You know the drill with the Chicago Tri, get up at 4 am, ride over in the pitch black, walk the mile to the swim start. That is how my morning began on Sunday. It was fairly warm out for the early in the day but the wind was quiet and the lake was calm. After days of anticipation I was excited for the race to finally be here.
I rounded up a few of my athletes and we settled on a meeting point for families, friends and us for the day. Got my hair french braided, used the port-a-potties and by then it was time to squeeze into the wetsuit and head to the swim start.
My stomach was crazy with nerves as my wave jumped into the water, which to me is a sign that I am ready to go. We treaded for a bit before the horn blew and then we were off! I kicked hard to separate away from the group and pushed the beginning of the swim. After a bit I settled in to a rhythm with two other men from my wave. I managed to follow and draft off one for a bit and he helped me navigate as we caught up with the group ahead. The swim felt good and relief hit me as I turned the final buoy.
Because my spot was on the far side of transition I opted to slip on running shoes for the quarter mile plus run to my bike. I tried to run quickly and pass as many people as possible during that time. It was a tough few minutes but I hit the pad into transition almost exactly at my goal of 14 minutes. Before I knew it I was heading up the ramp onto Lakeshore Drive.
The wind had not picked up too much (and it was still sunny and warm) by the time I was racing which meant a speedy bike course. I have been commuting and training hard on my bike this year and it paid off. I managed to be passed by only one single guy during the entire course, which made me feel great. I stayed to the right and kept my head down, especially when we turned around to ride into the wind. I coasted down the final hill right around my goal of 39:00.
I was confident and happy with my times and needed to run a 23:00 5K to get my goal of breaking 1:20. I passed my cheering section about a half mile in (thanks everyone!) and used that first mile to get my legs used to running. I clocked in about 7:40 when I passed the first marker, which was slower than I wanted. As time went on I searched and waited for the second mile marker- it never came! I don't quite understand how a race of this size could not have mile markers on the run course and it was a bit frustrating. Not being sure of my pace (although I knew I as going as quick as I could!) I finished over 24 minutes for the 3.1 miles. It was a disappointing time as I have not run that slow at the end of the race in at least a couple of years. Looking at other people's times I have a suspicion it may have been a bit long on the run, so I will just keep telling myself that.
Despite the slow run I dropped about 45 seconds off last year's time, and it was a PR for this course. The time ended up getting me 1st in my age group and 8th overall for women, but I did not win my bet with Antonio :( Sadly he managed to beat me by a few minutes. However, I do believe that he was humbled by the effort the race took.
All in all, good race for me, great race for my clients and another Tri Season is in the books!
-Coach A www.sparkmultisport.com
Stay tuned all week for an interview with Pro Triathlete, Liz Blatchford and race recaps from my client's points of view!
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