Lake Zurich Area Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Time includes a long runs from the beach up the hill to transition. I would guess that I was in high (mid?) 1:30's for actual swim portion, which would seem right based on where I placed in my AG. I've actually got no complaints on this swim. The swim out to the first turn was at least 500 yards, so it was a no brianer to me to start on the outside end of the front line of swimmers to avoid too much of a crowd. I swam strong but steady for the first 100-200 yards and the group thinned out pretty quickly. I was careful to sight consistently here and think I held a good line the entire swim. I maintained a good pace and worked my way through a lot of swimmers from the prior few waves. I was capable of swimming it a little faster, but when I exited the water, I was able to take it up the hill to transition at a steady jog and catch my breath, so I think I kept to the right pace for me.

Nothing

Good T1 generally. I moved through efficiently and didn't waste any time. I had a little glitch hopping on top of my shoes and getting my feet in. My shoes flipped under the pedal, hung down and bounced my bike along the concrete for a few yards. I always get my feet in on the fly, and that's never happened to me before. I lost maybe 5-10 seconds getting up to speed, but am lucky (and thankful) that one of my shoes didn't pop out off the pedal entirely.

Not much. I'm not going to dwell on the shoe mishaps. It's never happened before, and hopefully won't again.

My plan on this ride was to get HR down from swim, take it easy on the first loop and push to the extent I could on the second loop while still keeping my legs somewhat fresh. I felt really good from the start of the ride and it took a little discipline not to open it up more throughout the ride, but I stuck to the plan and found myself enjoying the ride quite a bit. I ceratinly got passed by some people who were really moving, but on the whole moved my way past a lot of riders and never felt too taxed.

Nothing.

Quick T2. Similar to T1, I was pretty efficient.

The only time I wasted was when I took a 5-10 steps towards the run exit as I sucked down my GU and then went *back* to my mat to toss the packet because I didn't want to litter. I would have had lots of environmentally-friendly places to toss it within the first few hundred yards. At least my thoughts were in the right place! Between my pedals in T1 and my GU in T2, maybe I had 20 seconds I could have saved with my transitions?

Finally!! A strong run (for me) on a longer race. I've had a chip on my shoulder since Racine when I pushed too hard on the bike and then blew up on the run. Sticking to the plan on the bike set up really good run. I felt great coming out of transition. I knew my pace was too fast and that I would have to slow it down, so gradually let my pace slip back to an 8:30 (which was my target for the first lap) and then held-on/pushed as much as I could without feeling too taxed for the rest of the first loop. I started to run a little harder on the second loop, but was conscious of not burning out too quickly. I had enough for a pretty strong kick for the last quarter-mile, so maybe I could have pushed it a little harder on the second loop, but on the whole, the run was exactly what I wanted to do and I feel great about it.

Nothing.

Drank, ate, walked around. I also laughed at guy in 55-59 age group who so anxious to see the preliminary race results that he slipped to the front of the crowd from the side and then basically blocked half of the group from seeing the list while he found his name and then scanned up the rest of the list for the others in his AG. I didn't want to get negative after a great race, so just rolled my eyes with the others who were similarly non-plussed by this guy . . . whoever you are, you acted like a child. Rant over. Sorry.

On a more positive note. I came home and was able to celebrate with my 10-year-old, who finished his own tri this morning too. I slipped up planning races for both of us on the same morning, but the report from my wife was that he was a champ!!


Nothing really. I stuck to my plan and it turned out great. My plan admittedly was oriented around protecting myself to set up a strong, complete run, so maybe I was a little coservative and could have pushed a bit more on the bike and the first lap of the run. Dialing my pace in to that extent, though, is icing on the cake and will come with more experience at this distance. I'm really happy with the result today.


Well-organized. If the calendar works out, I'd like to make this a regular event.