Accenture Chicago Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

this sucked. I forgot my wetsuit, which at first didn't bother me, I actually enjoy swimming sans wetsuit, but the water felt cold, and it was SO crowded and I got banged around a lot- my wetsuit would have made me feel safer, more bouyant, and I certainly would not have been scratched up so badly by swimmers fingernails! Unlike every other tri I've done, it NEVER thinned out, normally I can blast off and find a spot for myself but I immediately hit the wave in front and was quickly envoloped by the wave behind. I felt like this swim was WAY more agressive than usual.

The cool part was that for the last 1/2 mile, kathryn was running along side me the whole time

uh, remember my wetsuit. Actually get at least a few swims in the 2 weeks leading up.

I must remember though, that my swim time includes over 1/4 mile run from exit to my bike... which I stumbled through

TOO CROWDED! The T area was enormous, and the bike racks were too close together, at least near me. I found my spot no problem thanks to a giant pine tree right in the midd.e of my rack, but that same pine tree was hard to get around. the actual T, getting on helmet and stuff was pertty good, it was the running with the bike that sucked

??

Again, the time is screwy because of where the mats were relative to my bike and the giant T area. Pretty good speed for me, of course it was quite flat. I would have liked aerobars on this course. Hard not to draft. I was glad not to flat.

My HRM might have helped me feel confident to push harder, I find it hard to push on the bike

Have I mentioned yet how hard it was to navigate the T area?? Actual T itself was smooth, but man, do I ever need to practice running with the bike. Cyclocross here I come.

I might like to try and get some aerobars...

I always hate this part.. plus I hadn;t run in almost a month, for some reason I seem to think I am 19 again. I did a run 5 walk 1 ratio for the first 5 miles, and "ran" the last one. Saw a TNTer from Ohio about 500 yds from the end and we decided to finsih together. ITB hurt

run more.

ate some protein bars ASAP and guzzled water. I was determined to stave off DOMS


poor training, lack of mental toughness, cockiness.


Y'know- for a race this big, the volunteers and general race mgmt was excellent. I think I just concluded that I do not like big races. And that I need to take training a little more seriously if I intend to enjoy race day. There is no reason to race under the circumstances I out myself in. I must learn to value myself enough to give myself a chance at enjoying myself at the LEAST, and reaching my potential at best.