Chicago Triathlon Report

Good morning.

I completed my third triathlon yesterday. It was the Chicago Triathlon an Olympic/International distance event. The 3 legs consist of a .93 mile swim, 25 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.

This is my first year competing in triathlons and I have really come to enjoy all of the training and competitions. It's all kind of fun. I have to say I have truly come to love the water. And, as I've said before, when I see water now I have an urge to just jump in. I really do! It's like a water appetite.

One of my triathlon competition goals is to place in the top 10 of my 50-54 age group. I have a ways to go to meet this goal. Yesterday I placed 21st out of about 148 other 50-54 age groupers.

Perhaps, my expectations are too high with this being only the third triathlon of my life. I mean, who am I, coming from a running background expecting to light my age group on fire.

Looking at race results and separating the various tri-disciplines into their respective singularities one can assume that, "hey, I can do that." But, in reality, when competing in the event with the disciplines back to back to back, it is a different story. Believe me.

I have news for my age groupers though. I am willing to train harder and PAY MY DUES! I will continue to learn how to excell at this wonderful sport.

THE RACE: INTRODUCTION

Yesterday was a hot and humid day with temps in the 90's, all sun and high humidity levels. The effects of this weather would take it's toll on me and others during the run. This would have been another marathon cancellation day. They don't cancel tri's as far as I know. Interestingly there were not any serious health related problems yesterday which is great.

SWIM:

Standing in the wave group was very hot. You have your wetsuit 1/2 way on with your upper body still exposed to the air. As you get closer to the start you must finish doning the suit. Then the swim cap. You stand there waiting for your wave to move up. Sweet is literally pouring down your face soaking your wetsuit.

I wanted in that cool water, badly. Finally we were allowed to jump in. The water felt so cooling and good after being beaten up by the early morning sun.

I positioned myself in the front of our wave to the far left of the swim lanes. This was a treading water start. I wanted to be away from the wall to the right because that is where the weaker swimmers will be in case they have trouble. There is a rope there in case they need to grab it.

The gun went off and I swam like hell going quickly from a vertical treading body to a horizontal swimmer. I swam hard the whole way. There was some contact during the swim because of how narrow the course was. My breathing was good. I was surprised at how easily some people pulled away from me.

I sighted well during the whole .93 mile swim. It helps to slightly look up under water so you can see the feet of other swimmers. Then you can make course adjustments. Even though I was not the fastest swimmer I did pass a lot of people from other waves that started before us. It was like a race. Just cruising and passing. At times I would have to block a leg with my arm so it would not hit my face and other time I'd have to just swim around others or swim through a narrow shoot between two swimmers.

When I got out of the water at the swim exit I checked my Garmin, 30 minutes. Not what I expected. Note to self:

MEASURE THE DISTANCES AT OHIO ST BEACH!

As I said, I swam hard and thought for sure I'd have a 27 minute swim. So, I will measure my swim distances at Ohio St Beach to see what the actual distances are.

After leaving the water the run to the timing mat and T1 was about 450 yards. That is a long run to go to transition. A decent par 4 distance. This also adds a lot of time to your swim time since your swim time will consist of swimming time and running time to T1.

Swim Time: 32:32

BIKE:

The bike went pretty well. My average pace is slightly over 20 mph and I need to work on increasing my pace. When I look up other triathlete's bike times the one's who do well average 23-25 mph. I need to reach this level. I'm told it takes some time and I will put in the time neccessary to get there.

The ride went smoothly along Lakeshore Drive. I passed a lot of people but also got passed a lot as well. It's kind of amazing how one can think they are really pusing the bike pace and then someone goes by you like you are standing still. We all kind of look the same but they have that extra biking muscle strength.

Lakeshore Drive has it's bumpy areas and because of this there were water bottles all over the road that needed to be avoided. We also shared Lakeshore Drive with auto traffic. There were orange cones separating the bike lanes and car lanes.

One of my favorite moments came when I looked at the car next to me and saw a young boy looking at me with huge wide eyes. I looked at him and smiled and stuck my toungue out and shook my head up and down. He just stared at me. Then a while later I looked over again and there he was. I smiled again and he gave me a smile and a little tiny hand wave. I can still picture his face.

Bike Time: 1:14:58

THE RUN:

HOT!!

Most of you know that I love heat. I do most of my runs during the hottest time of the day. Maybe all of my run training in the heat got me through this run. It was brutal.

At times I wondered if I'd finish. There were many many walkers, shoulders slumped, heads down.

I just kept "chugging" along. I felt faint at times and slightly dizzy at other times. Just kept chugging. This had to be the longest 6 mile run of my life.

Finally the finish line neared and as I crossed I was so grateful. The ice cold towel that was place on my back by a volunteer was so appreciated. God that felt good. It took me a long long time to cool down. I sweated for hours. My run cap just kept dripping and dripping and dripping.

Run Time: 50:45, 8:11 pace

TOTALS:

RANDY J EGGE #5712
CHICAGO, IL
Age: 50 Gender: M
DistanceIntermediate
Clock Time02:44:21
...Overall Place467 / 3863
Gender Place414 / 2693
Division Place21 / 148
Swim00:32:32
Trans100:03:21
Bike01:14:58
Trans200:02:42
Run00:50:45
Swimrank1036
Bikerank1222
Mph20.2
Runrank261
Pace00:08:11

Another triathlon, another learning experience. All fun though. I have to say that I felt a certain level of achievement after completing the olympic distance event. It's not the longest event but still takes some effort and guts to complete. I will never take an olympic distance tri for granted. Respect, yes!!

I have to say I felt sorry for some of the competitors yesterday. Their day was done in the first few minutes of the swim. As I watched the waves go off before me you could see the struggle and distress on their faces. They would turn over and float on their backs. God bless them. I hope they don't give up.

My next event is another 1/2 Ironman. It is the Ironman Branson 70.3 on Sept 19. Once again my goal is the same......????

Thanks for reading.


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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin