Subaru US Women's Triathlon Series - Naperville - TriathlonSprint

Overall, I impressed myself with my time on the swim, especially given how hard I had to fight for position. Remembering my experience from last year's Chicago Triathlon, I tried to get toward the front, but I still had a lot of women who were slower swimmers to get past. The first hundred yards was a fight. Then, some woman actually grabbed me and tried to push me out of the way! I stopped swimming, lifted my head, looked directly at her, and yelled, "Hey, now!" in an unhappy tone. I hope I got my point across. This is not high school swim practice! I managed to stay away from her and find my own space after things thinned out.

I wore my wetsuit as practice for the frigid waters of Lake Michigan, and I'm pleased that I did. I think the buoyancy helped a lot. I'm glad I practiced with it, because it didn't feel uncomfortable at all the way it did the first time I wore it.

I think I kept a pretty good pace and effort throughout the swim, and I was surprised to see the finish. I checked my watch and couldn't believe my time--I figured with all the fighting for position at the beginning I would have clocked about 16 minutes.

Get at the very front for the start.

I couldn't get my wetsuit off! I feel like I lost the time advantage it gave me in the water during the transition. I think it was getting hung up on my timing chip. The second leg was easier because I could stand on the suit and yank.

Next time I will be better at getting my wetsuit off. I will tuck my timing chip under the leg of my wetsuit better, too.

I had a great time on the bike. When I finally got on after the interminable run through the transition area (of course I was at the farthest corner from the bike in/out), I was breathing really hard and felt like I wouldn't be able to keep it up. But eventually I found a groove where I was working hard but not so hard that I was dying. I had a big screwup at the beginning of the second lap--I got freaked out about where I was supposed to go. The race volunteers were trying to herd everyone over the timing mat, but I thought that it was the wrong way and I tried to go around. I had to circle back, losing maybe 15 seconds. It wasn't much time, but I felt like an idiot. I shook it off and had a strong second lap. I actually caught my sister on her first lap, gave her a shout of encouragement, and blasted on by.

I spent a lot of time on my smaller chainring, but when I finally shifted onto the large I discovered that I could push it with what felt like the same amount of aerobic expenditure while going faster. I was a little concerned that my legs would be jelly for the run, but I kept going.

The biggest mistake I made was to go crazy on the water. I had two bottles on my bike and I drank most of both of them. I figured I would hydrate in anticipation of the run. But I wasn't thinking about how short this triathlon was.

Pay more attention to where I'm supposed to go. Spend more time in big chainring. Cool it on the water-drinking.

Of course, this is the easier transition. When I came to the dismount area, I thought about swinging my leg over my moving bike, but I decided not to since I'd only practiced it a couple of times. I probably could have slipped my feet out of my shoes for the dismount and run in my sock feet, but I ran in my cycling shoes instead. That was a little challenging, because the asphalt was a little slippery and the potential for a wipeout in cleated shoes was high. I had to use these tiny mincing steps.

By the time I start my next triathlon I will have mastered the feet on top of the shoe thing. It will be so much easier to run barefoot instead of in cycling shoes. Plus my cleats will last longer.

Today I cycled in socks. In August I think I will cycle in my bare feet and put the socks on for the run.

The run wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated. I figured I would just blow up because I worked hard on the bike. But my legs actually felt good. However, my breathing was pretty ragged initially, but I just slowed way down until I could take even breaths. I had a side stitch, which was kind of sucky.

The worst part is that I could feel all the water that I'd drunk on the bike sloshing around in my belly. I think I could hear it, even. It made me uncomfortable and I think possibly contributed to part of the side stitch.

Mile 2 took forever to get there, which discouraged me a bit. But the last half-mile was of course fantastic. That's where I made up my time, because I was psyched by the crowd. When I neared the finish line, I straightened out my race belt so my number was clearly visible, and the announcer called out my name. I showboated a little at the finish (arms above the head, big cheesy grin). And then the best part, I was done!

Not drink so much on the bike.

After the race I walked around the food and the water, scooping up bananas, a bagel, and a pear, and then I found a somewhat shady spot out of the way and waited for my sister to finish. I strolled for a while before I sat down.


A gallon of water sloshing around in my belly.


The start was not on time, but that wasn't the organizers' fault but good old Mother Nature's. See above.