Subaru US Women's Triathlon Series - Naperville - TriathlonSprint

I know how to swim (basics from when I was a kid) but only taught myself freestyle a few months ago. Can breaststroke for days tho. I used a combo of strokes in this part, but my breathing was def. labored when I did too much freestyle, esp with the pack of swimmers that I was fighting...I started to the back and outside of pack to stay out of everyones way but somehow was strong enough to pass some people (yea me! what a shocker!) I tried to stay away from most of the swimmers when I could b/c I think its kind of unfair to breastsroke and "take up all that space" when most people are freestyling...so I shortened my arm and leg strokes when I did breast stroke...some people did side stroke and even back stroke which I was surprised at but whatever gets you thru the swim, right?! ...but man, the girl in front of me needed help with her sighting...she impaired probably 10 swimmers with her massive zigzagging for all 6 laps- you just couldnt get around her. It was really bad or otherwise I wouldnt have commented on it... At the shallow buoys I ran since I am good at running in the water so I finally got away from her.I was pleased coming out of the water in less time than I anticipated and that set the tone for the whole race for me, which was great, since swimming is the weakest of the 3 things for me.....Oh yeah, Goggles didnt fog up/leak which I was concerend about

Practice more and more swimming. I knew there would be arms and legs in my face and lots of waves and splashing (hard to simulate that in a pool during practice) but it was pretty bad in my wave since we never really spread out. I think I need to learn to be strong enough to swim over or under people who are impeding me if I cant go around them...

I learned on BT (thanks Josh) to take your time in transition. This was esp. important to me since I have sensitive skin and feet so one grain of leftover sand would have made me miserable the rest of the race. Thanks Bt for the tip to 1.) sit down while I washed off and put socks on and 2.) for the tip to bring a container to swoosh my foot around in instead of rinse it with water bottle...I brought a Gladware disposable plastic shallow container and filled it with water pre-race...the size was about 10x5? it fit my sz 8 foot with lots of room to spare and it got EVERY granule off my foot and I dried my feet and put my socks and shoes on. I took some gel and water and was off. The run from the beach was long!! does anyone know how long?! Im sure that was 2-3 minutes of my time alone!

Lace locks...I felt like I was tying my shoes in slow motion. I scoffed at the thought of them before but I would like to try them....I would run a little faster up the beach...not too much... I was happy to have laid out my gear in the right order and not forget my helmet or anything...I did expect that the mount line area on the ground would be a little more spacious....I just tried not to impede others

I came out as hard as I could on the bike, esp. nursing a right leg muscle pull. The 2 lap course was good and bad...mentally not good for me to know you still have a second lap to do at the turn, but also, since you have to do 2 laps, you dont know if other people that youre passing/passing you are on their 1st or 2nd lap, so you dont start comparing yourself. The wind was a factor because it seemed no matter which direction you were going, it was never at your back...I have a Trek Hybrid and it was nice to see all sorts of non-racing type bikes in this event- maybe 30-40% were hybrid, mountain, or comfort bikes....the course was slightly too crowded and you were always saying "passing on your left" repeatedly (good I suppose!)

For one, I wish the bike portion would not have been 2 laps....75th street is a very long road and the course could definitely just be stretched out to ride more of 75th street and not have to do that second lap. I have a new bike this year so maybe I would put in more time on it...I wont get a road bike b/c I do some adventure racing and cant use a road bike for that so I will just have to learn to ride faster on my current bike...it does hurt your time, but lets face it, Im not in it to medal :) Also- I just started riding this January with clipless and Im a little skittish with them so didnt use them for this race. Im glad, but next year I plan to use them and that should improve my time too

I had my running shoes on from the bike portion so all I had to do was rack my bike, take my helmet off, put my shirt on and take gel and water on my way out. I thought I did great in this transition.

Nothing. Im glad I took the time to memorize where my bike rack was in the sea of 2000. I saw so many wander-ers

I liked the run and did not chafe at all running in my swimsuuit and shorts...I didnt practice running in that b/c I was afraid of chafing so much in practice that I would dread the race...I ran witha tube of body glide and some gatorade as I like to run with something in my hand and the swooshing of a progressively emptying gatorade halps distract me. I was pleasantly surprised at how my legs did on the run- esp. the beginning. Thanks to BT tip of keeping in lower gear on the end of the bike course so my legs could be more ready for run...at the first hill I walked just enough to kind of workout the kinks and control my breathing and then I was pleasantly surprised at running the rest of the way. I got passed by people but I also passed tons! Lots of water stops and nice houses to look at...Nice flat course.

Practice more bricks of course. I would love to improve my pace so that Im closer to 30 or 31 minutes on the run.Im normall a 10:30 or 11 min miler so I was glad to see I could do the same even after swimming and running.

Crossed finish line and felt like I was the only person there who didnt have a cheering section (I prefer no spectators/family at my races but it would have been nice maybe just this once). Had a small chocolate cupcake and a banana from one of the tables, drank some water, walked around. Waited an ungodly time to get back into area to get my bike and gear and go home...somehow race directors need to improve that one...not sure how tho.


Knowing what to expect on the swim was my concern at this race (my first tri) and I think I can improve just having gone thru this experience.... I think biking with clipless next year and practiing more running will be my goals. My goal ws under 2 hours and I beat that by 10 minutes.


Good first timers race for the fact that half the people have average bodies, equipment and experience. All levels of abilities here and everyone is nervous about it being their first race. Everyone was really nice and supportive. Volunteers were well informed and patient.
Stickers they make you put on bike and helmet have adhesive that wont come off...ugh....There needs to NOT be a little league baseball game going on in the park where the finish is being held- multiple foul balls kept hitting people in line that were waiting to get their bikes out of transition at the end. They need to figure out that end-of-the-race transition bike pick up thing- most people waited over an hour in line..... I just wanted to get home! I still had an hour drive! I mean, my keys, money, etc were in there besides my equipment....oh yeah, one more thing...this is an all-womens triathlon-please put MORE porta potties out!!!