Chicago Triathlon Report!
Yesterday was the Chicago Triathlon. For those that know me well, I’m not one to train by a schedule, for a certain race, distance, etc. 8 days ago, I was busy riding 90 miles on the IM Wisconsin bike course……not exactly in the taper plan for an Olympic distance race. Anyway, I thought I was in pretty good shape for this distance coming in, just not properly trained or tapered.
A little more background. I never wear a wetsuit when training open water, only a speedo/dragsuit combo. I never ride a TT bike, never ride deep carbon wheels, never wear a TT helmet either. I never train in my Zoot racing flats. So, when race day comes, all this stuff is like cheating for me.
Swim: I’m lucky, I qualify elite at every Olympic distance I do, assuming they have that wave. Therefore, my wave went off at 7:32 am yesterday. We were the second elite wave; about 150 in each from what I was told. The guys and girls in these waves are the ones that are trying to go pro, so the start is a freaking shit show. I’m a pretty good swimmer, but have no ambition to stick my nose into a motor boat propeller, so I hung back the first few minutes. Once we got going after the first 200M or so, I got into a good groove (with a wetsuit!) and just let it go. I didn’t work too hard during the swim. The water was 73, the air was 80, and I didn’t want to heat up before the real race started. I cruised in about halfway through the pack, slower than I was a couple years ago, but whatever. After a couple minutes of running up to transition, I was all but stripped of my wetsuit. I think I was 26 something, pretty slow, but I guess that’s what I get for not really trying.
T1: I have a Speedfill bottle on my bike, so no cages for bottles. I left a bike bottle of water at my bag in transition for big swigs after the swim and after the bike. Someone stole it, so I had nothing but the Nuun in my speedfill. I knew this was going to haunt me. I need the water to help my stomach after swimming before riding.
Bike: I rode a Kuota K-Factor, HED Jet 50 wheels and my Giro TT helmet. I now believe in technology. I used to be the guy who just said push the pedals harder. Anyway, I got going and was super thirsty as I crossed the bridge on Lakeshore. With the wind at my back, I decided to just get in a relatively easy gear, get some fluids in me and relax the first lap. It was really nice having most of the course wide open at this point. I rode with a girl who was next to me in transition for the first lap. My legs felt good going into the second lap, so that’s when I decided to put the hammer down. I don’t ride with a computer, or anything like that, so I can’t tell you how much more power I was generating, but I can tell you I dropped that girl quickly on the second lap and started passing age groupers on their first lap like it was my job. At the last turn at Foster, I started feeling sick. All the liquid I was putting in my body was just sitting in my stomach, like it was corked at the bottom. I took one more sip…..well that was one sip too many. Thankfully, I was over to the right, and let it fly over my right shoulder. I’m pretty sure I barfed about half my Speedfill. I told myself, “Whatever, 7ish miles left, just keeping pounding, get into transition and figure out the liquids on the run.” So I did just that. I got down the exit at Randolph, slipped out of my shoes and ran like hell to my transition. I finished the bike in 1:06ish.
T2: Shit, I really needed that water right then. To swish out my breath, to pour on my head, to drink, everything. “If I find that prick who took my bottle, they’re getting a Speedplay cleat to the teeth.”
Run: I swear, as soon as I got off my bike, the temperature rose 10 degrees. I started the run, and just wanted to make it down to the Planetarium (past all the big crowds) looking like I was in good spirits. I did, made it around and into a shady area and barfed again. At this point, I was sweating like mad, not holding fluids, the thought of a gel made me sick, and was just flaming mad I didn’t have my water to drink an hour and a half ago. I’d ‘run’ to each aid station, and take exactly one minute to walk through and drink water. It wasn’t until the second or third mile that I started to rehydrate. In the first mile, my girl bike buddy passed me. I caught her at the turn and ran with her all the way to close to the finish. Not sure what happened then, or who finished before the other. My wonderful girlfriend/caretaker, Brigit, was at the finish taking pictures of me coming down the chute. Only afterwards did I find out she thought I “looked like hell.” I finished, took three steps, and started to wobble. Figured I’d ought to hit the med tent. Oddly enough, I was seated next to my bike/run buddy. We chatted while taking oxygen and getting our stuff checked. Her name is Kattie Carpeter-Rossa. Really nice girl. We both thanked each other for pushing the whole way. I didn’t even want to see my run split, as I know my total was 2:25ish. Turned out I was 48 something. Pissed, because I’ve run 40 flat off the bike. Crappy time, but whatever, it’s not like I trained or tapered correctly.
Afterwards, I stuck around and watched, cheered, and ran with friends as they passed by, gave them advice about the rest of the run course and met them all at the finish. I stuck around for the hurtfest, known as the pro race, and saw some of the most insane athletes I’ve ever seen. I was lucky enough to meet Laurel (@laurelwassner) and Becca (@becwassner) Wassner at the expo on Saturday. They’re twins, and pros that are wicked fast. I screamed at both of them on the run and they waved and said hello, so very cool of them. I also watched a couple of my old swimming friends growing up, Jenny Garrison and Jocelyn Petrella, as they both are pros now. Super cool to see them. All in all, an okay day of racing for me, a ton of fun cheering, and a killer atmosphere. Oh yeah, I also got most of my tan lines worked out…….one of the tough things about being a triathlete!