Chicago LTF report
That was tough!
The swim was really choppy. Non-wetsuit, I knew my swim wouldn't be top but I never thought it would feel so bad. Really rough swim and I simply wasn't able to perform at all. Felt like I was going backwards with each wave. Got out of the water way behind and it seem like a never ending run to T1. I was being smashed.
The bike in Chicago is totally flat with strong winds putting racers to a hard test mostly on the way out of T1. I had the first gel almost after T1 and felt some energy coming back to me. Tried to focus on the 290 watts but it would reveal "too" easy and I would eventually charge it to a final 305w avg. Of course, my hammering down here would still reveal above pair on such a deep field racing in Chicago. Felt hungry so I had the second gel at 40 minutes into the bike. Rolled to T2 in 20th spot or so.
The run seemed again a never ending story. I didn't take my garmin so I'm not sure how fast I went out of the T2 but gave it my best shot to sustain a decent pace at least 'til the turn around with the tail wind advantage. After that and with the wind turning around, I just wasn't able to keep that pace and slowly faded. Home stretch, 21th spot.
Overall I was pleased to get back to racing. I'm kinda dissapointed about how bad my swim actually is. Still, I knew I would struggle getting into this rythm of racing. Most of the guys ahead of me have their season well undergoing and I'm just getting back to it. I do feel like it was a good effort and nevertheless a good (and intense) 2 hour brick plus the after training that I had scheduled. The city of Chicago is absolutely amazing, the guys here organized a great event for all this people and the athletes put down a tremendous show for all the audience. Sure my expectations were low for this race. But even if I had won it by 20 minutes, I would always have expected more from myself. I'm highly motivated to erase the final 21th place out of my mind. Two more weeks for Cedar Point and still at least 10 more days of quality training. Tuesday I leave to Cleveland!
Bike file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110150208
