Philly Tri

Ahh, Day of the Philly Tri. I had driven into the area the night before, had done some last-minute preparation, and was in bed by 10:30. Registration was from 5am-6am, so we had to be on the rod by 5:10am. Good times. We headed out, taking local roads, rather than the highway. Traffic at 5am on a Saturday? Not a chance. The local roads were clear. Of course, this route did take us through (around) some kind of rough areas in Philly, which are always interesting to see at 5am on a Saturday. One wrong turn down a gloomy street, but we got back on track quickly. We found our parking area, unloaded, and headed to the registration tent. I went to find my bib number, and found 2.


Someone else with my name was racing as well. He was 40-something, so he was in a different age-group, and that was noted in the entrant list, so I got the correct bib number from the list. I went to pick up my packet, and discovered that they like to give the Clydesdale group hot pink swim caps (they had done it the year before, as the volunteer happily pointed out). I also found out that wetsuits might not be allowed. I overheard another one of the volunteers mentioning that participants might be allowed to wear them, but they'd have to be the last wave, and their time wouldn't count. We headed to the transition area, which wasn't that crowded, since most people had probably registered the night before, thus relieving them of having to be there before 6am to pick up their packets. It felt good to be there. There was a slowly building excitement. People were trickling in, the day was getting brighter, and there was more and more chatter. It was game time. I got myself marked up, and headed into transition. Set everything up, had some water, ate some bread, and I was relaxed and ready to go...Only about 2 hours to race time, great.


I found my buddy Colin, and we talked and hung out for a little bit. He went to set his area up, so I wandered around and took in the sights. By now, the transition area was about 75% full, so there was a lot of energy. It felt really good to be in that area again. I'm not talking about the transition area, per se. I'm talking about the area where you're surrounded by fellow athletes, all nervously going through the tiniest details, walking around, listening to music, doing jumping jacks, and just trying to focus in on the race. Whether they're doing it seriously, or goofily, they're all there, sharing the same excitement. The transition area feels miles away from everything else, even though friends and family are separated by a thin plastic fence.


They were closing the transition area at 7:15 for the elite start at 7:30am. Meaning, we all had to be out of the way for the elites once they came back from the swim, and for the bike. We didn't have to be completely out of transition, but just had to clear paths down the center, and away from the bikes. They tried to corral us out, but there were too many people to get out of the area. Plus, we weren't going to start racing for over an hour, so there was no reason to leave. I needed to take my inhaler about 20 minutes before the race, and also a GU packet for some extra fun, so I didn't want to leave my post just yet.


The elite wave went off, pretty much right on time, and they really tried to get all of the triathletes out of the area, because they would be running through transition before our wave even left for the swim. Combination of these guys being superfast, and us being in the 11th wave, spread 5-6 minutes apart. I took my Gu, and a couple puffs of the inhaler, and we headed out of the transition area. First time racing with the inhaler, so I was interested to see if it would make a noticeable difference.
We moved to the end of the transition area, but still had plenty of time, and didn't want to stand out in the sun, so we found some shade near the back of transition area, and sat down to relax before the wave started. I had to go to the bathroom, but really didn't feel like standing in the long lines. Fortunately there was a bank of porta-potties right outside the transition area near us. I just needed to hop the fence, and I was free to do my duty. I was able to poo in peace.
Finally, they called our wave to the starting area, and we waited around while the couple waves in front of us got started. Our wave was the Clydesdales (the self-proclaimed "fat guys" by one of my fellow competitors) and the under 19 males. Quite a difference in body types.
They ushered us into the water, which was a warm 84.0 degrees (or around there...warm enough to prohibit wetsuits). I found myself front-and-center of the pack. Somewhere I wasn't too comfortable being, since this was my first time doing an in-water start with 90+ other guys. But it wasn't so bad. I figured it wasn't worth the effort to try to tread over somewhere else. Besides, I had a good spot. Why give it up? I felt confident enough in my training to keep up with these guys. After treading for a while, the countdown began, the air horn blew, and we were off. There was a little bit of traffic, but I was able to get into a fairly open area pretty easily. I felt a few feet near my face and sides, and felt a few hands near my sides, but never really crashed into anyone.
I was able to swim comfortably breathing bi-laterally for a few minutes. The water was warm and brown (just how I like it?), and it was pretty easy to sight the bridge opening up ahead. Pretty big target...not a small orange buoy 300 yards away. I passed a couple people, at most, and felt like I was getting into a good pace. I remember thinking that the buoys for the turns should be immediately after crossing under the bridge, but they were still a decent way down, which threw me off a little bit, but it wasn't that bad. I made my way to the first turn, having sighted everything pretty well, and made the turn. This was about where I passed someone from the wave ahead of us (yellow caps, I believe, the 40-44 men). Of course, that's going to make anyone feel pretty good, so I was able to turn it up a bit, and swim hard to the next turn. By this point, I had switched to breathing on one side. Definitely something I need to work on. Funny how the most natural thing a human can do becomes the toughest thing to focus on during a swim.
I passed another bunch of people, one while passing back under the bridge. I had to take an inside track to get between them and the bridge structure. Again, since they were in the previous wave, I was able to get past them pretty easily. I was moving at a comfortable pace. I'm still not 100% used to open water swimming, so I was sprinting through the water. I still need to find my optimal race pace. I was felt pretty good with my pace, though, so I was happy.
Now it's off to the finish line, which was about 100 yards further down river from where we started. This, combined with a curve in the river/course, threw me off a bit. I had sighted swim exit but didn't see the two buoys I had to pass on the left in order to get to the finish. I didn't exactly swim a straight line, but I didn't get so far off course that I added a ton of time to my swim.


I finally made it around the final buoy, and had a clear line to the exit. I powered through a bit, and finished strong. The drop off on the Schuylkill is pretty drastic, so even 4 feet from the banks is deep enough that you can't stand up out of the water. You need to get right up to the bank before you can touch ground. It was a little crowded, but I was able to sneak in and run up the minor hill out of the swim exit. I felt good, but a little unbalanced from my single-side breathing. I grabbed some water, and threw some on my face to cool down a bit...yes, I was already heating up. Unfortunately, some water got in my eyes ( I guess that's what happens when you throw water in your face), and my contacts got a little out of sorts. Both of them. so I was half-blind for about 20 yards of the run to my bike. I was trying to figure out what I'd do if I couldn't get my contacts back in place. Do I still ride? Do I pull out if I lose both of them? The good news is that I was able to get them back in place by the time I got to my bike. Good thing, because I don't think I was ready to stop racing just because I couldn't see anything. Which would have been bad.
I was hoping the 50 yard run to the bike would let me get a little more oriented, but I was still a little off-balance, and was breathing a little hard. I threw on my tri shirt, and ripped one side off of my bib. O well. I put the socks on as best I could while standing wet and off-balanced, threw the shoes on, and ran out to the bike mount. T1 ended up being more than 2 minutes...definitely room for improvement. My mount kind of sucked to, but soon enough I was off and riding. I felt alright, but needed to settle into a good pace. The first couple miles is pretty straight, maybe a small false flat, but easy enough to get some speed going. The course then takes a pretty tight 180 degree turn to go back in the other direction. I'm not too experienced with crowded, tight turns so this was a little slower than I had hoped. Again, something to work on for later.
Now the course is a slight downhill until the on-ramp to the Strawberry Mansion bridge. Rode by some riders, and got ready for the on-ramp. I had studied the course a bit before the race, so I knew about what to expect. Even still, the ramp slowed me down. I hadn't found my legs yet, so they weren't fresh and ready for the climb. And I don't think I've done enough hill workouts. I was still able to pass a few people on the climb, and take a left onto the bridge. Picked up some speed, but as soon as the bridge ends, there's a slight left into an uphill climb, which is a little longer than the on-ramp climb. This slows down a lot of people, but is over with pretty quickly. The rest of the ride going down river on the East side is pretty fast with a couple of turns that require a little bit of technical ability (but not much).


Just before the turn to head back in the other direct, there's a slight downhill that lets you work up some good speed to get up the next nice little climb. I don't know why, but not everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the free speed, as I passed a bunch of people on the climb, purely from momentum (I also made sure to push to the top of the hill, which helped). The road narrowed a bit, and winded a bit but was still pretty manageable.
Coming out of the first loop is a slight downhill with a false sharp turn (the turn is partially obstructed by some trees/bushes, and the way the road flows, it looks like it's going to turn sharply to the left). The first time around, I had slowed a little too much, and after I realized it wasn't as sharp as a turn, had to come up out of the saddle to get back up to speed. To get to the next loop, there was actually a sharp left turn, which I was able to snake by on the inside the first time to gain some ground. By this time, I was trying to keep up with a fellow clydesdale (or so I think). We had jockeyed back and forth a few times already, and at this point he was ahead of me. By the time we came out of the loop, I was pretty close to him (I think he was bib 4875). Now comes the fun part, a nice, quick, shaded downhill back to the bridge, where you can pick up some really good speed. Unfortunately, it's short-lived, since at the bottom of the hill is a 90 degree left turn to get back onto the bridge. I couldn't figure out how much speed to build up on the bridge, since it's another left turn to go down the down-ramp. I saw it as a good chance to crank a little, and then coast to the turn so that I could grab some water. Down the down-ramp, and it's maybe 3/4 of a mile to the turn-around for lap 2. Another tight turn in some traffic, and it was off for the second 7.5 miles.
This lap was pretty much the same, with a slight bit more wisdom of the course, since I had just completed it. I was able to anticipate the climbs, hills and descents, and could adjust my speed/tactics accordingly.



With a couple miles remaining, I finally passed my buddy Colin, who had beaten me out of the water by 1:38 and had a T1 which was 20 seconds quicker. So I was able to make up 2 minutes over about 13 miles. I really should have caught him earlier. I passed him (along with the guy in bib 4501...I was 4500. He was pretty amused that we ended up side by side). I picked up speed as I passed Colin, hoping I could use the last few miles that I had to put some distance between us. All that was left was the downhill section to the bridge, the bridge, and the final leg to the transition area. I used the last bit of the bike portion to get some last gulps of water. I notice that I had not even come close to drinking both of my bottles. Looking back, that was probably not a good thing. I easily go through a water bottle before I even finish my light swim practices...and that's indoors in a pool with a reasonable temperature. Certainly not 84 degree water and 90 degrees out of the water. So I hadn't drank enough water to rehydrate from the swim, let along the 45 minutes of biking, I was about to complete. Add to that the fact that I put a packet of 2x-caffeine GU in each of the bottles, and I was probably pretty dehydrated. Not a good thing for the run.
Just before dismount, I loosened my bike shoes, and started to wiggle my feet out. As I was doing this (and coming to a stop), my left shoe disengaged from the clip, and I feel on the ground. I had to grab it quickly and run back to transition holding my shoe. I got bike and hurriedly tried to switch shoes and get going on the run. I was definitely hurting a bit, and knew that I didn't have much ground on Colin. As I got my shoes on and started heading out, I saw Colin bolting ahead of me. He had kept up with me on the bike, and because he didn't have bikes shoes, he didn't have to switch his shoes. He's a stronger runner than I am, so I knew I was in trouble.
I was hurting, but felt okay for the first 50 yards. I threw some water over my head, and tried to get some speed up. But before I got through the park area to the road, I slowed down pretty hard. My chest was really, really tight, and I couldn't get a deep breath even though I wasn't running that fast. I couldn't tell why my upper body was so tight. Was I clenched during the entire bike? That might have been it, but I've done longer rides, followed by runs, and I had never felt this tightness before. It was a combination soreness and tightness. Then again, racing is not training, and my intensity may have had something to do with it. The heat and dehydration were both probably another factor. I need to research to see if dehydration can cause this sort of sensation.

Anyway, I got out onto the road and plodded along at a pathetic pace. I knew I was going slow, but was pretty disappointed to see the 9th minute go by on my watch before I hit the 1 mile marker. I was able to do a 7:07 split for a 4 miler just 2 weeks ago, and had been feeling really good about my run training recently. What happened? I don't think I over-exerted on the swim, and same for the bike. But here I was, sucking ass (and wind) on the run.
Finally, about 1.5 miles in, my chest loosened up, and I at least felt a little more comfortable running, but my pace was still dreadful. I threw a cup of water over my head, and it cooled me down nicely...for about 3 seconds. In those three seconds, though, I could tell how much the heat was affecting my run. In those three seconds, I thought I'd be able to really pick up the pace, and start moving. But when those 3 seconds were up, my body was getting way too hot, and I was struggling again. I need to do more training in high heat and humidity. I slogged through to the turnaround, having seen Colin pass me already. Halfway there, and I was able to pick up the pace only slightly. Aside from running under a bridge and getting 20 feet of shade, there was no hope of relief from the sun until the very end, where some tree cover would be waiting. Around mile 2.5, a small woman came up from behind me, and passed on my left. She wasn't going much faster than I was, and for some reason I locked onto her pace. This gave me a little boost, and I was able to pick it up a little bit. That pretty much carried me through to the 3 mile marker, where I was able to pick up to a quick run for the final 0.1 of a mile. I finished, and immediately was not happy with the run. I knew it was bad.
I struggled to take my chip off, grabbed a water, and headed out to some open area to find my family and Colin. They were easy enough to find. I found Maggie first, and then my sister and her husband quickly got over to me. I saw Colin and we converged together. My parents made their way over from where my dad was taking some pretty good shots of me and Colin crossing the finish line. I downed a bottle of water, but that wasn't nearly enough. I was starting to feel faint. It was coming in waves. I would feel a little tired, and then a rush of dizziness/weakness would come over me. It wasn't overwhelming, but it wasn't pleasant. After chatting for a little while, I sat down on the curb for a little bit to gain myself. But not before grabbing two more water bottles and chugging them. And Colin brought me a third bottle while I was sitting. 64 ounces of water, no problem. Yea, I think I was dehydrated. Not to mention the two 24 ounce Gatorade bottles and the single bottle/box of ReGen drink (and probably another bottle of water in there somewhere). Couldn't really eat, though. I forced a couple of bites of a turkey hoagie (extra philly accent, please), and a couple of bits of a cookie, but that was all I could handle.
We hung around the festivities for a while, and chatted with Colin and his buddy, and then it was time to get out.
One thing we did notice was a bunch of fire trucks on the other side of the river (Kelly Drive). They seemed to be carrying a large ladder down to the river banks. We couldn't figure out what was going on (Gavin suggested that a triathlete had got caught in a tree, and they were saving him).
It wasn't until later that night that we found out what was going on: A first time triathlete had drowned. He was in one of the last waves, and hadn't come out of the water more than an hour after his wave started. It's one of those things that really sends chills down your back. His wife and kids were waiting anxiously at the swim exit for him to come out, but he never exited. None of the lifeguards or spotters had seen anything out of the ordinary. It's really a sad story, and raises a lot of questions. There are lots of theories and opinions out there, many of which I've played through in my head, but none of which I'll try to assert. The fact remains that a man died as a result of the swim portion of triathlon, and it's a tragedy regardless. I have contacted race directors and have asked them to keep me abreast of the facts of the various investigations. If I am unsatisfied with the responses, I will work on getting involved. I won't, however, sit and make assumptions and accusations without actually doing anything. That's a pointless activity that makes absolutely zero progress.
I'm hopeful that this will raise questions to the proper people, and we will move forward as a triathlon community.

In any event the Philly Tri is over, and I think we've all been able to learn something from it.