They didn't have my transition times up last time I checked, but they do now.
Total Time: 4:21:40
Overall Place: 3762
Gender Place: 1106
Division Place: 238
Swim: 39:42 (this includes the run to transition)
Transition 1: 4:36
Bike: 1:49:20
Transition 2: 5:50 (that's all? Felt like 15 minutes)
Run: 1:42:20 (not bad for a 6.2-mile walk)
Swim Rank: 2843
Bike Rank: 3803 (wow, one of the slowest!)
Bike MPH: 13.9 (I usually average 16-18 MPH)
Run Rank: 3753
Pace: 16:28
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Matt's 2010 Chicago Tri Experience
It was 3:00 in the morning, and I was awake. What the hell did I get myself into? I had packed all my transition gear and nutrition, and strapped the bikes onto the car rack the night before, so all I really had to do was was squeeze into my tri gear and back the car out of the driveway without crashing into anything. This I accomplished, and we were on our way by 3:30.
Shortly after transition opened at 4:15 we joined the growing mass of zombies walking our bikes across Columbus Drive, and setting up our individual islands of gear under the glow of the lights lining Lake Shore Drive (we brought headlamps, but didn't end up needing them). By some great strokes of luck, both Lynette and I had our assigned racks right on the bike path instead of among the scores of others on the grass without such convenient landmarks. I was maybe 8th or 9th in my wave to set up, so I was right near the end of the rack. Doubly sweet. I laid down my towel, two Hammer espresso gels, race belt w/bib clipped on, sweatband with my name written on it, sunglasses, shoes with newly purchased speed laces, socks rolled down and put in the shoes, bike helmet, sunglasses, and extra water bottle for rinsing off feet.
We walked from our racks to the "bike in/out" a couple of times and saw the TNT coaches there who gave us some extra pointers, though I think their main purpose that morning was calming nerves. Soon enough we were heading to "swim start", and as we did, I had an instant of feeling like we left too quickly, like I should have triple-checked everything, but it was fleeting, and (spoiler) everything was actually fine.
So it's around 5 in the morning at this point, and I don't go off until 9:28. Race day adrenaline is making sure there's no chance of catching any sleep, so I'm just sitting near the TNT tree, watching whatever was happening. We are directly behind the swim start, and then the early part of the run course goes between us and the shore, so after the first wave goes off at 6:00, there is actually stuff to watch. The announcers were really amazing, something I've never really experienced before at a race. They stood on a platform above swim start and gave a running commentary on each wave, pointing out signs and supporters, giving out trivia on the race and particular waves, as well as getting each wave off at the exact right second. Frazz cartoonist Jef Mallett was actually in the first wave, along with the rest of the insane athletes doing the "triple" - Super Sprint on Saturday, and both the Sprint and Olympic on Sunday.
Around 7:30 I had a banana and a bagel. Along with a gel about 30 minutes before my start, this would be my only nutrition before the race. I'm not entirely sure it was enough. 8:45 I saw my parents, who had ridden the train in from Berwyn to watch us, which was awesome. I gave them a few pointers on how to pick us out of the crowd, and they headed off north to get a good spot to watch the swim. 9:00 I pulled on my wetsuit to the waist, grabbed my cap and goggles, kissed Lynette and headed to the corral.
My plan was to seed myself in the middle of the group. I didn't want people swimming over me, but after watching previous waves I knew I wasn't among the weakest swimmers. They put us in the water, and we tread water for maybe 60 seconds before the air horn went off and we became a pack of hungry piranhas. We had trained for this, but I was really not expecting the frenzy to last for the first quarter mile. I think I did a good job of remaining cool, but it was nearly impossible to put 4 consecutive strokes together without running into someone. By the time we reached the southern turn-around (1/4 mile), we were already catching up to stragglers from the previous wave, which did not help. After a few hundred more yards, though, I was finally able to settle into a comfortable rhythm. While I normally breath on the right, after the turn I had to breath on my left because of the sun, and because it was easier to stay on course by looking at the wall every breath instead of looking out to the lake. Luckily, coach Todd had made me work on breathing on both sides as well as bi-lateral breathing, so I was fine.
Overall, I was really really surprised with how strong the swim was for me. In training, I would tire quickly, and even in open water swims I had to take breaks to breast-stroke for a while and recover. For whatever reason, I was able to hit just the right pace where I was not running out of breath or getting too tired, and I was actually able to do bilateral breathing when I had to, which is usually impossible for me in the middle of a long swim.
As strong as I was feeling, it was great to see the yacht club approaching, and I was soon being helped out of the water by two volunteers... and getting a severe calf cramp. This had happened in training once, so I knew I could get through it, but it really sucked for about 30 seconds. We had a quarter-mile jog to transition, and I pulled off into the grass as soon as I could to strip off my wetsuit, tie the legs around my neck and keep jogging. As easy as it should have been to find my bike, I still had about 5 seconds of confusion, looking for it about 6 feet from where it was.
The bike was pretty uneventful. Most notable for me was the fact that I forgot a gel, which I had planned to take early into the bike course. That probably contributed to what happened on the run. I did finish a full bottle of Gatorade and one of water, and as a bonus I spotted Lynette each time we passed on the 2-loop out and back course. I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace, but I was passing people (some on bikes much better suited to this sport than my hybrid), and my average speed ended up being faster than I had clocked on any training runs. As I got back to transition, someone was there reading off the time of day for us, and I remember being surprised at how late it was, not having realized that starting at 9:30 meant not starting the run until around 11:30, and then running through the full noonday sun.
I had a little trouble getting my bike back into the rack - my seat barely made it under the bar, and at this point gear was a little messy, but I got some help from the guy across from me (I experienced nothing but good sportsmanship all day). Since I wore the same shoes for bike and run, I just took off my helmet, replaced it with a sweatband, ate a gel and some water, clipped my race belt on and... the bib tore off. Possibly my inexperience with the race belt (or a poorly designed belt) meant that when I stretched it to put it on, the attachment points tore out the holes in the race bib. Gah! I put the bib back on upside down, using the only holes still intact, and took off on the run.
I could tell I was not as strong as I hoped I'd be, but the first mile went pretty ok. That's where the biggest crowds were, and I saw my family at the aquarium. I had to walk around the 1 mile mark, and at this point a guy passed me and told me he had been chasing me the whole way on the bike. I made it a mini goal not to let him get too far ahead, but I quickly forgot about that.
The sun was out, there was no shade, and it was 90 degrees. I was getting stitches all over my abdomen whenever I ran for too long, and my legs were starting to complain. While I have no complaints about the water station volunteers, there was a station early-on that had run out of cups. Soon, instead of running with walk-breaks, I was walking with short run spurts, usually only if I was passing a TNT supporter or coach. I had been hoping to average 9 minute miles, but that was soon out the window and I just wanted to finish.
I ran for maybe half a mile (probably less - miles were much longer than usual) with another TNT member from a wave or two before mine. I usually prefer to run alone, but it somehow did give me a little extra energy to talk with someone. She eventually dropped off, though, letting me go ahead, but then passing me a while later and finishing a few minutes ahead of me.
I was worrying about Lynette - she couldn't have been doing well in this heat, and when I saw her as I was about a mile from the finish, I could tell she was in bad shape, but I reassured her that she could just walk, that I had been walking, and I hope that made her feel better. Then I saw my family at the aquarium, and they were amazing again. They had signs, and everything. It gave me the strength to run for a little while, at least. I don't know if spectators realize quite how much their support means to the athletes.
At long last I came up to the home stretch. I usually have a good finishing kick, but today I didn't even start running until I turned the corner and could actually see the finish line (maybe 200 yards). They announced my name, I threw my hands in the air in triumph, and it was over. Medal, water, bagel, wet towel, shade, chair.
Time: 03:21:12
Swim (inc. .25 mile run to T1): 36:00
Transition 1: 03:10
Bike: 01:25:20
Bike MPH: 17.82
Transition 2: 03:00
Run: 01:13:40
Run Pace: 00:11:52
Shortly after transition opened at 4:15 we joined the growing mass of zombies walking our bikes across Columbus Drive, and setting up our individual islands of gear under the glow of the lights lining Lake Shore Drive (we brought headlamps, but didn't end up needing them). By some great strokes of luck, both Lynette and I had our assigned racks right on the bike path instead of among the scores of others on the grass without such convenient landmarks. I was maybe 8th or 9th in my wave to set up, so I was right near the end of the rack. Doubly sweet. I laid down my towel, two Hammer espresso gels, race belt w/bib clipped on, sweatband with my name written on it, sunglasses, shoes with newly purchased speed laces, socks rolled down and put in the shoes, bike helmet, sunglasses, and extra water bottle for rinsing off feet.
We walked from our racks to the "bike in/out" a couple of times and saw the TNT coaches there who gave us some extra pointers, though I think their main purpose that morning was calming nerves. Soon enough we were heading to "swim start", and as we did, I had an instant of feeling like we left too quickly, like I should have triple-checked everything, but it was fleeting, and (spoiler) everything was actually fine.
So it's around 5 in the morning at this point, and I don't go off until 9:28. Race day adrenaline is making sure there's no chance of catching any sleep, so I'm just sitting near the TNT tree, watching whatever was happening. We are directly behind the swim start, and then the early part of the run course goes between us and the shore, so after the first wave goes off at 6:00, there is actually stuff to watch. The announcers were really amazing, something I've never really experienced before at a race. They stood on a platform above swim start and gave a running commentary on each wave, pointing out signs and supporters, giving out trivia on the race and particular waves, as well as getting each wave off at the exact right second. Frazz cartoonist Jef Mallett was actually in the first wave, along with the rest of the insane athletes doing the "triple" - Super Sprint on Saturday, and both the Sprint and Olympic on Sunday.
Around 7:30 I had a banana and a bagel. Along with a gel about 30 minutes before my start, this would be my only nutrition before the race. I'm not entirely sure it was enough. 8:45 I saw my parents, who had ridden the train in from Berwyn to watch us, which was awesome. I gave them a few pointers on how to pick us out of the crowd, and they headed off north to get a good spot to watch the swim. 9:00 I pulled on my wetsuit to the waist, grabbed my cap and goggles, kissed Lynette and headed to the corral.
My plan was to seed myself in the middle of the group. I didn't want people swimming over me, but after watching previous waves I knew I wasn't among the weakest swimmers. They put us in the water, and we tread water for maybe 60 seconds before the air horn went off and we became a pack of hungry piranhas. We had trained for this, but I was really not expecting the frenzy to last for the first quarter mile. I think I did a good job of remaining cool, but it was nearly impossible to put 4 consecutive strokes together without running into someone. By the time we reached the southern turn-around (1/4 mile), we were already catching up to stragglers from the previous wave, which did not help. After a few hundred more yards, though, I was finally able to settle into a comfortable rhythm. While I normally breath on the right, after the turn I had to breath on my left because of the sun, and because it was easier to stay on course by looking at the wall every breath instead of looking out to the lake. Luckily, coach Todd had made me work on breathing on both sides as well as bi-lateral breathing, so I was fine.
Overall, I was really really surprised with how strong the swim was for me. In training, I would tire quickly, and even in open water swims I had to take breaks to breast-stroke for a while and recover. For whatever reason, I was able to hit just the right pace where I was not running out of breath or getting too tired, and I was actually able to do bilateral breathing when I had to, which is usually impossible for me in the middle of a long swim.
As strong as I was feeling, it was great to see the yacht club approaching, and I was soon being helped out of the water by two volunteers... and getting a severe calf cramp. This had happened in training once, so I knew I could get through it, but it really sucked for about 30 seconds. We had a quarter-mile jog to transition, and I pulled off into the grass as soon as I could to strip off my wetsuit, tie the legs around my neck and keep jogging. As easy as it should have been to find my bike, I still had about 5 seconds of confusion, looking for it about 6 feet from where it was.
The bike was pretty uneventful. Most notable for me was the fact that I forgot a gel, which I had planned to take early into the bike course. That probably contributed to what happened on the run. I did finish a full bottle of Gatorade and one of water, and as a bonus I spotted Lynette each time we passed on the 2-loop out and back course. I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace, but I was passing people (some on bikes much better suited to this sport than my hybrid), and my average speed ended up being faster than I had clocked on any training runs. As I got back to transition, someone was there reading off the time of day for us, and I remember being surprised at how late it was, not having realized that starting at 9:30 meant not starting the run until around 11:30, and then running through the full noonday sun.
I had a little trouble getting my bike back into the rack - my seat barely made it under the bar, and at this point gear was a little messy, but I got some help from the guy across from me (I experienced nothing but good sportsmanship all day). Since I wore the same shoes for bike and run, I just took off my helmet, replaced it with a sweatband, ate a gel and some water, clipped my race belt on and... the bib tore off. Possibly my inexperience with the race belt (or a poorly designed belt) meant that when I stretched it to put it on, the attachment points tore out the holes in the race bib. Gah! I put the bib back on upside down, using the only holes still intact, and took off on the run.
I could tell I was not as strong as I hoped I'd be, but the first mile went pretty ok. That's where the biggest crowds were, and I saw my family at the aquarium. I had to walk around the 1 mile mark, and at this point a guy passed me and told me he had been chasing me the whole way on the bike. I made it a mini goal not to let him get too far ahead, but I quickly forgot about that.
The sun was out, there was no shade, and it was 90 degrees. I was getting stitches all over my abdomen whenever I ran for too long, and my legs were starting to complain. While I have no complaints about the water station volunteers, there was a station early-on that had run out of cups. Soon, instead of running with walk-breaks, I was walking with short run spurts, usually only if I was passing a TNT supporter or coach. I had been hoping to average 9 minute miles, but that was soon out the window and I just wanted to finish.
I ran for maybe half a mile (probably less - miles were much longer than usual) with another TNT member from a wave or two before mine. I usually prefer to run alone, but it somehow did give me a little extra energy to talk with someone. She eventually dropped off, though, letting me go ahead, but then passing me a while later and finishing a few minutes ahead of me.
I was worrying about Lynette - she couldn't have been doing well in this heat, and when I saw her as I was about a mile from the finish, I could tell she was in bad shape, but I reassured her that she could just walk, that I had been walking, and I hope that made her feel better. Then I saw my family at the aquarium, and they were amazing again. They had signs, and everything. It gave me the strength to run for a little while, at least. I don't know if spectators realize quite how much their support means to the athletes.
At long last I came up to the home stretch. I usually have a good finishing kick, but today I didn't even start running until I turned the corner and could actually see the finish line (maybe 200 yards). They announced my name, I threw my hands in the air in triumph, and it was over. Medal, water, bagel, wet towel, shade, chair.
Time: 03:21:12
Swim (inc. .25 mile run to T1): 36:00
Transition 1: 03:10
Bike: 01:25:20
Bike MPH: 17.82
Transition 2: 03:00
Run: 01:13:40
Run Pace: 00:11:52
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