Chicago Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

The water was nice and warm - I actually felt a little hot at the end which is unusual for me in the water. The usual problems with a wave start, too many people around. Towards the end, my goggles felt too tight and I wasn't able to fix them. After the swim exit, there is a 400+ yard run to transition that is added to your swim time. It wasn't roped off so there were some people in the middle of the course, but I didn't care too much. I stopped at an open grassy area and took off my wetsuit.

I forgot NOT to push my goggles to my face at the start - they get too tight.

I felt like I took care of business in a reasonable amount of time considering the size of the transition area.

Nothing

I felt really sluggish and thirsty, despite the two 24oz bottles I went through duirng the ride. Tried eating a bit too and it wasn't going down well. There are many potholes that they mark with paint, but there were still several people with flats and I saw one accident between two cyclists. It's a bit hillier than I expected, but they weren't very big at all.

Not suck at cycling ;)

Decent transition again, considering the size.

UGH - it got really hot and a lot of people were walking. I ran the first mile and the last 200 meters and walked the rest. I tried drinking whenever I could, but the heat / humidity killed me.

Not suck at running. I've also read that your body needs some time to acclimate to heat and humidity - I train in CO where it's hot but dry, so maybe more time in the humidity pre-race would help?

Walked back to swim start for swim gear check, over to transition for bike, brought stuff to my car and walked to lunch.


I could probably blame the heat, humidity, etc., but the bottom line is that I just didnt have a good race. And that's OK - I'll do better next time :)


The only negative I noticed was that some of the water stations had warm drinks - some ice would have helped alot.