Danskin Women's Triathlon - Chicagoland - TriathlonSprint

During the offseason I put a lot of work into my swim. Last year's swim was a little over 19 minutes, so I was tickled pink to shave off 4 minutes from my previous time. I postitioned myself about 3 rows back from the front in the center area. The first 150-200 yards I went hard to fight for some space. Groped a few folks, got groped in return. Luckily there wasn't too much carnage. I was surprised how quickly I caught up to the back of the pack of wave in front of me and then it wasn't long before I caught up with some folks in the wave in front of them. I didn't notice the front of the pack from the wave behind me until my hands hit sand. I was hoping for a sub-17:30 swim, so seeing 15 and some change on my watch was really exciting.

Do a better job of sighting and find a pair of legs to hang onto.

Not too many folks treated transition with a lot of urgency. Many folks were walking to their gear and getting their bikes out. My rack was a freakin' 250 yard dash while hurdling over other folks gear from the Swim In area.

Do a better job staking out my own personal space there. But this is one of my faster transitions for the year, so I'm pleased.

I knew that there would be an obnoxious headwind in the back half of the course, so I really focused on riding hard straight out of the gate. I've had conversations with my coach about how I ride too conservatively and was excited to push my limit and see how I'd fair. The winds were unrelenting and came at us from every angle (mostly headwind and an obnoxious cross-wind). I cracked jokes and encouraged other riders to pass the time since I get bored really quickly on the bike. In the end, bordering a 16mph average made me happy.

Embrace the wind and ride more in aeroposition.

I started having GI issues during transition. I felt crampy in my stomach and had to belch an excessive amount.

I wish I had treated this transition with more urgency. I was feeling lousy and allowed myself to walk, rather than run, out of transition. Remember to untie my shoelaces while setting up transition.

This was just not my day to go running. I was slow and sluggish and never found my rhythm, which is especially frustrating since running is my background. I was hoping to pull between a 10-10:30 average, so being a minute off my mark was disheartening. I took walk breaks and picked people off one by one...and got passed a ton. It was great to see Coach Mo out there and he rode his bike next to me for a half mile or so. This definitely helped me push myself since I really wanted to walk, but when your coach is there supporting you, there's no walking allowed. My stomach cramps never really subsided, but I pushed it into high gear the last half mile and emptied out the tank. Upon crossing the finish line I threw up a bit in my mouth (what is it with me and puking?!). Awesome.

Sucked it up and not walked as much when my stomach was cramping. There's nothing I could do about it at time, so why walk? It would've been far better to just get it done rather than hold myself back and be mentally whining the whole time.

Walked around...sipped on some water...complained about my stomach...and then took the mile and a half walk back to the car. Did some light stretching and headed home.


Stomach cramps on the run. I have no complaints about anything else! :) I shaved 24:08 off of last year's time and beat all three of my time goals, including my super secret hope of breaking 1:45. Next time I'm going for sub-1:40 and just pushing it through the run.


I love this race. It was my first triathlon a year ago and it's a ridiculous amount of fun. A perfect event for anyone who wants a memorable experience for their first tri and wants a super friendly and supportive tri environment. My only beef is the whole drama with parking for this event. I still wonder why they don't offer an athlete drop off in the morning via car since the shuttles take forever...my husband had to drop me off at the highway exit since the roads were blocked off. It was about 1.25 miles to the race site.