Chicago Triathlon

.9 mile swim
24.5 mile bike
6.2 mile run


Before nearly every race I've done this season - whether sprint or half ironman - I've experienced tremendous nervousness. Inability to sleep the night before. Insane butterflies. Restlessness. I'd go over the race again and again in my mind and imagine the outcome I was hoping for - the speed, the smooth transitions - the overall placement I hoped to achieve.

So it was with a bit of wonder and curiosity that I approached the Chicago Tri with not a bit of nervousness whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. The only worry I had in my head was that god awful swim start and speculation on how I was going to position myself to mitigate having the same kind of disasterous, energy draining swim I'd had last year (granted, I wasn't in the best of shape last year what with my back situation and the fact that I hadn't been able to train any of the relevant distances - I was truly lucky just to finish the race at all).

Perhaps part of that lack of nervousness can be attributed to my focus on Rich and the race(s) he was planning to do. He had signed up for the "triple threat" - an inaugural offering that included a super sprint race on Saturday followed by the sprint race on Sunday and, upon completion of that race, nearly immediate immersion back into the fray to compete in the Olympic distance race. The super sprint race on Saturday seemed like a throw in just to be able to make the intimidating name "triple threat" but was really not presenting any particular challenge in our opinion. When we woke up incredibly early on Saturday and saw that it was raining, Rich opted not to drive all the way into the city for what would amount to be a ridiculously short race and went back to bed. The real challenge was the back to back races on one day. I had no doubt he could do it and excel - but I could tell he was getting more and more nervous as the race grew closer.

When we woke on Sunday morning in the hotel, Rich was more nervous than I've ever seen him. I moved quickly through my preparations and was ready to go -- still not at all feeling pre-race nerves except for the normal anxiousness of wanting to get into the transition area well before the cut off time. While Rich paced the room, I sat on the arm of the sofa in the junior suite we were somehow upgraded to, forcing myself to eat something and waited until he was ready to leave. I wished I could offer him something more than just my confident assurances that he was going to rock the race. I truly had never seen him so nervous! I knew that the intensity of his nerves meant that he was going to do even better than I could imagine, but, as usual, he wasn't ready to accept that when I told him so.

When we got to the transition area, we split up to find our respective sections. As he was part of the Triple Threat, he was in the very first wave out on the Sprint and so had the benefit of having his bike rack/transition space positioned at the very top of the transition area and on asphalt to boot. I, however, found my transition space well within the grassy hilltop enclosure. With the incredible amounts of rain the area had received over the last 2 weeks, the ground was very wet and soft. There were several soon to be very well traveled areas that I could tell would become mud pits in short order.

After getting set up, I found my way to where Amy was setting herself up in the Sprint transition area. Having thought she had signed up for the Olympic and only realizing the night before that in fact she had signed up for the sprint, I hoped she was not too upset with the situation and would have a great race regardless of the mixup. I was glad to see that she seemed in good sprits and we chatted about where we would meet up later before I headed out to find Rich and make our way towards the swim start.

As Rich lined up to start, I started my watch to coincide with the gun going off. I jogged down the lakefront as he swam trying to see which black, neoprene clad body was his without much luck. At the swim exit, I counted the swimmers as they exited and as I saw him emerge, yelled "Sweetie - you're twelfth out of the water!" He didn't look my way, but I hoped he heard me. He looked great - strong, fast and focused as he always does. I ran back to find where I had left Amy and to cheer her on in her race. She also looked strong and confident as she lined up in her wave, and I just hoped she wouldn't have to battle the swim demons that sometimes threaten her but knew that one way or another, she'd emerge from the water victorious. No one can fight - and win - like Amy.

After she went off, I had about an hour to wait til I went off. As I waited in the incredibly long line for the port-o-potties, I saw Rich go past on the run portion of the sprint race. Again, he looked great! I shouted for him, but as I was far away, knew there was no way he could hear me. The crowd was cheering for those first runners coming by and it was so amazing to see Rich in that group. He has become such an amazing athlete.

Finally, my turn came around! I jumped into the water and felt the breath just get knocked out of me. The announcer had said the water temp was about 68 degrees, but I swear it had to have been even colder. I looked to my right and saw a girl treading water next to me who did not have the benefit of a wet suit. Her lips looked like they were turning blue. I hoped the gun would go off soon for her sake! As it did, I felt gratified in my choice of swim start position. For the first time ever in this race, I was not subject to that energy draining blender of neoprene. I had space around me and could swim freely - that is until I past the turn around and had to deal with walls of slower swimmers in front of me. Who knew - me of the tortise-like swim pace would be frustrated by slower swimmers?

After the first half mile or so, my arms warmed up and I no longer felt the cold except for the persistent numbness in my feet. The water was calm and, but for the occasional slower swimmer in front of me, I felt I moved fairly well through the water. When I exited though, I realized that once again my actual time had been a minute or so slower than my goal time. After the long run into transition and navigating through the mud pits, I was off on the bike. I must say, there is no other bike race that makes me as nervous as that which is part of the Chicago Tri.

The potholes, the water bottles and other materials littering the course, the infernally clueless newbies who don't know which side of the road to stay on (or even that there IS a side of the road they should stay on if not passing) -- all while biking alongside traffic on Lake Shore Drive. Nervewracking is an understatement. Nonetheless, I managed a 22 - 24 mph average on the first loop and was feeling great -- passing people right and left. Then on the second loop, fatigue started to set in and the wind picked up at the same time. I unfortunately could not hold that pace and saw my pace read out fall somewhat over the course of the last loop.

As I moved towards the finish of the second loop, I started looking at racers coming the opposite direction to see if any had the word "Triple" written on their arm -- I was sure the triple threat group that Rich as part of should be starting to come by on their second bike section of the day. But no dice.

Out on the run, I felt the heat really starting to pick up and wondered where Rich was on his race(s) and how the heat might be affecting him. I felt the beginnings of side cramps/stitches and hoped that they would stay mild or dissipate quickly. I resolved to take as much water as I could at each water station to keep the intense side cramps at bay. I had hoped to keep an 8:30 pace if I could, but once again felt that that was unlikely. By my estimations, I was running closer to a 9 minute mile and getting discouraged. As I made my way back again past the turn around, I started to look for Triple Threat competitors in hopes of seeing Rich. Once again, I only saw a couple before the race course shifted towards the finish line and the path diverged from the oncoming racers.

Turning the last corner, I managed to kick into a respectable sprint to the finish. Final time: 2 hours 44 minutes 56 seconds -- top 16% of my age group, so not too bad all in all. And the run pace wasn't quite as bad as I had thought - an 8:45 pace vs the 9 minute pace I had suspected.

More importantly, after crossing the finish line and finding Amy in the crowds (actually, she found me), we made our way back to the finish to see Rich cross the line for the second time that day. He looked great and finished with times I would envy for a single race let alone two back to back. He never ceases to amaze me. I said it before and will say it again, what an incredible athlete! I knew he'd have a spectacular race -- even if he didn't want to believe me when I told him so! Amy had a great race as well and was victorious in battling her swim demons as I knew she would.

All in all it was a great day and so much fun to share it with two of my very best friends! It's a bit sad though to be on the tail end of summer and know that after one final race, soon I'll have to go back into off season training and content myself with my dreams of what 2008 will bring. I'm dreaming of a big red "M" with a circle dot above it...