Philadelphia Women's Sprint Triathlon 2008

Short Version:

Swim (1/2 mile): 10:41 (20 overall)
T1: 1:20
Bike (17 miles): 51:20 (19.9mph, 71 overall)
T2: 0:59
Run (5k): 24:27 (7:54, 98 overall)

Total Time: 1:28:45
15/97 F25-29 Age Group, 40/723 overall

Long Version:

I wasn't in the best mental state going into this race. I had a rough few weeks of workouts, both because of travel and in terms of being honest with myself about how my leg has been feeling. I realize now that in the two weeks before the race, I was on my bike a total of 3 times. I haven't been upping the miles as much as I would have liked with running either,so I wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of fitness.

Being a sprint, I thought I could fake my way through an hour and a half and have a good day. I wasn't kidding myself that any speed would be there, but I thought I had enough of a base to enjoy the race. I should have learned last year from my miserable experience at the NYC Tri that not being at a place were I want to be fitness-wise will NOT lead to an enjoyable day of racing. My times and splits for the day are fine, especially with the amount of effort I have been putting in over the past few weeks, but regardless of times, for me, being FIT enough to RACE is the only way to enjoy a race. Lesson learned (hopefully).

Saturday

Went down to Philly with a good friend from college and was able to stay at her parents place about 20 minutes outside the city in New Jersey. Packet pick up was a breeze on Saturday afternoon, and enjoyed the suburbs on Saturday night, including some nice chocolate-dipped frozen custard. Stopped at Panera to pick up some bagels for the morning, and I had also brought a Peanut Butter sandwich from home. Got to bed early, and had no trouble falling and staying asleep.

Sunday, pre-race

Woke up at 5:10, had plans to leave by 5:30 as transition opened at 6am. We were in the 2nd triathlon wave and the race started at 8am, and I like to have ample time to get to the race, not stress about parking, stretch and warm up. My friend is the OPPOSITE, she would roll into transition at 7:50 for an 8am start, so she graciously agreed to calm my nerves and get to the race early. It also had looked like transition wasn't assigned when we picked our packets up, so I wanted to get there early to get a good spot in transition. On the drive to the race, I had a plain bagel and about 20 ounces of water. I wasn't nervous at all, and my friend and I were having a great time.

Got to transition, turned out transition racks were assigned, but our age group got a great spot and we were down in transition with LOADS of time to spare. Went on a quick warm up jog and stretched, went to the bathroom, and at this time it was still only about 7:15am. It was then that I realized I had only had a bagel and water to eat. I pulled out my peanut butter and debated- I KNEW if I ate it then, I would be tasting it during the swim and bike, but I also knew a bagel wasn't enough calories, even for a sprint. Decided to suck it up and ate the PB sandwich. Also had a Gu about 20 minutes before our swim wave.

Swim, 1/2 mile, 10:41

The swim was in the Schuylkill River, which felt about 100 degrees. It apparently didn't hit the temp were wetsuits weren't allowed, and there were quite a few women who did wear wetsuits, but I felt like I was hot just in my tri shorts and top, I couldn't imagine how hot it would have been in a wetsuit. It was a deep-water start, and there were about 100 people per wave. I had thought by looking at the wave assignments that we were in the first triathlon wave (2nd wave overall, the first being the Du wave), but I was incorrect. There was a wave before ours that consisted of 'bosom buddies' (whatever that meant), mother-daughter races (very cool!), and 'survivors' (breast cancer, I would assume?). However, once on the course I realized somehow some of the elite athletes (I believe the overall 1-2 finishers) were also in this wave. No biggie.

Our wave started without incident, the Under-19 age group was also in this wave, and this cutie 11 year old I had chatted with in transition lined up right next to me. She was very cute, and could tell was a little swimmer, and at that moment my ONLY goal for the entire race was to not let her beat me out of the water**. Now, think what you will about me wanting to beat an 11 year old, but this was a legitimate fear, because I know MY 11-year old self would kick my current 25-year old self's ASS in a 1/2 mile swim :)

Only about 100 meters into the swim, I looked up to sight and my hand and then promptely my FACE ran SMACK, STRAIGHT into a kayak. The kayak was sitting perpendicular to the swim course, in the direct line between the swim start and the first turn-buoy. After running into her, she yelled at me to look out. Hmmm...sort of think SHE was the one who should have been looking out, as she was in the MIDDLE of the swim course, but whatevs. Had to sort of doggy-paddle around her and get my speed up again, figure it cost about 10-20 seconds.

Felt fine in the water, not great, but not as sluggish as my Saturday swim, so all was fine. I could tell already I was missing that extra gear, and I wouldn't find it the entire race. I tried to pick it up a few times, but my body just wasn't responding.

T1, 1:20

I think my heart rate was the highest it was the entire race in my run from swim exit to my bike. No joke. Nothing of interest to note during T1. Had a bit of trouble clipping in/mounting my my bike, think about 2 women in my age group passed me as I fumbled with my clips.

Bike, 17 miles, 51:20 (19.9 mph average)

The bike course was a 2 loop, flat course along the river. You crossed over 2 bridges on the loop. I did not feel good on the bike from the start. Just didn't' feel comfortable- my ass hurt, my groin felt crampy, my legs had no power. Couldn't get my head in the race, and a few times I just downshifted and had to spin my legs and talk myself back into racing.

I am totally OK with people passing me on the bike. As a strong swimmer, and a not so-strong (weak?) cyclist, this will be a fact of my triathlon career regardless of how much time I spend improving my bike. But on this ride, it just felt like EVERYONE that passed was in my age group. Where were the 35-39 women who started in my wave? Where were the 30-34 speed demons from the wave behind? I tried not to let it get to me, but it definitely got a bit discouraging to be working as hard as I was, not getting the speed out of my legs I wanted, and be passed by women FLYING by (some in packs...grrr) at 25+ mph like I was standing still (and I was still going about 20 mph!).

Took in one bottle during the ride, 20 ounces of water with 1 Nuun tablet. This equals ZERO calories. I know that nutrition shouldn't be TOO important for a sprint, but it was plain silly of me to take in no calories on the bike. I have no idea what i was thinking. Apparently, I wasn't.

T2, 0:59

As I was riding to the dismount line for the bike, some race officiall yelled at my that I need new brakes (yes, my brakes are very loose and I actually like them like that...safest thing? No.). But, really buddy, how is telling me that in the middle of a race going to be helpful? Felt like I had a good transition, looking back, I would say this is the highlight of the race :)

Run, 5k, 24:27 (7:54 pace)

I don't want to dwell on the run. It was hot. I was hungry. I felt like I was standing still. I really tried to push the pace a few times (at the turn-around, at the 2 mile marker, at the '1 mile left' sign), but it just wasn't there. Like I said, T1 was the highest my heart rate got all day.

I felt EXACTLY the same as I did during the run of the NYC tri last summer. And I think all the same factors contributed: Lack of speed/run base miles. Lack of proper nutrition pre-race and on the bike. Bad mental attitude. Once I get down on myself on the run, no matter how fast I may be running, that's it. Towards the end of the run, my hip/butt/lower back on my injured side began to hurt and I was just VERY glad it was only a 5k run.

The aftermath:

Got some ice on my hip immediately after finishing. Got some yummy treats and hung around to see the results. Was back to the Jersey suburbs, laying in a pool by 11am :)

I think every race is a learning experience, and in the 5 races I have now done, two have been very similar experiences (this and the NYC tri last year), and I can only learn from them:

1. I need to be on the bike more. I always have the best intentions when it comes to this, but I need to follow through.
2. I need to run more/get more base miles under my belt. I am really working on this.
3. Nutrition is key. Not just during the race.
4. MENTAL ATTITUDE. Once I get down on myself, or if I am 'feeling' bad, I'm done. This is not OK

I have to admit, and this may sound a bit twisted, I am VERY pleasantly surprised to have been running under 8 minute miles for how HORRIBLE I felt. In a way, I am actually trying to think of that as a positive of the race and to learn from it. I may feel bad. I may feel like I am close to walking and stumbling along with people SPEEDING past me. This does not always translate to running 'slow.'

For me, RACING is what makes triathlon fun. This doesn't mean winning my age group, or even being 'competitive' in my age group, whatever that means. It means being able to respond when someone passes you on the bike or the run. Or to see someone ahead and be able to at least attempt to run them down. It means going into the swim wanting to be the first out of your wave and having it be a LEGITIMATE goal. I learned yesterday, the same way I learned in NYC last year (my first OLY), that a bit more effort is necessary to allow this to happen. I put the effort in after I got back to working out after my injury/trip, and I had the results I was looking for in Gold Coast.

So all in all, not a great race. But overall, I think I learned a lot. This experience is also going to force some major reflections as I plan the rest of my race schedule this year.

**Just in case you're wondering, which I am SURE you are... I beat the 11 year old out of the water....by 25 seconds! My life is complete.