Overview: Successful trip and Olympic-distance triathlon debut at the Chicago Accenture Triathlon.
Thursday: I flew Southwest from San Diego to Midway. Checking the bike box was $50 each direction. I met someone at the race who flew Delta and was charged $400 one way. Be sure to call ahead to determine if that cheaper ticket to your race is really worth it with the hidden cost. I was greeted at the airport by my friend Paul who I hadn’t seen in over 3 years. He took me into the city to get checked in to my hotel, and then we had Gino’s East legendary Chicago-style deep dish pizza dinner before calling it a night.
Friday: First thing I did on Friday was make coffee and build my bike. I wanted to get a ride in early enough before the race Sunday to check if any parts were damaged in the transport or if I put it back together incorrectly and needed to make adjustments. I found that being super organized when packing the bike for the trip out helps speed this process up. Plus, taking the bike apart goes much faster than building it. I even took pictures of my handlebar and aerobar alignment with my camera phone to double check.
I had a fast and flat eight-mile ride on beautiful Lake Shore Drive to my friend Paul’s apartment. Coincidentally, Paul and my co-worker Trish lived exactly one block away from each other. Crazy, right? After a year of working together over the phone, through email and IM, Trish and I finally got to meet in person and to top it off, we did a swim in Lake Michigan. Trish was also signed up for the triathlon on Sunday, racing the sprint distance.
After a delicious and nutritious dinner with Paul and his girlfriend Jenny, I headed back to the hotel for the race reception. There I met a colleague, introduced myself to Sarah Reinertsen and chatted with pro triathlete Kevin Everett and his wife who were incredibly genuine people and all racing Sunday.
Saturday: I met Trish and her friends Brett and Santiago at the hotel race expo. We got checked in, body marked and found our wave assignment for the race, After checking out the gear at the expo, Trish and I headed north on the L so I could get my bike from Paul’s place. I rode the 8-mile Lake Shore Drive route back to the hotel and prepared my race gear while watching the men’s Olympic marathon on TV. I also packed my non-race gear because I had to fly out after the race.
Sunday: My alarms went off at 4:15 am and my crazy day started. I went through my pre-race ritual of hot shower, coffee and music headed out the front door of the hotel on my bike with backpack full of gear for the day. I set up my transition area amidst a sea of bikes, being sure to note certain landmarks for the transition that would help me quickly locate my area.
I set up next to Team Goody StayPut triathlete Laura McDonald from Denver, CO, who would later place 77th overall and win our age group! She was super cool and we hung out while we waited for our wave to be called. After close to two hours, it was time to race.
The Swim: I lined up near the front inside of my wave, wanting to get out front during the 380-yard swim to the turnaround buoy. The swim start was super chaotic and I was kicked, climbed on and dunked underwater all the way down to the turnaround point where I finally broke free, found my rhythm and pulled ahead of the pack. It felt fast but I preferred going harder and using more energy on the swim to being apart of the mess that was back behind me. The water was warm, around 70 degrees, and I started to feel good. It was really cool to see the spectators above on the lake wall when taking breaths during the swim. I exited the water and had trouble calming my breathing down at first, but there was a really long run to my transition area during which I settled my breathing. I passed the timing mat in 27 minutes and had a 2-minute, 30-second transition.
The Bike: Before I even got on my bike, I began having problems. I keep my shoes clipped in my pedals, a common practice in triathlon but what I didn’t anticipate, which no one usually does, is stepping on a piece of glass barefoot while running with my bike. I was in the bike mount area when I reached down and pulled the piece of broken beer bottle out of the ball of my left foot. I caught a quick glimpse of blood, I tried mounting my bike, one of my shoes came out of my pedal, and I bumped another racer who almost fell off his bike into someone else… I was that guy.
Anyhow, let’s fast forward 10 minutes into the bike, I was settling in, spinning well into a headwind and getting some needed nutrition after the aforementioned debacle. The ride was a tad windy, the road itself was in pretty rough shape and I began noticing more and more folks fixing flats. I began concentrating my efforts on choosing the cleanest and smoothest lines I could take as to avoid a flat tire. This seemed to work and the south-bound tail wind was a nice relief during the return loops. I was off the bike with an hour and fifteen minute split which is a 20.4 mph average and into T2.
The Run: My run transition was only a minute and a half, relatively fast considering the never-ending transition area that added quite a bit more to the day’s run total. I was greeted by Paul, Jenny and their awesome dog Ari during my first half-mile into the run followed soon after by Trish and her friends. It took me 2 miles to settle in and find rhythm on the run during which the temperature began to rise. I hydrated with Gatorade at each aid station and was able to maintain a 7:18 pace during the 10K run by sites like the Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. I finished my first Olympic-distance race in 2:29:12 which was good for 262nd of 4,089 overall and 62 of 519 in my age group.
Post race: The real challenge of the day began after the race as I had to schlep my tired body back to the transition area, gather my race gear and ride back to the hotel. I met Paul, Jenny and Ari at the hotel and immediately disassembled my bike, packed it in the bike box, took a shower, checked out of the hotel and Paul dropped me at the airport. A special thanks to Paul for dealing with me in all my spandex glory 
Recovery: Flying so soon after the race took a toll on my body earlier this week but now I’m good to go after lots of stretching and some body work by Holistic health practitioner, Haunani Chong.
Recap: Great trip, cool city, awesome tune-up race and relieved to have no lingering hamstring issues after the scare on the track just 2 weeks ago. There is still much work to be done to find success in the full-iron distance Silverman triathlon in November. Stay tuned as training kicks up a notch. Thanks for stopping by to read this longer post and I apologize for the delay in posting.
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