirits which is a testament to her character. That’s probably the only negative element from the whole experience for me since I hate to see my friends in distress even though she assured me that it wasn’t that big a deal.
Anyway, here are my stats:
|
|
2007 |
2008 |
Difference |
|
Swim |
0:34:33 |
0:33:14 |
0:01:19 |
|
T1 |
0:03:20 |
0:02:34 |
0:00:46 |
|
Bike |
1:16:21 |
1:13:07 |
0:03:14 |
|
T2 |
0:02:00 |
0:01:26 |
0:00:34 |
|
Run |
0:55:19 |
0:54:08 |
0:01:11 |
|
Total |
2:51:34 |
2:44:30 |
0:07:04 |
Again, I’m not contending that I’m fast given that I barely finished in the top 40%, but I’m very pleased to have beaten all six of my times from last year. Ultimately, I’m usually only racing against myself unless my buddy Fernando starts with the smack-talk. With his work schedule and with two kids, he knows better than to try that when we go head-to-head at the NYC Triathlon in July. This Philly race was a good step to helping to identify the areas on which I need to focus (e.g. settling into a good run pace earlier) and I can only believe that I’m going to be much, much faster than ever before. This will be my sixth time racing the NYC Tri, so I have a fair amount of historical data to go against. And with the run course in my back yard ( Central Park ), I’m excited about my prospects!
Subscribe
Follow comments by subscribing to the Philadelphia Triathlon Comments RSS feed.