Try Tri Illinois - Triathlon

Pretty easy swim. I'm not a fast swimmer so this went well. Time includes the long run to transition.

First time using clipless bike shoes so I took a little extra time here.

Nothing - just need to learn to speed things up a bit.

The race website said "flat and fast". Fast is not a word that will ever be used to describe my biking abilities and apparently my idea of flat is very different than other people's. To me this was more of rolling hills - which is fine, I just wasn't expecting them. Also, my first race using the clipless pedals/shoes. That went OK until the turnaround. I don't do U-turns on a good day. I couldn't get my feet unclipped and knew I was going to go down so I headed off into the grass which made the crash not so bad. I have a scraped up elbow and a huge bruise on my leg, but otherwise me and the bike were OK. My bike computer showed a time of 1:19:xx so I lost about 4 minutes there with the crash. Otherwise the ride went well - a bit breezy in some sections and it got a little warm but not too bad.

Just need more practice with clipping in/out and I really need to ride hills more often.

Not used to changing shoes so this took a little longer than my usual T2 time.

Preview the course so I know what to expect.

I didn't wear my watch for the run so had no idea how I was doing. Ended up faster than I thought (I felt really slow), and about average pace for me. Nice, flat trails although it got really warm in the sun. Aid stations every mile though which was nice.

Found something to eat and had a cold Sprite (they ran out of water).


I need a lot more work on the bike, endurance and hills.


Overall, a good race. I'd like to try it again next year.