Chicago Accenture Triathlon

On August 24th, I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon. The race was the culmination of a season of training and was my first experience running a longer distance triathlon. Here's a brief recap of the day.
Because the Chicago race is the biggest triathlon in the world, it comes with a unique set of logistical challenges. First, with a transition area so large and so many waves of swimmers in the race, one has to set up in transition long before they start the race. For me, that meant a 4:30 AM arrival to transition even though my start time was not until 8:45AM! That meant that I had lots of time to kill and would have to plan well nutritionally to have a good race day.
After setting up and then retracing my steps a couple of times to make sure that I could find my gear from both directions (bike and swim IN) I headed out to check out the first few waves go off. The sprint race started first and it was interesting to watch all of the swimming styles employed to get from one end of the harbor to the other.
I relaxed by Buckingham fountain for a couple of hours, listening to music, and just mentally preparing for the race. Kathy and the kids showed up about an hour before race start and helped to distract me from getting agitated about the swim. I lined up with my wave about a half hour before the start and got ready to focus on a 35 minute swim. The swim start was a deep water start. You jump off of a staircase into the water and then head South in the harbor to a quick turn around and back North to the swim exit. The swim went well with absolutely no issues and I was happy to get out of the water and trot for about 1/4 mile to the TA entrance.
Next, the bike took off North down Lake Shore Drive in a strong headwind for a two loop course, about 6 miles in each direction on the oval. On the way out, holding 20 mph was a challenge. On the way in, speeds of 25mph+ were common. The bike leg went well except for the unfortunate loss of one of my bottles of Accelerade after the very first turn.
A quick T2 and I was out on the run. My quads were very tight from the fast, flat bike and I started to cramp. The cramp worked itself out after about a mile, but I just never got up to speed and cruised to the finish of the 10K with a pace over 9 minutes per mile.
The race was a huge success! I enjoyed myself thoroughly and can't wait to sign up for the 1/2 Ironman next year!!!
The results website for the tri is second to none. They even provide a 30 second clip of every athlete crossing the finish line. I am off to the right and cross the finish line in exactly the middle of the video.