Life Time Tri Chicago - Olympic Course - Triathlon

The swim went well, but my sighting was off by a lot and as a result I swam farther than I really needed to.

Need to work on sighting more and more often.

T1 went okay. It's a longish run up to T1 from the swim.

Need to learn the flying mount technique.

The bike went well, except for some major nutrition mistakes. I was happy with the bike split, but the nutrition issues were legion.

Overall, I think I over-cooked it on the bike.

Flying dismount went smooth.

Major nutrition mistakes came back to haunt me, big time. I had the slowest run split of my AG, by 38 minutes.

My biggest mistake was smiply taking in too much fluid and food on the bike, which caused a stomach/GI shutdown, which caused a legion of other GI issues, leading to dehydration, stomach cramps, and a visit from the medic.

After my second trip to the porta-potty, I sat down under a tree, and then laid down, trying to wait out the debilitating stomach cramps. Volunteers then came by and summoned a medic. I then vomited up my stomach contents, which helped ease the stomach cramps. By that time, my wife caught up, and she stayed with me. The medic checked my blood pressure, O2 levels, and heart rate.

After a total of about 40 minutes in the shade, my wife and I walked the final two miles and finished together, hand in hand.

I made a lot of bad nutrition decisions that came to haunt me, and came somewhat close to a trip to the ER.

Drank slowly, and a lot.


Bad nutrition decisions.


Honestly, this race is simply too large. There were almost 3,000 folks in the olympic, and there is such a huge range, that is almost isn't worth doing. The transition area is huge and chaotic, making it difficult to find a spot to set up, even with the clear markings and designations. The volunteers are great, but it's too big, by and far.