Chicago Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

After my terrible swim at my last Oly tri, I really practiced my swimming and sighting in open water. I swam all summer in Lake Michigan and I felt prepared for this race. Because I had so much time before my wave went off, I watched a lot of the swimming. The water looked choppy, but watching all the swimmers I wasn't nervous about it. I just kept telling myself that I have swam in far worse this summer. Once I entered the lake, I placed myself about in the middle in terms of front to back and side to side. Once the horn went off, I doggy paddled for about 10 strokes as people went around me. At that point, I thought, screw it, just get your head in the water and start swimming. And once I did, I felt great! The chop wasn't bad and I only had two run-ins. But otherwise swimming close to others wasn't bad. I was in the fourth to last wave, so once the fast guys behind me passed me up, maybe I had more room than some of the other athletes who had earlier waves. It was a warm summer, so this was my first race in a wetsuit and I had no problems with it. I exited the swim at about 43:30, which I realize is nothing to write home about, but it was a MAJOR improvement from my last Oly tri swim and my goal was to beat 45 minutes and be feeling good and fresh and I did that. So I was pretty happy.

Nothing! Obviously, I need to be a faster swimming and my winter goal is to work with a coach. But for the swimming ability I have, I am very happy with my swim. There was no panicking and I swam nice and relaxed. Of course, it helps that you swim along the seawall. My mom was wearing a hot pink jacket and it was really easy to track my family. I had a friend who literally yelled my name everytime I turned my head to breathe, so I was aware of the good cheer throughout the swim.

I'm not sure how long the run is to transition. Somewhere between 400-600 meters. But that is included in my swim time. I ran the whole way in and unzipped my wetsuit. My transition spot was pretty good, it was on the main path through the area, just all the way in the very back. It was easy to find my bike. I did take a few extra moments to wipe down my legs and also to make sure I had lots of gel! Didn't want to make that mistake again.

I felt good for the bike. I would have liked to have gone a little bit faster, but there was an 18mph headwind for half of the course. Of course, that also meant there was an 18 mph tailwind, which felt great! I saw many people who had pulled over and had flats. The course was bumpy at times and water bottles were on the ground. This is where having such a late start wave paid off - the first loop was crowded, but my second loop was not bc no new riders were entering the course. I took in gels twice and drank 24 oz water.

I am very pleased with my run. I sucked on a shot blok every mile and drank sips of water at every aid station. I had no cramping, which I normally get at some point. Plenty of aid stations throughout the course. There was even a Gu station. The last mile and a half was mentally tough. Maybe bc I knew how close I was?

Gone a little faster?

Overall I am very pleased. I greatly improved my time from my last Oly. I improved on the things I set out to do: sighting, mentality, nutrition. I had a lot of fun.