Chicago Done and Onto Portland

Chicago Triathlon was a good but not great race for me. I felt very good going in, felt very ready to rip it then I swam HORRIBLY. Lined up in poor position in the 2nd row on the inside and I was screwed in the first couple hundred as everyone bunched in. Major mistake on my part. Then I just plain felt terrible swimming. The water was 76 the day before the race and it felt the same on race day but the reading was 70 so it was a wetsuit swim. I just felt roasting and bad.
On the bike and it was hard to really get going. I stuck with it, passed a few guys but for the most part really didn't see anyone on the bike which made it tough. 59:XX for the bike which is alright, would have been nice to be a couple minutes faster though.
Hit the run and then all the sudden there were guys everwhere and it was a massacre! It felt sort of hot since we started at 11am but it was only in the upper 70's so didn't feel that bad. For whatever reason the other guys were having a tough time of it on the run. I was off the bike in 22nd then passed on guy then another then...I was in the top 15 and there were still guys to be caught. Managed to get myself into 12th which all in all is very good for the Chicago Tri with all of its 8,XXX participants. But with the bad swim I felt like I missed an opportunity to get into the top 10 and be in the mix. I really wasn't 'IN' the race the way things played out. Gotta swim better!
I felt a bit odd during the race with a headache on the bike and felt like I was about to past out right after which aren't common maladies for me. Then sure enough I got a cold the Tuesday after. I'd usually train through it but I haven't had any kind of break since about February so I figured I'd just sit it out, wait til I got better, then get back into the training. I also felt that a mental break from the training would be good.
This past week I got back into the full training and now it's coming together again. My buddy Jason Finch let me try his 2XU wetsuit and that thing felt great. Granted the other guys swam sans wetsuit but I was still swimming great. We swam some hard open water 300's with all out starts to simulate racing. The workout was great and I swam well.
Thursday we rode the crit loop. 16 laps time trial alternating hard/easy. Rode 3:42, 3:35, 3:40, 3:38, 3:39, 3:50, 3:57, 3:57. Hit the hurt at the end but I rode the early and middle ones "all in" so it was all good.
That's it for now, time for Mexican food and margaritas.

Jordan