Aimee's TNT Training

chicago tri

This weekend, I did the Chicago Tri, the largest tri like ever. Seriously...7800 people participated. I did the Olympic (International) distance tri, which is .93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 10K run.

My official time: 2:43:44
swim: 33:29 (30 min. in water, 3 min. running to transition)
T1: 2:21
bike: 1:14:27
T2: 2:11
run: 51:16

Stats:
age group: 17 out of 284
gender: 70 out of 1135
overall: 672 out of 3632

The course: swim from the middle of the Lake Michigan harbor down to Shedd Aquarium, then back up to the Yacht club. Run 1/4 mile to the transition area. Then bike north on LSD to Foster (6 miles), then back to Navy Pier, then do the loop again and back. Then run around Shedd on the Lakefront Path, up to the Planetarium, down past McCormick. Turn around then go back up around Shedd, then finish on Columbus at Balbo.

I had so much fun. Met up with my friends, Lori and Wanda. The race morning, we got up at 3:30am, and walked over to the transition area at 4:30am. Got all our stuff set up, and then sat around for 3 hours, waiting for our start. The sprint distance tri started at 6:15am, so we watched a lot of the people running into the transition area until about 8:15. Then we walked over to the start. There were about 50 people maybe in our wave. I decided since the water was 72* at 5:15am, before the sun came up, I would go without my wetsuit. I was very happy with the choice. The water felt great! But this was my first mass start for the swim, we started in the water, and it was S-C-A-R-Y! I was a bit miffed that men were in our wave. Basically, the women knew better, and let the more aggressive gender of the species get towards the front. The first few hundred yards were very slow for me, but at the turnaround, I found my pace. It was awesome! We were in the harbor, right up to the wall on the lakefront path. Inside the boats so there were no waves or chop.

I was impressed with my time for the transition, simply because it was SO HUGE, with over 6000 people set up in there. The bike was fun too, I just went fast to basically stay alive. It was up and down Lake Shore Drive, and honestly, while I remember all the hills on LSD, I do not remember how crappy the road is. There were so many slooow people, so I was passing everyone, but there were also a lot of very fast men passing me. It was hard with all those people in two lanes of traffic.

The run was great too. The first 3 miles were very hard, and SO did not feel like I was doing 8 minute miles. It was hot. I was taking in fluids every chance, there were water/Gatorade stops at every mile. I was salty and sweaty and pasty. I wanted to walk SO BAD, but knew if I did, I'd never start up again. pushed it to the turnaround. At that point, the sun went under the clouds, and the wind started to blow. Saw Lori and then sped up the last two miles.

My dad came up that morning, and I saw him right as we were lining up to get in the water. David and his family also came to watch and it was a blast. My support was so wonderful!

I feel great today. Maybe just a little tired. Here is a clip of my coming into the finish line. It's the 30 seconds where I come in. You'll see people doing a wheelbarrow crossing the finish line, then you'll see three people come in. I'm on the far right (your right) with a black outfit and black cap. You'll see a chic run RIGHT BY ME, then I come in after her.
My finish clip

Me, Lori, and Wanda with our body markings, having a nice dinner. A man came up and asked us what the numbers were, and said his little boy thought maybe they were our addresses.
Lori and Wanda with their well-earned, post race beers!

posted by Aimee @ 7:37 AM