September 9, 2009
Susie

Last weekend I participated in the Chicago Triathlon. This was my first Olympic/International distance event (0.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run). I put in miles and miles of swimming, biking and running to prepare for the race, practiced my nutrition and hydration timing, made sure my wetsuit, bike, shoes, etc, were ready to go, and when race day arrived, with the right preparation, everything went exactly according to plan…. right?

Yes and No. I made a couple of bonehead mistakes which threw off the plan, but nothing too serious. I'll share one. The first wave went off at 5:45 am, but my wave did not start until about 8:45 due to the enormous size of this event. I knew I would need some food with me during the wait. I had a normal pre-race breakfast before leaving the house, then had a small peanut butter sandwich after setting up transition… and I had tucked a granola bar into the sleeve of my wetsuit, sort of halfway sticking out, to eat about 20-25 minutes before my wave started. That is the last I remember of the granola bar. In the excitement of lining up with my wave and entering the water, I completely forgot about it. Who knows where that granola bar is in Lake Michigan right now. Those of you who know me are probably not all that surprised by this one. But I had other fuel in the transition area, so it turned out to be ok.

Also, in terms of things going "exactly according to plan", I guess we just have to be ready for the unexpected, make adjustments, and keep mental focus when a surprise pops up. For example, I didn't expect the 20 mph headwind going north on the bike course (that's half of the course). It required extra mental focus to not get frustrated with the wind pushing us back. On the bright side, the wind set us up for a nice cruising-speed headed southbound with the wind at our backs!

Overall, this was a great event. I had set some time goals for the swim, bike, run, and transitions, and had set a goal to finish with a smile on my face. Mission accomplished! Bring on Longhorn!