Accenture Chicago Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

This just seemed like a longer swim that the Naperville Tri. I felt a lot more confident though being in the water. I was alternating between freestyle and breaststroke and passing people. There were however, A LOT of people in the water and many times I could not get past whoever was in front of me. I decided not to go out of my way to pass anyone, I felt it might be a waste of energy. Overall there were a lot more poor swimmers in my age group than at the Naperville tri. I kept up with my wave easily and did a fair amount of passing. I probably could have had a faster time had I actually had the endurance and training to pass individuals in the water. There were a lot of folks out there downright struggling to make it. This, oddly enough, made me feel better, as I didn't feel like I was struggling as they were. Although here, I have a much slower time than my previous tri, I did feel a lot more confident in the water.

Um. Yeah. Like I said. I need to swim more.

My legs were sooo trashed after the swim. I was hard to get up to running capability after that. I placed a pair of flip flops along the run to the transition area. Found those which helped because I was able to run without hurting my feet. The distance from the swim out to the transition area was LONG. I walked initially just to get my feet under me, then began a fast trot.

Nothing really. Just takes more experience/training I guess. The idea of placing flip-flops along the way, I think, was a good one.

This bike course was tough, especially on this day. It was extremely windy, straight-on wind at a steady 15mph, sometimes worse. Plus dealing with many hills it was difficult to get a decent speed going. I was trying hard to make up on the downhills for any lost time climbing up hill. Overall I was pushing very hard thinking of how lame-o my time would be on the bike if I didn't. Overall trying to keep a steady pace and steady effort. Unfortunately, the "steady" bar I set was pretty high for myself.

My right knee began aching at about mile 6 of the bike, and continued to ache the rest of the day. At about mile 8, I noticed my aerobars and handlebars in general had shifted downward, pointing down, that is. I had never experienced this before. Maybe too much weight on them. So I pulled myself together, got in aero position once more and tugged upward on the entire piece pulling it back into a more appropriate position. I did this for the rest of the bike.

I can hold a pretty good 20mph pace on any given day. I've really trained on the bike and put some time in, but... I do realize I need more varied training. More hills, more experience climbing, changing gears and surveying they course.

I sort of wanted to use the bathroom at this point, before the run. That usually makes me feel extra comfy for the run. I ran into 3 out of the 8 porta potties on my way outta the transition. Each of them wreaked and had no toilet paper. So on my way I went.


Insist on using the bathroom. I ended up feeling less comfortable on the run than I'd have liked.

My legs just were completely cashed from the bike. Like carrying dead weight.

Hmmm.
More brick training from the bike to the run.

Water, Gatorade, finally hit the porta-potties, and waited for g/f to cross the finish line.


An easier question to answer would be what didn't limit my ability to perform faster.


Very well organized race, more so than Naperville I think. I'm not willing to say this race was too hard for my abilities, because I don't think it was. I do enjoy the challenge. I think I did overcome many mental hurdles with this race. I attacked the swim very differently than previous. I feel if there were less swimmers I probably would have had a more decent time. The bike time is disappointing for me. That is really not how I usually ride. Same goes for the run. These times are significantly slower than my usual training times. But then again, stringing all these components together I guess... it's easy to loose speed to fatigue and soreness. I don't think I'll ever taper like I did for this one. I think started tapering too soon, mostly because I was working at night, that gave me a good excuse to not train. I do however appreciate that at this point I have a good base level fitness to push forward. I'm looking forward to completing sprints next year faster and with more confidence. I'd also like to do one international distance tri next year too. For this year however, this was my last tri, and I'm sad about that.

One thing I do want to mention is that nutrition felt spot-on. I felt comfortable out there, well hydrated, and not 'empty'. My theory of a GU in the beginning of the bike and one near the end, I think, worked very well. My inability to run faster was not limited by energy per se but by soreness and fatigue.