Accenture Chicago Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

The start wasn't as bad as I worried about from an elbow and kicking perspective. I started about 2/3 of the way back in the pack. This was probably fair given my swim ability but I would like to improve so I can start further ahead. I did take in a huge gulp of the gasoline water early that made me stop and cough a little.

Better attitude. I have negative thoughts when I swim which is not like the bike and run at all. I can definitely do these distances now so I need to believe that when I race. I think that will make me go harder.

Wearing my tri-top and heart rate monitor underneath my wetsuit definitely helped. This is not blazing fast but it is certainly an improvement over my past transitions.

Tough to say, this was better.

I really tried to hammer this ride. I felt like since I did a HIM 3 weeks ago this bike was going to feel short and I could go hard. I did try to keep in the small ring as much as possible so that I wouldn't explode on the run. My heart rate was jumping in the mid to high 130s which is pretty high for me.

I think I executed perfectly, I can always ride more but given my ability now I would not change anything about what I did yesterday on the bike.

Very happy about this transition. Finally a good one. And it could have been better. I had to get the gels out of my backpack that I forgot to put out before the race. I also had to change shirts because I couldn't find my race belt the day before the race

Set-up transition more carefully and have a race belt.

I'm not sure what to make of this run. I am definitely happy with my placing overall and in my age group. I am also happy with my time because I did a 10K at the end of last season and my time was very close to my time for this race. So that is a nice sign that I have made good improvement over the last year.

The only strange part is that I went out and did almost every mile in the same time. I am wondering if I could have hammered this a little harder and might have done better. Seems like I get too worried about blowing up sometimes, but overall I think this was pretty good.

Not too much except maybe try for a little bit of a kick in the end. I was fighting a cramp so that was tough for this race.

Misting fans, those are a beautiful thing. I really just stretched while waiting to meet the family


I had some uncertainty about how hard I could hammer this race. This was really the first time I knew I could hammer this distance but I also didn't want to get cocky and blow-up. Oh, and there is that little swimming issue. A swim lesson and more OWS practice and the good news might be that I can show serious improvement on the swim leg.


They did an absolutely unbelievable job organizing this event. Biggest triathlon in the world with over 8,000 athletes and my swim wave went off right on time to the minute. Amazing.

The surface of Lake Shore Drive is problem, but it is still worth it to get a chance to ride the Drive.