Race Recap: Chicago Triathlon, x 1/4

Saturday morning after finishing!

It has been a crazy week, y'all - my first week of orientation/work at Latin after two years off. The days have been filled with new faces, names, policies & procedures; the schedule was so packed with meetings and trainings that the only two concrete things I got done were to adjust my desk chair and set up my voicemail. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, but I miss my baby girl SO MUCH during the day. And sleep has been a bit lacking, since I've needed to wake up at 5 am to go for marathon training runs, and then the only time to do things like benefits/HR paperwork is at night. Whew! Transitions are hard. I know I'll get through this one just fine, and my family has been so supportive, but it is still hard.

So, Wednesday night at about 9:45 pm I went to chicagotriathlon.com to check on my wave start time for Sunday's Olympic distance race that I've been prepping for all summer - - - but when I put in my last name into the search function to see my bib number, it didn't have any results. "Strange!" I thought, then tried my first name. 0 results. So I tried "Joe." Plenty of Joes. There's a different spot on the site to put in your name to confirm your entry. Still no Danikas. 

Next, of course I searched my email for my entry confirmation - - - and apparently, I never actually registered for the triathlon. Yeah. Wow. MAJOR MISTAKE, and highly embarrassing. After quietly freaking out for a while, I started grasping for what other options there might be for an August race. And I realized that while online registration was closed, the website said that there MIGHT be spots open for Saturday's Super Sprint triathlon, taking place this year at Montrose Beach. A Super Sprint is half of the sprint distance, which is half of the Olympic distance, so a 375 meter swim, a 10K bike ride and a 2.5K run.

Friday afternoon I dashed out of work as quickly as I possibly could and drove down to the Hilton on Michigan Ave and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I was able to register. So then Saturday morning I woke up bright and early and rode down to get my bike and stuff into transition. Then Savva, Eliana, Lisa & Aislin all met up with me, and I headed down to the beach for the swim start. In contrast to the big tri on Sunday morning in Monroe Harbor, this one begins on the sand, and when the air horn sounds you have to sprint into the water with the 50 other people in your wave which results in a ton of splashing - it was SO MUCH FUN. I felt like I was 5 years old and literally laughed out loud with the joy of the feeling. The swim was great - I was very slow, like usual, (there were 47 people in my wave in front of me and only 2 behind) but I swam front stroke the whole way and the nice sandy bottom was a lot better than the scary seaweed in Monroe Harbor. The bike is on Simmons Drive, and you the same 1 mile of road six times (up & down, up & down, up & down) which is a bit boring but the good part is that I was able to see my cheering squad over and over again. Then I headed out on the run and before I knew it, it was over! I finished in 54 minutes and 12 seconds, 23rd out of 71 people in my female 20-29 age group and 256th out of 569 people all together. Not too shabby, I guess. :)

Afterwards our wonderful friends Ali & Foster made us breakfast (banana chocolate chip pancakes, yuuuuuuummmmm....) at their place and so it was pretty much a perfect day! Thanks guys!

Whoa! 100% donation match for the next 15 days!

Hey everyone! I am so so so excited to say that a person (who would like to remain anonymous) has offered to match all donations towards the 12 non-profits in this Year of Racing Slowly project for the next 15 days, up to $1,500! SO COOL!

It is exactly 15 days until the Chicago Triathlon, so anything you give through the day I swim, bike and run in support of these non-profits will be matched, for double the impact. Please click on the donate link above to see how, and if you do it online, please just send me an email to let me know! I would love love love to have another $3,000 worth of donations for these totally awesome organizations.

Okay, now I've got to get off this couch and get on my bike to head down to Ohio Street Beach for my first full mile swim in the lake. :)

Fear of Fish

I finally I did the thing I always dread every year: I swam in the lake.

I like colorful little pet fish in tanks, and have no problem visiting the aquarium. But put anything that grew up in water on a plate in front of me to eat and my stomach will clench up. I even had trouble taking prenatal vitamins with DHA that I knew had fish oil in them. My family finds this phobia rather amusing and has played terrible tricks on me throughout my life, including telling me that a swordfish steak was a pork chop when I was 9 years old, feeding me squid ink pasta when I was 20 years old (I thought the black color was just a novelty thing), throwing a shrimp tail on my bare skin at Ikea and dangling baby calamari (tentacles & all) in my face at an otherwise lovely family meal.

But for me, the only thing worse than eating a fish would be to inadvertently touch a fish/sea monster while in a lake, ocean, or river. Slimy! Cold-blooded! Potentially trying to eat me or drag me down to the depths to never be seen again!

It's like this.

Now, it is absolutely necessary to do some lake swims when you're training for the Chicago Triathlon, because this race's swim course is in Monroe Harbor, right by Buckingham Fountain downtown. You need to practice swimming in a straight line, experience the cold water, get used to being hit in the face with a wave right when you're taking a breath, and develop the endurance to keep going with no breaks like those you can take while turning around at the end of each lap in a pool.

So at 5:30 am in the morning I got on my bike and rode down the lakefront path (so much faster than running!) to Ohio Street Beach, which is just north of Navy Pier. This is the spot where many triathletes in Chicago do their training, because you can swim a full half mile north right along the seawall, and there are a few buoys to help guide you. I locked up my bike, struggled into my wetsuit, and waded in. I am always so scared that I am going to touch a fish - and there is plenty of gross seaweed that you can't avoid swimming into, as well as lots of fish-impersonating (imfishating?) trash such as sneakers, bottles, solo cups, etc.

Ohio Street Beach, just north of Navy Pier

But somehow, someway, it was a perfect day for a swim - the water was completely calm, plenty of other folks in the water, and I just DID it. And front stroke the whole way! And the only fish I saw were tiny little skinny 2 inch ones, which are not SO scary. I did a half mile, which is half of the full international distance, so I'll have to come back at least a few more times. Wish me luck!

July Training Recap

July 2012 Stats:

• 22 days working out
• 96 miles running
• 106 miles on the bike
• 77 laps in the pool and 1/2 mile in the lake

Well, I definitely skimped on my bike & swim training in July - but the thing I'm really NOT skimping on is the running required for the marathon. I KNOW how miserable I was during the 2006 marathon, because I severely undertrained, and I'm trying really hard not to do that again.

For August (and September, actually), I'm just in survival mode. I'm starting a new job on August 20th after 2 years of being a stay-at-home mommy/very-part-time tutor, and I've got a to-do list a mile long of things that need to get done in the next 3 weeks. But all I WANT to do is spend every available moment with my baby girl who I am going to miss SO MUCH when I'm away from her all day. So this training really feels like a burden right now - but it has got to be done, and I know I'll be grateful I did it on August 26th when I'm in the water during the triathlon and on October 7th when I'm (slowly) running the marathon. And I'm definitely motivated and buoyed by the generous and sacrificial donations I've received in the past few months for some of the 12 nonprofits. Thank you to those who have given!