Felt good right from the start. I had been training pretty hard the 6 weeks prior to the race. Looked at my watch at mile 1 and saw 8:21 for my pace. While happy, this is way too fast for me, especially with a bike and another run coming up. Backed off a bit and was passed by quite a few people. I just decided to run my race. Once back in the park around 5.5 miles in, I slurped down a Gu Roctane. Felt it was easier here than fumbling with it on the bike. My hands warmed up so I took my gloves off.
This time is a PR for me for 10k by over a minute.

Pace better? I could probably hold just under 9 minute miles and get under 56 minutes for a time, but this was a good run for me, especially since I knew the bike was going to be tough.

I am just not fast with these. Small transition area and I just took the time to make sure I was set. Decided on no gloves, mostly because I saw everyone else sans gloves. See T2. Grabbed my bike and paused to catch my breath and drink some water.

Giddy-up!

Settled into aero once out of the park. Found a nice gear to push and started picking people off. Side note, I did not get passed by anyone on the bike. I have been training hard for the bike too. Absolutely perfect conditions. The sun was up, temp was warming and no wind. Hands were cold and finally they either warmed up or went numb.
I knew the hill was going to be around mile 10 so I was mentally prepared for it when I turned the corner. About 1.5 miles up with some small rollers. Found my gear and spun up. Ended up on my brake hoods for most of the climb. At the top, turned and then had a screaming downhill section. Thought that wasn't bad but knew I had to go up again soon. Second loop started with my chain refusing to go from my big ring to small. Was fretting over climbing the hill in the big ring when it finally slammed into my small. No issues on the second climb and I was glad that was done. Got back into my big ring for the downhill then mostly flat back to the park. About 2 miles out, we were going slightly uphill and my legs were a little mushy so I tried to shift into the small ring. No dice. Hurt a little on a sharp uphill in the park but soon was heading towards T2.

What a range of emotions post race. I felt like this was a good bike leg and then my Garmin had my pace at 18.4. Was really disappointed. Then the official results got posted (18.3, ugh) and I found out that my bike split was 13th out of 55 and 3rd in my age group. That made me feel a lot better. The top guys all blistered the course, but I was solidly near the FOP otherwise. There are a lot of fast people out here in northern IL.
The hill is close enough to my regular long bike route so I'll start incorporating it into training next year.

Just not fast at these and my hands were so cold I could barely tie my shoes.

Damn, too lazy to put my Yankz in my new shoes.

My hands and feet were cold and it took a bit for me to feel my toes. Felt I was shuffling a bit so I tried to pick up my cadence and land with a mid-foot strike. Was shooting for a 9 minute pace but just did not have it. Smiled and thanked the volunteers. Ended up running with a women from about mile 2 back into the park. Chatted about how much fun the bike was (not). Came around a corner and they had the finishers chute through a grassy area. Done! My Garmin had me exactly at 2:50:00.

More brick workouts.

Felt pretty good and just walked through the post race food and water. Got some Gatorade and a couple of bagel pieces. Thanked Vik, the race organizer. Got my stuff out of transition and packed up and went back for more food. Treated myself to 2 frosted chocolate cake doughnuts with sprinkles. Man I love being a triathlete! There was a band playing so I listened for a while, then headed out so I could catch the Bears game.


I had done a dual before but never this distance. It was tough and that's why I chose to do the long course. Felt I executed about right, maybe do a little better on the run next year.


This is the first year for this race. Everything was organized and on time with plenty of volunteers. Nice atmosphere after the race with the live band a there was ton of food options. This is an excellent race for the area and was glad to see it on the schedule. I would highly recommend this to anyone. The short course had more participation and I think after this years event, the word will be out that this is a must do race, especially if you want a challenging bike.