Wauconda Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

Felt pretty comfortable the whole way. Maybe too comfortable, as my time reflects a fairly slow swim. I think for some reason I lack the confidence to really swim very fast in these OW races...I hold this weird fear of gassing out and having to DNF on the swim if I go too hard then all of a sudden run into some adversity. So I just try to stay in my rhythm as much as possible.

Sighting was a challenge. Going out the sun was directly over the buoy we were aiming for, so I was pretty much using other swim caps to sight from...make sure someone's to the left and right of me and I can't be too far off course. Then coming in was even worse...sun wasn't an issue, but the spot we were aiming for on shore was almost impossible to see from any distance. I know I got pretty far out to the right at one point.

And the course was long. Not sure how long, but there's no way an olympic - or even a mile - swim should take me 38 minutes. Whatever, I guess we all did the same course.

Did great. Found spot right away, threw on shirt, sunglasses & helmet, grabbed bike and off I went.

Only thing that slowed me up was putting on the shirt...just don't feel comfortable swimming in my tri top, so I had to leave it in transition and put it on...went on ok, but it's still a few seconds. Also, a bit of a logjam in the bike mount "hallway" they funnel you into. Lots of people standing around trying to mount their bikes as I ran through looking for a safe spot to jump on mine. Probably a couple seconds burned, nothing more than that. Got shoes on while riding no problem.

Felt pretty strong. Was not really sure how hard I could push and still survive the run as I haven't done an oly in a couple years. Went with a happy middle ground that seemed to treat me ok.

First lap featured a lot of traffic as the sprint competitors were mostly all still out there. Quite a few triple passes and lots of people riding in the middle of the road. Road was better in the middle of the lane in a lot of spots, so everybody was floating out towards the smoother road. Dangerous though, leaving little room to pass. One guy was firmly on the yellow line in the middle of the road. I refused to pass him on the right and risk a penalty, so I had to go all the way to the other side of the road to pass him....which was probably illegal as well, but what could I do?

Then there was the guy that decided he wanted to draft off me. You know, if he had come up and just said, I'm gonna draft you for a while, I don't care if I take a penalty, then did it properly I wouldn't mind - that's his business. But this guy was just screwing with me for a good 5-8 miles...he'd hang on my wheel, then drift off to the left just riding behind me to the left. Then he'd pass me, but gas himself out doing so so he'd slow down, I'd pass him back, then he'd get on my wheel again. No officials in sight. Finally I just turned around and said you can't do this, either pass me or back off, you're f-ing with my race. His reply was priceless..."Hey man, I'm 52, cut me some slack!!" That cracked me up. I just said that's great man, but go be 52 somewhere else, stop buzzing around me. Finally he must have backed off, because he never passed me again and I didn't see him anymore.

20.5 is a good speed average for me though, if this BT calculator did that right. I'm happy.

Smooth as silk. Transitions were my best event at this race! Dismounted well, jogged all the way to my rack, set the bike down, put on watch, shoes, number belt & hat and was off to the races. No problems really.

Stopped at the toilet right by transition...was getting waves of needing to crap during the bike ride so I figured I should. Sat down and saw no TP, and did not have the urge at that moment anyway, so stood up and decided to roll the dice that the feeling would not come back up on the run. Luckily it did not, but that pit stop was added onto my run time, and cost me probably :30 I'd guess.

Started out feeling great - best I've ever felt coming off the bike, even including sprints I think. As usual started running a little too fast for the first 1/4 mile, but dialed it back to right about 8 per mile, which was the plan. Stayed right there for the first 2.5 miles or so, until we got to the crazy hills. I had just taken a drink of water from the aid station when I turned the corner and had to attack a huge hill...that put my stomach into a world of hurt. Side stitched slowed me down big time throughout the next mile or so right in about the middle of the run going up and down those hills.

Finally emerged from the hilly section, got my stomach calmed down and got right back to my 8 per mile pace...took it down to probably 7:30 for the last mile - legs were still feeling good, it was nice to finish strong. Sprinted down the chute, but knew it wasn't a great run overall because of the pit stop at the beginning and the mile+ of slow going in the middle.

8:30 pace is not bad for me though. Can't complain, other than I know if it weren't for those hills this would have been at 8:00 or below.

Overall I'd give this race a thumbs up, although it's pretty bare bones. No music, etc. Almost nothing at post-race, just water, cold towel & gatorade. They screwed up the swim course, so that's not ideal. But like I said, it's not bad, there are plenty of volunteers and it's mostly very well organized.