ITU World Triathlon Chicago - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
ITU World Triathlon Series
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 53m 25s
Overall Rank = 232/468
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 24/45
Pre-race routine:

arrive at host hotel ~11am, check in, self park and get stuff up to room. Eat Lunch, go to packet pick-up, walk down harbor to transition and back to hotel. Get bike and check in. My cousin, Adam arrives, meet him at packet pickup, walk with him to bike check in and back to hotel. Walk to dinner (Italian!) and back to hotel. Early night (9pm'ish).
Event warmup:

Up at 4am, eat instant oatmeal, 1/2 a greek yogurt and hot tea. Bring gatorade with me to transition. Leave hotel ~4:40, rain begins on walk to transition. Set up Bike, get body marked (markers were not working in the rain on wet bodies - - not nearly enough volunteers for body marking - LONG lines). Walked 1/2 to gear check, put on wetsuit, checked bag and walked to swim (stopped at every set of porta pots along the way). Jogged a little on harbor to get HR stabilized.
Swim
  • 35m 16s
  • 1500 meters
  • 02m 21s / 100 meters
Comments:

water temp was perfect! calm water, perfect! Had to walk out on a floating pontoon and jump in the water. I sat on the edge of the pontoon and dangled my feet in the water. It was cold, but not crazy cold, lowered myself in the water (holding on to the pontoon) and gradually got wet - no issues at all. Bobbed up and down to get my face wet and swam around the back of the wave to warm up. Swim was extremely crowded, I could not find any open water. The channel was narrow, we had swimmers coming towards us, and everyone seemed to be swimming the same pace. Unfortunately, as we crowded up at the buoy and were making our turn, we ran smack dab into a 40' sailboat sitting crossways directly in our path. We all stopped to tread water and try to figure out what was happening and what we were supposed to do. Apparently the buoy had floated away and the race marshalls couldn't retrieve it because of all the swimmers, so they had to wait for us to stop. They had us swim around the boat (while the race was delayed) and then put the buoy back in place. My swim distance shows xxxxx
What would you do differently?:

probably nothing -
Transition 1
  • 06m 6s
Comments:

This was THE LONGEST transition I have ever seen. The run from the lake to transition was long, but then the run THROUGH transition with the bike was LONG. I was faster than others who were walking more slowly through transition.
What would you do differently?:

maybe NOT wear my gloves - took a little extra time to put them on WET hands. I was concerned it might rain and I would want to have a firm grip on the handlebars, so it was worth the extra few seconds.

I also french-braided my hair - so didn't have to mess with getting my ponytail through the bike helmet (saved some time).
Bike
  • 1h 12m 9s
  • 40 kms
  • 33.26 km/hr
Comments:

I was concerned that with the number of athletes and doing 4 short loops that the roads would be over-crowded. This was definitely not the case. We had two lanes in all directions. Most everyone stayed in the right hand lane unless passing. I thought it would be impossible to NOT draft. This was not the case either. There was plenty of room and no fear of drafting. The U-turns did slow things down and there were a LOT of them. Then tunnel was great at blocking the wind, but it was hot (from exhaust fans from nearby buildings). You could feel the wind when you exited the tunnel. Overall, this was a really fun course - the 4 loops made the distance seem really short. I used the first loop to get a feel for the conditions and watch for potholes, bottles, etc. and then really pushed more on the next loops.
What would you do differently?:

I could not see my power tap in the tunnel and was not able to gauge my output - turns out I fell below my target (always a problem for me on the flats).

Definitely need to drink my fluids. I only drank about 6 oz of my gatorade and ate one gel (earlier than anticipated, but at the first hunger pain). Not nearly enough calories and impacted my run performance.

This was a great PR for me! Fastest Race yet :)
Transition 2
  • 04m 8s
Comments:

Again, CRAZY LONG distance to return bike to transition - running on the road in bike shoes for 1/4 mile, then THROUGH transition (I was equal distance from either end in transition).

I leave my run bottles in a small cooler on my fuel belt - awesome to put that on before the run.
What would you do differently?:

nothing - all was good.
Run
  • 55h 55m 48s
  • 10 kms
  • 5h 35m 35s  min/km
Comments:

It was HOT! No shade and a little crowded. Only enough space for two people across in some places, made it a bit challenging to pass, but would open up in front of fountain. So glad I had my garmin, because I realized that 3 laps was not going to be enough miles. In my head, I had figured that each loop was about 2 miles - not the case. Aid stations were about every mile. I used the water to pour on my head, face and chest and drank my own gatorade. Forgot to eat my gel. Never did seem to get my "run legs" probably because of poor nutrition.
What would you do differently?:

get my nutrition on both the bike and the run. In spite of this, I had a good time on this run - almost 2:00 faster than my prior olympic race.
Post race
Warm down:

get water, finisher picture and banana. waited for results - taking way too long, so walked 1/2 mile to gear bag check to get my phone and check results online - no results. found my cousins family and hung out with them. Really hungry - disappointed that the only food was bagels and banana's/oranges. I don't eat bagels, but went back for one because I was starving. Also - I did not have cash and when I went to buy lunch - that's all they took. Are you kidding me? No credit card machines. So a very nice athlete gave me $7 to get a hamburger. Lots of walking around to watch my cousin race (who was 2.5 ours behind me). Big problems trying to get from transition to finish line - roads were blocked due to race so required lots of criss crossing to get from one end to the other. Good decision to allow athletes to retrieve their bikes from transition before 11:30 - that would have been nuts. As it was, there were very long lines of athletes with bikes waiting to cross Columbus to get to parking and/or hotel.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

lack of nutrition.

Event comments:

For a first time race, this was excellent. The venue is fantastic and the courses were good. Still some logistics to work out. It was disappointing to not be able to easily access the host hotel after my race - lines were crazy long to cross the road and required LOTS of walking (from transition to gear back check back to pedestrian crosswalk). At the end of the day, after getting my bike, we found a tunnel near transition that lead us back to the host hotel. Would have been good to have a FORMAL route available to use this tunnel (we had to sneak across the course). Also, more food options (either free or to purchase) and credit card purchases are a must! A lot more food would have been sold, had credit cards been accepted. Lots of folks asking to borrow cash. Overall, really enjoyed this race, can't wait to do it again next year!!




Last updated: 2014-01-10 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:35:16 | 1500 meters | 02m 21s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/468
Performance: Average
Suit: sleeveless, plus second swim cap
Course: swim 375 meters north, U-turn around buoy, swim 375 meters back to start, then continue another 750 meters to finish line in front of Shed Aquarium.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 66F / 19C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:06
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:12:09 | 40 kms | 33.26 km/hr
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/468
Performance: Good
Target was 157 HR and 140'ish watts
Wind: Some
Course: 4 loops through downtown, with about 2-3 miles of each loop on lower wacker (in a tunnel). 3 U-Turns in each loop for a total of 12 U-turns.
Road: Smooth  Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 04:08
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Below average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
55:55:48 | 10 kms | 5h 35m 35s  min/km
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/468
Performance: Good
Target HR157 and better than 9:19 pace.
Course: All communication prior to the race and on the website said THREE laps around the fountain. MAJOR CONFUSION, because it was actually THREE AND A HALF laps AROUND the fountain. So 3.5 laps - NO SHADE, on the roads around Buckingham Fountain.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4