Chicago Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Started near the back and off to the right (east) since i'm slow. Kept running into elbows and feet which threw me off a lot. I practiced about 8-10 times at Ohio St. Beach, took an open water swim clinic, and even did Harbor Lights Tri for practice. Thank god I did those things because I think i would've have panicked otherwise. Even so, I did lose my cool a little and had to concentrate to get back into a rhythm. I never had to stop completely or switch to a different stroke but it was definitely sloppy. Worse yet,every time I got into a good rhythm and picked up speed, I would veer off to the right.....I mean way off. Some guys in a row boat were yelling at me to go left. It seemd like a long swim. I can do a mile without much trouble at Ohio but this seemed to go on forever. I was happy when it was over.

Practice sighting and swimming in a straight line. Maybe learn bilateral breathing (i breath to the right which means I could only see out into the open lake).

Lost my bike for a little. So many new bikes and balloons appeared since I left transition. Plus it looked different in the light. There were literally thousands of bikes. My black road bike looks just like most of them. Then my wet suit got caught on my right heel. Aargh! Oh well, not too bad really.

get to transition early to stake out a spot that will be easy to find later. Maybe tie a balloon or something to the rack (but probably 2,000 folks did that). Practice pulling my wetsuit off of my dang ankles.

Decent headwind first half of the course (as anticipated). Riding left and passing on right not hard to adjust to (but a few riders didn't seem to get it). A few rough spots in the road but not bad overall. It was cool to ride down LSD. The gentle inclines on LSD felt harder than they looked. But overall, it was okay...better than the swim.

Just need to get faster. I'm going to install aerobars. Practice "hill" climbing (although the little inclines on LSD can scarcely be called "hills")

I'm happy with this time. I shaved off a lot of time compared to my first tri in may '09. I have a race number belt that i just grabbed and clipped on while I ran. Also, I could just slip my shoes on because I have Yankz.

Run faster with the bike. Greater sense of urgency but this is improving.

Legs felt a little wobbly at first and I started to feel a side stitch coming on within the first 5 minutes. But I took some really deep breaths and slowed down a little and the cramps never fully developed. Felt pretty good after the first mile. Kept a decent pace and pushed myself a little harder than in my first 2 tri's. Beat my May '09 5k time by 40 seconds and that was after only a 1/4 mile swim and an 11 mile bike.

Just keep trying to get faster and push harder, especially near the end. There's no reason to leave anything in the tank.

Gorging myself on gatorade and picnic food. Then rode my bike home.


My subpar swim performance, poor sighting, and I just need to train harder to get faster.


I was surprised that a race this big could be so organized. My swim started at exactly 6:34am, just like it was supposed to. The atmosphere was awesome. So many triathletes (wannabees like me). Lots of first timers too (but I had done 2 smaller ones before this one and am glad I did....it could be overwhelming). Tons of volunteers and spectators cheering us on...it was really cool. I'm planning on doing the Oly next year (yikes!) Overall a great race and a wonderful experience.