Danskin Women's Triathlon - Chicagoland (Pleasant - TriathlonSprint

I was excited to see my swim time. The wind was blowing the waves in the direction of the swim, which definately helped. Since this was my 5th tri, I was feeling more confident and started in the front of my heat, to the left (because I naturally drift right). I loved swimming across a lake, because I felt that I could get in a better groove and had to do less sighting/worrying about missing the turn around a buoy. I tried out the baby shampoo on my goggles (smeared around and let them dry) and it worked wonders. I saw my friend from the heat in front of me in the water and said "hi". I did a pretty good job navigating and staying on course and remained pretty calm the entire time. I especially liked the color of the water and the lack of seaweed/fish (at least I didn't see any fish because they were scared of 4000 swimmers)

Push a little bit harder. Remember to take my inhaler before the swim. Work on extended my arms further in the water before pulling. Overall, it was a excellent swim for me (PR with the tailwaves)

This was a pretty good transition, given the size of the place. I had quite a ways to run to my spot from the swim exit, but kept orientated pretty well (I was behind some porta-potties). Everything went pretty smoothly. I left the bike exit with my friend, which was fun!

nothing except maybe stake out a little more space in the transition. The bikes are in there like sardines. My bike was about 6-9 inches from the next bike. My friends ended up transitioning in a center parking "island"/grassy area about 15 feet from their bike.

I really did enjoy the bike ride, even though my leg muscles would beg to differ! I pushed hard with the tailwind and even went up a hill going over 20mph (never happened before). I averaged maybe 22-25 on the first several miles, because I knew the way back was just about going to kill me. I only had two or three people pass me on the bike, which was a new experience for me. There were quite a few road bikes out there, but not many people seemed to be clipped in. That seemed to help me immensely, especially on the uphills into the wind. The uphills were pretty crowded and people were not all about moving over. People were polite, but slow riders were riding the center line on the left hand side and I constantly had to swerve around and shout "on your left." I did a better job at cornering, but it is still a skill I need to work on. Overall, this was a good ride for me. I finished a 20 oz water bottle for the first time in a tri!

practice cornering
more time in the saddle

So I arrive to my transition spot, and only two bikes are racked near my area. And what do a I see.....wait for it....a Trek Cruiser bike (35lbs bike mind you), parked perpendicular to my transition spot with its kickstand down. I am not sure if they biked to the porta-potties on the way to their spot and thought that that was a good parking spot, but clearly people, it is not. I resisted the urge to kick it out of my way, and just lifted my bike around it. I guess that my bike got knocked off the rack later when my friend got in, and she was terrific and put it back on the rack for me (thanks Holly!).

On my way out the transition area, I also stopped to get a drink of water at a water stop and drench myself.

I am not sure if it is possible to avoid other peoples' stupidity? Despite that, I did fine.

This was the hottest run I have ever done. It was about 10:00am when I started the run (I was in wave 24), and I estimate over 90 degrees. I started out putzing, and was at the first mile marker around 10 minutes later. I started to feel kind of sick and walked through the water stops/fire hose to cool off. Definitely was feeling out of sorts. When I look at my time, it is quite slow (i usually run anywhere between a 9:00 and 9:30 mile), but given the heat, I guess that's what I could pull out of me. Many people were walking the course and seemed very tired. When I sprinted the last .1 (mostly because I wanted it to be done) I got really sick over the finish line. I vomited and was escorted into the medic tent for water, ice packs, and t-shirts soaked in ice water to cool my temp. It seemed to work and cooled me down. I am sensitive to heat and obviously it caught up to me. I pushed my body as hard as I could given the conditions, so I can't be disappointed. I received my medal in the tent, and cheered my friends on as they came in about a half hour later. I was proud of my buddies who crossed the line and especially to see that they were smiling.

Not sure how to avoid heat exhaustion in that type of weather?

Stretched. Ate my banana and bagel (that is all you get???). We met up with our friends/family. Took a few pictures, relaxed in a patch of shade, and then went to get our bikes. After you are done, you have bike 1.5 miles back to the outlet mall to meet up with your family. Our friends who drove, initially drove to the mall site and walked 1.5 miles to the race and we all went back together. This plan worked out much better than messing around the dairyland racetrack/shuttles etc. We picked up my friend's car then later that day.


Heat
Sun
Lack of hydration
too many bikes on the rack/crowed transitions



Overall, it was a fun, girl-power kind of race. Fun for novices and non-competitive types! About half of the people had road bikes, while the other half had mountain bikes/cruisers/hybrids etc. I loved the swim and found it less challenging than triangle courses and the navigation was much easier. The bike course was fun, but extra challenging because of the heat and wind. The run was flat, but hot, no shade, and not enough water stops for the conditions. I enjoyed the course, but the parking, expo, and the rigmarole around the race is completely exhausting and irritating. If my buddies do it again next year, I will probably do it again.