Chicago Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

For some reason the last month and half that I should have been training I was instead thinking, it won't be so bad, it's just the sprint, and therefore didn't really train. I got my wetsuit the Wednesday before and figured I should try it out in the water once before the race. I went the pool at my gym Saturday and realized I had not even been in a pool for about a month and a half, maybe longer, I know, what I was thinking? And what did I think one day before the race was going to do? I really couldn't tell you. I was also completely unprepared for all hell breaking loose when the swim started. The one good thing was that my good friend Amyitalia found me right before my wave got in the water and waved (she was doing the olympic distance)! Basically for the first 2/3 - 3/4 of the swim I thought I was going to die and could not get myself together and spent a decent amount of time hanging on the ropes. The last 1/3 - 1/4 of the race I finally gathered myself because I just wanted it to be over with and if my parents hadn't been walking along the side cheering me on I probably would've quit.

TRAIN!! Also, do many many many open water swims as oposed to the zero I did this year. Again, I cannot tell you what I was thinking, I obviously wasn't, haha.

I actually thought my transition went really well mainly because I was SO happy to be out of the water and was kind of excited about getting to ride on Lake Shore Drive.

I could still probably move a little faster.

I really tried pushing myself on the bike since I had taken a very long time on the swim. I was pretty wiped out from the swim still though and ended up eating my bloc shots earlier than I planned but it definitely helped. After the turn around point at Foster I decided to reward myself with some water from my brand new, awesome, polar water bottle that I got cheap at the expo but as soon as I went to put it back, I missed the cage and there it went, rolling down LSD. Definitely a low point but I had to let it go :-(

Same as the swim, TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN!!! I was probably the laziest wannabe triathlete ever in July and August

I spent too much time trying to fix my hair so that my pictures didn't come out awful.

Find a suitable triathlon hairstyle because I am just not one of those people that will ever say "who cares!" when I know pictures are going to be taken and posted.

I was actually really proud of myself during the run because I ran the whole time except for the water/gu stations because I can't drink and run at the same time. Also what helped were so many volunteers and family and friends cheering you on the whole the whole way!!

TRAIN! (I have a theme going for the what would you do differently)

Had a banana, bagel and some gatorade, hugged my parents and got a cool medal. Went back to the finish line to watch my friends finish.


Lack of training. I should've known I was in trouble when I actually told myself one of the many days I skipped training "well Diddy ran the New York Marathon after only training for 6 weeks." BIG mistake.


Even though I didn't really train like I should have, this was my first race ever! I had so much fun even after the hell that was the swim and I finished! For me the best part of the race was all the people cheering the racers on the entire time (and when they call your name right before you cross the finish line)! Also, a special shout out to Amyitalia who inspired me to do this in the first place, i'm gonna be hardcore about training next year and I already can't wait!