Life Time Tri Chicago - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
Life Time Fitness
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 21m 26s
Overall Rank = 84/2286
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 12/176
Pre-race routine:

This was my first time doing Chicago. I woke up at 4:00 and got myself out of the house by 4:20. UCAN and PBJ right after waking up. I parked at the garage by my office to avoid the crowd at the lakefront and rode over. Definitely heed the RD's admonishments to get to this race early!! There was a long line of people waiting to get checked into transition. The volunteers were efficient; there were just a lot of bikes to move through a bottleneck at the entrance. I wound up with enough time to get set up, but not much time to spare. One more UCAN about 20 minutes before the swim start.
Event warmup:

A 5-minute spin over to the venue from the garage, and a little stretching before the swim.
Swim
  • 15m 55s
  • 820 yards
  • 01m 56s / 100 yards
Comments:

I started off feeling really strong and was trailing a lead group of about 5 or 6 swimmers. I don't think I gave up ground within my wave to anyone else (there was another wave of 40-44's behind me), but I didn't stay as close to the lead group as I would have liked. Once we caught the wave in front of us, I didn't do a great job working my way through the slower swimmers, and I got out of rythym a bit. I was also not familiar with the swim exit and didn't realize until too late that I had to round a final bouy before making the exit, and, as a result, I wound up getting caught in congestion making the last turn. Very frustrating because the stairs were just off to the side, and I got stuck treading/breast-stroking (yeah, yeah . . . get your mind out of the gutter) just to get the heck out of the water.
What would you do differently?:

Take the last bouy wide.
Transition 1
  • 01m 56s
Comments:

I had a good T1. There were only 5 people in my age group who were out of T1 faster than me, and that was with a slight glitch with my wetsuit stuck on my timing chip strap. I was within :15 of all but the fastest person. Except for the wetsuit on the timing strap, I was efficient at the rack, so the only thing I can do is to always push to run relatively hard out of the water.
What would you do differently?:

Not much other than to make sure that my chip strap is entirely UNDER my wetsuit.
Bike
  • 37m 57s
  • 13.67 miles
  • 21.61 mile/hr
Comments:

This was a good ride. I really like being able to put my head down and ride a straight shot up and down Lake Shore Drive. Frankly, it's kind of what Leon's advertises, but with a better road and more uninterrupted time in the same direction on a highway. I actually thought my pace would have been a little faster based on eyeballing my speed throughout the race, but it is what it is - the numbers don't lie. My power was about where it was at Tower, but I didn't feel quite as spent at the end.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really. Keep training and developing my bike fitness.
Transition 2
  • 01m 35s
Comments:

My T2 was OK, but I could have been faster. I was 12 out of T2 in my age group and was within :20 of most of the people who made it out faster than me. I made the mistake of using someone else's sign as a landmark to find my bike. The thing about landmark's is that they are supposed to immutable, always there for you. The sign fell over, I ran right past it, and spent about 5-10 seconds looking a little dubofunded. Once I had my bike racked, I was out of my helmet and into my shoes pretty quickly, but for some reason, I found myself standing over my space feeling like I was forgetting something. I wasn't. I just had to shake myself out of it and go.
What would you do differently?:

Know what I need and don't stop to think. Shoes, belt, visor, go. Know where my space is. 12 seconds would have bumped me up 2 spots, which was a little coincidental (because it was about 2 minutes to #9), but every second counts.
Run
  • 24m
  • 3.1 miles
  • 07m 44s  min/mile
Comments:

Decent run. I would have like to have gone faster, but I pushed myself based on how I was feeling, and think that I had the right pace. I feel like I've learned from racing a lot this summer just how much I can push myself, and even though this was a short run, there is still the potential to blow up by going too fast, especially after the swim and bike. I was pushing hard enough to hurt, and eased off when I felt like I was going to plunge over the cliff. I also feel like this was a good way to wrap up the season. I started the season at Tower, where I blew up in the middle of the run. After a longer swim and similar effort on the bike at Chicago, I was able to hang on to a decent pace throughout and came in about :35/mile faster. Good closure.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. Keep developing my run fitness.
Post race
Warm down:

Food, drink, massage. Tried to bank some good karma for next year by cheering people on for a while and helping the Team to End Aids' volunteers transport their racers' gear bags up to the post-race area from the lakefront.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Fitness . . . on to next season.

Event comments:

I had a great time. Fun race. Well organized. Even though it's a colossally large event, it was well-executed and a great experience.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2013-08-12 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:15:55 | 820 yards | 01m 56s / 100yards
Age Group: 16/176
Overall: 157/2286
Performance: Average
Actual based on time/distance in the water just over 1:30 (there is a long, long run to transition). I was probably in the 1:20's for actual swimming but got slowed down a bit at the exit (see below).
Suit: DeSoto First Wave with Speed Vest
Course: A straight swim north from entry to exit in Monroe Harbor.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Below average
T1
Time: 01:56
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:37:57 | 13.67 miles | 21.61 mile/hr
Age Group: 20/176
Overall: 116/2286
Performance: Good
Actual based on time/distance riding was 21.9. Power was just over 200w for the ride. Cadence was probably low 90's for most of the ride, given a coast down the exit ramp into T2 at the end.
Wind: Some
Course: Out and back along Lake Shore Drive.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 89
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:35
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:24:00 | 03.1 miles | 07m 44s  min/mile
Age Group: 32/176
Overall: 249/2286
Performance: Good
Pace based on actual distance was 7:35 (course was a little long). Laps went: 7:37, 7:41, 7:39, 6:33 (last .16). Av HR was 170.
Course: South along the lakefront past the Shedd and then back into Millenium Park.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4