Philadelphia Escape Tri
- Jun, 24 2018
- Philadelphia, PA
- 1st
- No comments
Escape Series Triathlon—Philadelphia
June 24th, I raced for the 3rd time in Philly over the course of my career and ended up with my second win. A race win is always special, especially just a few weeks after Escape from Alcatraz. I arrived into Philly on Friday afternoon, which gave me some time to spin on my bike and do a little sightseeing. We stayed very close to the Art Museum (which is the location of the iconic “Rocky running up the steps” scene). Nate and I had dinner at Whole Foods in downtown Philly and watched a movie in the hotel room. Now that I think about it, this is the first movie we have watched together in a couple of years. Life is pretty busy at home these days! With such a quick trip in and out of Philly, we decided it was best for the kids to stay home with their Grandparents, especially since the race had such an early start!
Race morning was an extremely early wake up call, just before 4AM (which technically was 2:55AM STL time!). Although my eyes were burning with that “getting up in the middle of the night feel”, I felt much more awake around 4:30 when I started cycling down to race start. With having such long days and it being daylight at 5:15AM, race directors can take advantage of the sunlight and have very early race starts. We started at 6:04AM, four minutes behind the men. The swim was a point to point, so after getting transition set up, I jogged the mile to swim start. Saturday was misty and chilly all day. I wore three layers warming up on the bike on Saturday, but race morning it was much warmer and extremely humid. The air temp was not too high (around 72 degrees, but had 94% humidity!). Needless to say, it felt very refreshing diving into the 74 degree river water. The river current was very calm. The swim start was unique in that it was an in water start, but we had to swim just under 100 meters to make the first (and only) 90 degree right hand turn. I hit the buoy in first position and led the swim the remainder of the 1500. I felt calm and in control in the swim, but was mentally preparing for a tough and challenging bike course. I used my Blueseventy PZ4TX swim skin with the Blueseventy Element Goggels.
Sophie Chase exited just behind me in the swim and I lost about 15 seconds to her in transition. Some of this time was due to the fact that I had to remove my swim skin and she did not wear one, but about 10 seconds of the time loss was due to my bike rack position. Where my bike was located, I had to run about 10 additional seconds over some of the other women in T1 and T2. This is just how the game works sometimes. I try not to let it bother me and just carry on with the race. It is refreshing when flow through transitions are set up for the pros so that all the athletes in transition run equal distances. Early into the bike is one of the biggest climbs and at the top of the first climb a couple of miles into the race, I was able to regain the lead over Sophie. Shortly after that, Alicia Kaye rode right behind me the entire race and she kept the pressure on me. This bike course has a great mix of flat and fast road, but also eight climbs (2 loops, 4 climbs per lap) and technical descents. I felt good on the bike, but I noticed I was fatiguing at the end, which means I paced the 40k well. My gear for the cycling portion was: Fuji Norcom Straight 1.1 out fitted with SRAM e-Tap wireless shifting, SRAM Red Dzero Quarq Powermeter, ISM PN 3.0 saddle, Zipp Vuka Aero bars, Zipp NSW Carbon Clincher 454’s with Tangent Speed Tires’ , Sampson Stratics Carbon Ti Pedals, Rudy Project Wing57 in my favorite color!! Also a huge shout-out to Performance Bike Shops for getting my rig ready to race!! Here is my Quarq Power meter file presented by Training-Peaks
When I exited the bike, Alicia was right behind me. We started very close together and when I started running I could noticeably feel my quads from the challenging ride. It also felt pretty humid on the run, so I felt like it would be best to start off strong, but a little conservative. The run was two loops, so we could see our competitors several times on course. I slowly made ground over Alicia over the course of the 10k. I was surprised that I was craving Gatorade to drink and had the urge to pour water over my head. I grabbed fluids at most of the aid stations throughout the course. That humidity can sneak up on you!My run gear for the day Mission HydroActice Multi-Cool, Rudy Project Noyz in my Favorite color, Triflare Custom Lace Sarah Haskins line, T1 Pro Race belt, and I was able to race in my Groove Life ring all day and not have to worry about my diamond wedding band.
Awards post race were at 10:30AM, so that left plenty of time to catch our 2:30PM flight. We will be home by 5:30PM tonight and I am looking forward to hugging my babies. This week I will focus on recovery and getting ready for a race in New York City next weekend. I remember wining the equalizer there in 2016 and a just a few weeks later I was very excited to learn I was expecting my second child, Connor!
Congratulations to all who the finished the Escape Philly race today! Thanks to everyone for the support, cheers and kind messages of congrats as I continue into the later part of the race season.
