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 Swim
Comments: First race without a wetsuit, but not my first OWS without it. Water was warm and didn't want to overheat. I prob would have been ok, though. Tried to draft right off the bat but then felt boxed in by people a bit slower. And just couldn't get in a good rhythm. Popped by head up too much on the first half. Just didn't feel smooth. Didn't panic but didn't feel good in the water. Rounded the island and then finally when heading back for the second half I drafted better and finally got into a groove. I found that breathing to the right only (against the lane marker, away from the other swimmers) helped. Usually I bilateral breathe. But going to one side helped and I finished very strong and passed a few people I think. What would you do differently?: I don't know honestly. Maybe gone out a bit harder to get a better position? Tried to relax more knowing it'd be different without a wetsuit? Just not sure.  Transition 1
Comments: Even thought there was only one row of bikes per wave with the sign color corresponding to your cap color, I still had trouble finding my spot. Weird. A volunteer even saw my cap and pointed me to the right row. Wasted time. Didn't really dry my feet before putting socks on - I don't have bike shoes yet and wear sneakers. What would you do differently?: Do a better job of locating my bike. Get to race earlier and walk around transition more. Barely did that today, didn't have time.  Bike
Comments: I don't cycle much. This was what expected based on how little I bike. Only took a tiny bit of gel on the bike. Stayed to the right so passing was easy for the other racers. What would you do differently?: Spend more time on my bike and ride what little hills I can find here in Chicago. Also did not take in enough nutrition at this race. At my previous two triathlons I took an entire gel on the bike. And those were shorter races. Transition 2
Comments: This should have been faster. I found my row easily but I went to rack and it seemed like someone racked in my spot. Tried to put my bike on the rope thing they used for racking and it wouldn't fit and pushed the bike on the other side off the rope. So I ended up racking in the spot I originally was going to use right next to Michael, but had moved from at the last min to about 2 spots over. I made sure to put my bike right against Michael's (would never do this to any other racer) so no one else would have problems because of my bike. Then I reracked the bike I had accidentally moved from the rope (it didn't fall, was just standing up next to another one). Just took took long. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I wasn't going to risk knocking bikes over or messing them up by jamming mine into a spot that didn't seem to exist anymore.  Run
Comments: My socks were totally soaked. I guess from not drying my feet after the swim? Gross. Started slow and steady. Carried my own water. Think I went two miles before walking a bit. Did some walking here and there. Saw Michael's parents at one point which was a nice pick me up. I was tired and it was humid. 4.5 miles compared to 3.1 was mentally getting to me. I've done a tri with a 4 mile run and did ok for myself that time, but I donno, today just didn't have it in me. What would you do differently?: Think part of the problem was the lack of nutrition. Should have taken at least the whole gel if not more considering I was out there over 2 hours. Post race
Warm down: As I was coming to the finish line I saw Michael with both bikes and a backpack on his back and a backpack on his chest - he had our entire stash of gear. Good thing since it had just started to sprinkle and there was lightening. As soon as I doubled back after having a volunteer take my chip, we booked it to the car. Managed to get the bikes on the car and our gear in and ourselves situated before the torrential storm started. It rained so hard we could barely see the street in front of us! So glad I finished just in time. Went went to Michael's sister's place and his parents brought donuts. Perfect since we swam Donut Lake that morning. What limited your ability to perform faster: Had a shoddy spring as far as training goes. But I'm glad Michael and I did this race and I would do it again next year. But I'd once again dread the 4.5 mile run after swimming and biking. ;) Event comments: Great race. Not sure about the afterparty as it was raining and I left the moment I was finished. I would do this race again. Last updated: 2009-12-21 12:00 AM
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United States
Salt Creek Rural Park District
72F / 22C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 406/450
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 21/24
Wild morning. Woke up at balls o'clock (3:30 am). Michael went to get the car we rented, about two blocks away, and I started to bring the gear down. First we couldn't figure out how to open the trunk. That wasted time. Then it took us awhile to get the bike rack on since we had just purchased it a week ago, and this was the first time we used it. It was humid and I was sweating already. Finally we get on the road at least 30 min later than we planned. We get on the highway and hit stop and go traffic. At 5am! But that one lane opened up quickly to three, thankfully. Then somehow we go to the left or something when we shouldn't have and end up at O'Hare! You can't make this up. Particularly funny since the race is in Michael's hometown so he knows how to get there. We just weren't paying attention. So I decide we should go through arrivals and hope it dumps us out to the highway quickly. Who knows how much time we wasted. But we did make it and parked in a subdivision right near the race. We rode our bikes a few blocks to transition.
Since packet pickup on Saturday was in the burbs we chose to get everything race morning. They allow this with no problem which is nice. The line moved pretty quickly, got our bibs, chips and then got body marked. Ran over to transition and set up quickly. Hit the bathroom then went to the lake for the race talk. Everything is close, which is great.