Accenture Chicago Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I showed up when my wave was already in the pen, so I couldn't put myself far enough to front at the start; I was totally boxed in until the turn around. Once I made the turn I was able to latch on to a pretty quick pair of feet and draft my way to the finish. Overall a pretty strong swim, I shudder to think how much better I would have done if I'd been able to start at the front and not get stuck behind slower swimmers.

Get there sooner so I can start at the front.

One of my best T1's ever. My time doesn't reflect it though because the transition area is so HUGE! I've never seen so many bike racks and bikes everywhere, it took what felt like forever to reach my gear.

Pretty solid bike leg. I continue to be weak on the hills but make it up on the downhill side. I was constantly neck and neck with this guy from the wave before me, he'd take me uphill and I'd whizz by him downhill. He was cool though, we kept encouraging each other.

I need more hill training. I think I need to have my bike re-fit too, some adjustments to the seat positioning may make me more comfortable.

My best T2 ever! I pulled my feet out of my shoes on the bike and pedaled on top of them. Jumped off the moving bike and ran the whole way to the rack. I did, however, take the time to drink the rest of my bottle of Accelerade before I went out on the run because I didn't drink enough on the bike and was starting to feel dehydrated. I purchased Yankz at the Expo and they helped a ton.

I would drink more on the bike.

Terrible!!!! I was running sub 8 minute miles for the first 3 miles but then I don't know what happened. My quads cramped up, I ended up walking the water station at mile 4, then I had to walk a lot of mile 5 and some of the last mile. I have no idea what happened but I just hit a wall, I'm terribly disappointed in my run.

I knew I would be slow on the run; I had only been trainin 0-1 time a week for the past month and a half or so trying to recover from a shin splint (which is gone!). All I can say is I'll do better next year.

Stand in front of that fan/water sprayer thing for about 10 minutes! Eat a banana and some gatorade. Walk all the way back to transition to get my bike and gear, then walk the 2 miles home.


Lack of fitness on the run. I didn't get close enough to the front on the swim start. More hill training on the bike. My goal was to finish in 2:45 (I figured that'd be a good time for a first olympic distance race) and I beat that! Next year I'll be out here stronger and faster, I can't wait. I gave it my best and it was great to cross the finish line.


Wow! What a job the Accenture people did putting on a race of this size. The amount of organization was outstanding, it's no simple task to direct 7800 people and they did a fantastic job. The volunteers were excellent, much thanks to them!