Did you wear a wetsuit?
The swim was definitely NO fun. I just tried to relax and get through it without hurrying:) Bike and run conditions were pretty good outside of the rough roads on Lakeshore. I had a good time, but it was a “C” race for me and I had no time or competitive ambitions.
David K
Did you wear a wetsuit?
Yes. The biggest, baddest, Michelin Man wetsuit I could buy.
Howd you like the gasoline taste in the water? Ugh my throat hurts right now…
This was my fourth year in a row doing Chicago and I’ve noticed that gasoline taste every year. I think it’s from the 1 or 2 motorized lifeguard boats that are patrolling the course… I always seem to notice it when I get to them.
As others have said, the swim was… well… HARD… The first quarter of the swim, when we went south, I felt like I was FLYING. I couldn’t believe how quickly I made it to the turn buoy and how good I was feeling. I’ve been working on my swim like crazy this year, so I thought it was paying off. Then… the chops came… and it got REALLY slow. I was shooting to get out of the water in 28:XX so I was pretty discouraged to see 33:XX when I got out. Add the 2 minute run to the timing mats in transition, and I ended up with a 35:XX swim… my slowest of all four years I’ve done Chicago.
I did a little digging to see just how hard the swim was this year compared with others, and this is what I found for my swim times:
2008: 31:35 Ranked 1473/3980 (29.6%)
2009: 33:06 Ranked 1643/4257 (38.6%)
2010: 33:58 Ranked 1419/3881 (36.5%)
2011: 35:39 Ranked 766/3321 (23.0%)
(don’t ask me why I seem to continually get worse at swimming)
Also, if you compare the womens’ swim times from last year and this year, you’ll see the women were out of the water in the 25:XX range, when most of the time they’re out in the high 21’s or low 22’s. The men were about 1-1.5 minutes slower than last year. So when you take that and extrapolate it to us less-able swimmers it only gets worse.
Other than that, I had a fantastic race, and starting at wave 47/49 meant that the second loop of the bike course was much clearer than I’ve ever seen it, I was able to hang in the right lane the whole time and pass those who were REALLY struggling with ease of navigation.
…and pass those who were REALLY struggling with ease of navigation.
And there were a number of those. Sheesh. The whole “stay left with 15 secs to pass” went right out the window with that many first-timers on assorted bikes and that wind. I’ve never seen 3-6 lined across in any race like I did yesterday!
This must have been your first time racing Chicago. Slow people swerving all the way across comes with the race.
I was in wave 41. I actually thought the swim looked a lot rougher than it was. Don’t get me wrong, I was slower than normal out there, but it was really only the middle section of the north leg that was rough. Going south was fast, other than the usual traffic issues at the start. Once we were north of the start/finish line coming back it seemed to smooth out a bit, and by the finish it was fairly flat. I think swimming into that headwind was messing with me more than the chop. Thank god I breathe to the left side so I didn’t have waves in my face though… Also, pretty sure the “gasoline” smell is the exhaust from the lifeguard boats that have been driving around right next to the swimmers for several hours. That and the wind blowing all the harbor crap right into the course area.
The bike was pretty tough going north, but you have to admit that going flat out on that south leg was pretty awesome and made the hard work going north worth it.
Yes it was. Frankly, I expected it to be crowded. How could it not be with that many participants on that small of a bike course! It still surprised me how many participants were making no effort at all to pass quickly and move over.
Going off in the first wave for the sprint was a completely different perspective. Wide open!