Naperville Sprint Triathlon

The Naperville Sprint triathlon was just one week after Steelhead so I took the week pretty easy leading up to it. It's always fun to do this race! This was my first triathlon ever 5 years ago. Race morning rolled around and I got into downtown Naperville. I decided to hop on my bike and warm up a little bit before headint to transition. I got checked in and set up, went for a short run, got my swim stuff and headed to the water. I was unsure weather to wear my speedsuit or not but after a short warm-up without it, I decided to wear it (my jersey has a lot of drag in the water). The race has a time trial start with 4 athletes going every few seconds. I started in the 2nd group in hopes of avoiding as much traffic as possible.

I came out of the water in 3rd place overall (and had the 3rd fastest swim). I transitioned to the bike and was in 2nd place. A mile or 2 into the bike I took over the lead and was pushing hard knowing that there was some good competition behind me. The bike is a 2 loop course and at the start of the 2nd loop there are a lot more racers on the course starting their first lap. I got passed about this time but made sure not to let Jason (the guy who passed me) get too far ahead. I kept him in sight the rest of the way and passed him with less than a half mile left in the bike.

Coming down Aurora Ave on the bike (Picture by Brandon Gittlemen)

In T2 I turned down the wrong aisle and couldn't figure out where my stuff was! Always make sure you know where your going in transition! Me and Jason came out of T2 at exactly the same time and unlike last year at this race, my running legs felt good! We battled it out the entire way and with about 100m to go I pulled away and crossed the line in first! At this point I was estatic but still not totally sure if I had won since everyone starts at a different time and I knew there were a couple of really good guys behind me including fellow PowerBar athlete Ryan Guilano.

Me and Jason on the run...stride for stride the entire run!

A little while later they posted the results and it was official! I was so happy! The race couldn't really have gone any better. My finishing time was 56:37, about 15 seconds faster than last year and apparently the swim was a little long....My swim time was 5:55 (3rd OA), bike time was 30:57 (2nd OA, 26.5 mph), and my run time was 16:50 (4th OA).

Next up is age group nationals! This will be the first time I am doing this race and very excited about it! Training was a little down for a few weeks after Naperville as I was getting ready to move down to Florida to start Grad school at Florida State University. Between packing things up to leave, driving down, and looking for a place to live training was a little difficult. Things are back on track now though and I have my own appartment here in Tallahassee and have started training with the FSU triathlon club!

My new appartment in Tallahassee!!