Tri Rock Philadelphia Triathlon: Olympic

On Sunday I completed the Tri Rock Philly Olympic distance Triathlon. I have been training since the beginning of the year, but if I'm completely honest, my training has not been as intense nor consistent as it needed to be. I knew that I could complete the distances since this was my 5th Olympic distance triathlon. As the race got closer, I just started to think of it as a training day and as the jump start of my Augusta Ironman 70.3 Triathlon and Marine Corp Marathon training. What I didn't expect was to get my azz handed to me on a platter. That was one TOUGH race!

The swim: 1500 meters

It seemed like it took forever to get to each buoy. I swear I thought they forgot to put out the 500m buoy, as I don't recall seeing it. It felt like I was swimming at a stand still between the 700m buoy and the 800m buoy. It appeared I would never get to 800m buoy! Once I reached the 1000m buoy, Philly Joe was swimming next to me screaming "Rebecca, YOU GOT THIS!". I had no doubts, but that was not what I was trying to hear from Philly Joe, as he started 2 waves behind me. I started to see more and more red and orange swim caps from groups that started behind me, so I knew I was taking a long time. I just kept swimming my race and eventually I was done. Time: 38:59

The bike: 24.9 miles

Philly Joe made me cuss him out a few several times on this course. He initially said that there was only 1 or 2 hard hills... then he changed the story and said there were a few, but they weren't bad... then he started to really be truthful when we got to Philly and told us about all the hills we had waiting for us. Great. Yeah, I had been on the hills of Howard County and I rode in the mountains of Virginia, but these hills were long and winding and had a second part to them. I had to stop twice at the landing before attempting the second part of 2 of the hills. I have never stopped on the bike course before, but this time, I stopped twice on each loop. It wasn't because my legs couldn't take me up, but because my heart was pounding so hard that I had to give my ticker a little break. I will just chalk it up as not being conditioned enough for the bike course. My bad. When friends tell me there are only 1-2 hard hills, I now know to not trust them and expect like 6 long, winding hills with 2 parts. THANKS PHILLY JOE! (*insert evil side eye here*). There will be hills on the Augusta Ironman 70.3 course, so between now and then, I will start to ride with the guys and get my azz kicked in training, so I will never feel like a bike course kicked my butt like that again. Time: 1:45

The run: 6.2 miles

The weather was absolutely perfect on Friday and Saturday, but by the time I made it to the run on Sunday, it felt like I was running through hell! Man, it was hotter than Hades out there! The temps had reached 90 degrees. NINETY DEGREES!! There was shade and music for the first 3 miles, then we ran across the grass by transition, the music stopped and it felt like Satan started to breathe fiery dragon breath on me. OMG! It was SO HOT! I started to talk to people on the course, as I always do, to motivate them and myself. I started to want to jack someone running in the opposite direction out of their cold, wet towel. The thought crossed my mind to just turn around and head in the opposite direction. I was tired, don't get me wrong, but the heat was what made it bad. I felt sun whipped! I put ice in my sports bra, poured cold water on myself every chance I got, finally got a cold towel for my neck. I just suffered through. I met a guy named Steve who was celebrating his 40th birthday, in grad school, was racing with his older sister that always beats him during races, it was his 4th Triathlon, he has not had much luck on match. com...... I got to know everything about Steve as we ran past 2 poles and walked past one. It was survival of the fittest out there! Finally, Edwige and her Mom came out to the course as we were approaching the finish line, but I had already committed to Steve and our new friend Maggie that we would cross the finish line together. As soon as I crossed, I saw Philly Joe and Rosalind, who both told me the hills weren't bad. If my eyeballs were a knife, they would have been stabbed! Time: 1:24


Anyway. I finished and got my medal, right along with the triathlon azz whupping that I probably needed to kick me into full blown triathlon and marathon training. At least I wasn't last! I finished 1232 out of 1333 and 43 out of 47 in the F35-39 class. I would be concerned if I was competitive. To me, finishing really is winning and I know that I did more than more than 1/2 of the country's population before noon on Sunday. Once again: I am a Triathlete!!



Next Up:
Annapolis 10 miler
Augusta Ironman 70.3 triathlon
Army 10 miler
Marine Corp Marathon