Escape from Fort Delaware 2013 Sprint

On May 18, 2013 I went to an open water swimming session at Marsh Creek State Park.  After swimming I went straight to the bike shop to have my bike fixed.  The Cervelo P3 has a set screw in the rear dropout so you can adjust how close the rear tire is to the bike frame.  Somehow I managed to bend one of the set screws and I couldn't center the tire.  I didn't want to race with the tire rubbing the frame of the bike.  I actually got to the shop before they opened but I only waited a short time for the shop to open.  The mechanic had a little trouble getting the set screw out of the dropout and he had to get some assistance from the other mechanic.  After removing the screw they decided to thread the screw through small rubber washers so the screw would be less likely to bend.  I was only at the shop for an hour but it seemed like I was there much longer.

I went home, ate lunch, packed the car and headed to Delaware City, Delaware.  I'm glad I left the house when I did as it took almost two hours to get to Delaware City.  I still had plenty of time to check in and set up in transition but I was still a little stressed.  I've never done a late afternoon triathlon and given the darkening sky I was hoping we would finish before it rained.  It was very windy and there were white caps in the bay so I was happy we were swimming in the canal.  This was a wetsuit legal race and the water temperature was supposed to be around 70 degrees but it sure felt much colder.  There was a strong current in the canal so they had us queue on the boat ramp until the very last minute. 

 While it looks like there was plenty of room in the canal it was like swimming in a washing machine.  For the entire 500 yards I was hit, kicked, swum into, etc.  I was very glad to exit the canal.

They used the ladder truck to shower us with clean water as we ran up the ramp from the canal.

My fingers were numb and I was wearing a watch on my left wrist.  I had to carry my goggles in my mouth as I tried to get the wetsuit off my arm.  I didn't make any mistakes finding my bike or transitioning to the bike out on the road.

If I had know they were going to photograph me on the bike I would have worn my aero helmet.  As I said earlier, it was windy and I ready had to hang onto those aerobars to keep the bike on a straight line.  This was my first triathlon since I switched to the Zipp 808 wheels and was starting to question my decision to put an 808 on the front of the bike.  I passed a bunch of guys right after I got on the bike and another group of guys in the first couple of miles.  I settled into my comfort zone and just cranked out the miles.  It was an out and back bike ride and I started counting riders as they came back into town.  If my math was correct, I was in seventh place.

I was in and out of transition before one of the guys that rode in before me putting me into sixth place.  I wasn't going to let him catch me so I just ran as fast as I could.  I could see two runners ahead of me and I worked to chase down the slowest runner.  I counted the runners as they made the turn and headed back to the finish line, now I was in fifth place!  I crossed the finish line and everyone congratulated each other and confirmed our finishing place.  It's a fifth place finish for Bob!  I was the fifth fastest man but finished seventh overall as two of the women finished faster than me.

It was getting colder and starting to rain so they decided to have the award ceremony a little earlier then planned.  The guy that won the triathlon wasn't around when they took the photos.  Awards went to the top five men, the top three women and the winners in each age group.  

I was the third fastest cyclist in the triathlon.  I guess all those hours riding the bike trainer paid off.

The Broad Street Run 2013

The Broad Street Run in Philadelphia is the largest 10 mile race in the United States with 40,000 people entered.  I ran the race two years ago and finished in 1 hour 20 minutes and didn't think I could beat that time due to some nagging injuries.  The weather was perfect if not a little chilly and I ran like there were 39,999 people chasing me.  Finishing 6 minutes faster was a shock to me but finishing 119 in my Age Group was also shocking.  How could I beat my previous finishing time by 6 minutes and yet finish so low in my age group?  It's time to research running faster instead of training to run longer distances.  

May 5, 2013

I finished in 2901 place out of 38,144 people that finished the race. 

I finished in 2269 place in my gender.

I finished 119 in my age group of men 50-54 years young.

Upper Mainline YMCA Triathlon 2013

I started this years triathlon season at the YMCA on April28, 2013.  While the outdoor 50 meter pool is heated, the air temperature the past two years has been chilly.  I had a late start this year and the weather was perfect.  The weatherman from the local ABC station participated in this years triathlon.  I'm not sure he had anything to do with the great weather but I thanked him and asked him to come back next year.

I finished last years triathlon season with a third place finish in my age group.  I started this years triathlon season with a third place finish in my age group.  With a little more training I hope to earn a first place finish in my age group at one of my future triathlons.

New Display for Race Medals

It only took two years of competition to fill up my Philadelphia Cityscape display rack.  I decided rather then retire the older medals I would purchase another display rack.  I selected a generic cityscape from Allied Medal Displays.

Burned Out

Running the Philadelphia Marathon was the end of a very long season of racing in 2012.  I started with a 5k run in March and ended with the marathon in November.  The day after the marathon I started a well deserved vacation.  I didn't realize how sore my knees would be after the marathon and lucky for me I selected a vacation destination that was flat.  My plan was to take off the entire week from training, no swimming, cycling, running or even a walk.  When I returned from vacation I had other things interfere with training and I missed the entire month of December and part of January.  

 

The first time I went into the pool I couldn't even swim 200 yards.  Talk about starting over from square one!  Good thing I didn't have any races planned in the near future.  I slowly worked on building endurance for swimming, cycling and running.  Then in March I caught the flu, missed two and one-half weeks of training and spent another two weeks easing back into training.

 

I wasn't ready for the Butterfly 5K in March and I wasn't ready for the Valley Forge Revolutionary 5 Mile run in April either.  My first event of 2013 will be the Upper Mainline YMCA Sprint triathlon.

2012 Philadelphia Marathon Race Recap

This post is long over due, so long over due that I'm just going to post the race results and make a couple of comments.

Running 26.2 miles was very hard work, much harder than any triathlon I completed.  My legs didn't like the last 5 miles and it showed in my split times.  I was doing well with my pacing at the start of the race and ran the half-marathon about 15 minutes faster than my finishing time at the ODDyssey half-marathon.  After running past the art museum the runners ran out Kelly drive towards Manayunk where the runners made a turnaround and ran back to the finish line.  With the out and back run on Kelly Drive I could see how many people were ahead of me and it looked like the whole city of Philadelphia was ahead of me.  I kept checking my watch and there was still a chance I could finish under four hours but I didn't make it in time.