Accenture Chicago Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Triathlon swim starts are always chaotic, especially Chicago where so many people are packed into that little channel. I knew it wouldn't clear sailing until I hit the rounding bouy and swung North. With that said, this was the first race I've ever done where people where actually being malicious. I had guys elbowing me in the head, grabbing my legs and trying to pull me under so they could climb over me. It was just nasty. Right when the buzzer went off I got a foot in the face which knocked my goggles off, I didn't dare stop to fix them or I would have been run over so I just swam it blind.

The swim was 2 minutes slower for me than last year, I'm guessing because I did it unable to see anything but blurry shapes. After the rounding bouy I latched onto a pair of legs and drafted off them for a few minutes. Had I been able to see better I would have noticed he couldn't navigate too well though because he was over by the wall, then over by the lifeguard boats, then back to the wall; eventually I just passed him and went on my own. Swimming is one of my strong points so I was really hoping to do better, but I felt great coming out of the water.

As an aside, I do love this swim course because the spectators are right there for the whole length. It is great being able to look out and see the blurry shape of your wife walking the wall cheering you on!

Probably stop to fix my goggles once I found clear water. Also, I forgot to put bodyglide on my neck and my wetsuit just destroyed it! Ouch.

I need to learn how to get onto the bike with my shoes already clipped in...something to work on for next season.

The bike was where I needed it to be. I was 4 seconds slower than last year, nothing to complain about. The road was wet in places from the rain the night before, I saw a lot of flat tires and a few wipeouts. One guy I know got carted off in an ambulance, I really hope he's ok. There was a pretty nasty wind blowing out of the North which gave a sucky headwind for half of the bike, but coming South it made up for itself.

Another weakness continues to be climbing hills. I find myself passing people only to be re-passed on the climbs, but then I overtake them again on the downhills and flats.

Near flawless T2. Things slowing me down were the sheer size of the transition area, and that I didn't use Yankz this year so I had to stop and tie my shoes.

A great run, I shaved 10 minutes off last year! It helped that I wasn't gimpy this season so I've been running a lot more. I really have to say here how AWESOME the volunteers were on the run course. They were just fantastic, so much encouragement and cheering, and that stuff really makes a big difference. They really helped me to finish strong, so I have to give props to them for being out there on a Sunday morning.

More bricks!!!! Bricks are going to be a big part of next season's training.

I stood in front of the misting fan for about 5 minutes; those are the best inventions of all time. Then I ate a banana, polished off about a gallon of Gatorade, waited for what felt like forever to get my bike out of transition, and rode home for some lunch.


Underperformed on the swim. I need more hill and brick training for next year. The sheer size of the event. I love doing this race because of the magnitute...all the people, the competitors, the spectators, it's great, but those very things also really make it hard to go out and nail PRs. I really can't complain though. I was over 10 minutes faster than last year, had a great race and a great day!


As always, an EXCELLENTLY RUN RACE! Directing a race like this with 8000 athletes (including the sprint and supersprint) must be like herding cats, and the RD and his staff were outstanding as always. The officials were present on the course and visible, I can only assume they were doing their jobs well. I honestly did't see much drafting or cheating on the bike course though). Lastly, MAD PROPS to the volunteers, they were all amazing.