This is my 3rd year doing Leons. The only triathlon I’ve done all 3 years… and it’s in Hammond, IN in what some might consider a lake of questionable cleanliness. I haven’t turned green yet… so hopefully that is a good sign! I think the course has been tweaked a little since the first year and the run might be a little short… but, I’ve seen some significant improvements over three year. Starting with a 2:23 or something and far exceeding my goal of sub 2:15 (last years’ time) with a shiny new PR of 2:08:52. This was my best Olympic to date, so it’s cool to see improvement and finally have a solid bike and run! Yay.
SWIM
We were a pretty big group and I wasn’t quite sure how to not be in massive mix of people. So, I was towards the left (by the buoys) and just swam in the cluster. I think I zig-zagged a little to get around people or away from some dude who keep swimming in my bubble (I clearly excel at open water swimming… with my “get out of my space!!” mentality). But, I was in a group that I didn’t think I could get around so decided to stick with them and embrace being around people and pretending I know how to draft properly. I mostly sighted off other people so that was easy.
BIKE
My biggest improvement! I REALLY wanted to have somewhat respectable watts on an Olympic distance race. Last year I got passed by everyone and their grandma on the bike. It was beyond irritating (which fueled some speed on the run I think…). So, this year I just wanted to bike strong with my head in the game. It was windy and cold, but it didn’t bother me like wind normally would. I had one girl pass me on the bike (ONLY ONE!) and I passed a few (I know, shut the front door…). I tried to hang with that girl, and kept her at a reasonable distance. It was right before starting the second loop which was WAY more crowded so much harder to keep track of someone.
I skipped taking the feet out of my shoes early because we had to run through muddy grass to get our bikes. As someone who wouldn’t normally think that through all the way… and end up running a 10k with wet muddy feet… I consider it a win.
RUN
My legs were tired, but I was ready to run as hard as I could and hopefully catch that girl that passed me. I like chasing people on the run, so decided the goal would be to catch at least one girl. I felt strong and confident that I could catch up to people… and that staying steady and gaining slowly was totally cool. It was a nice mentality to have and not be in my own head about how the race is going. So, I caught one girl and then set my sights on the next one! I think I passed 4 and at the turn around could see that the first two had a pretty solid lead. I think I was gaining on the girl in second… but, just not fast enough. The run was a big improvement over last year also… maybe 3 minutes. Track workouts help sooo much!
So, overall a 7 minute improvement and a 3rd place overall finish. The best of US competition was also taking place during this race, so the 1st place girl was best of US and 2nd girl and I were in the normal amateur race. One of the goals I had at the beginning of the year was to get into the top 3 in a race (since I have mad skills when it comes to getting 4th or 11th… ). And, I couldn’t be happier with how the year is starting. It’s awesome to see big improvements come after months of hard work. Hopefully I can continue to improve this summer and really enjoy some of the bigger races I have planned for this year. Vision Quest and Training Bible had amazing results! VQ won the speed trap and TBC got the coed team challenge. I love this race because it has so much energy, largely because there are so many teams out there kicking off the Chicago race season!
