Today I participated in the 2012 TriRock Lake Geneva Olympic Distance. I finished the race in 2 hours and 54 minutes and 29 seconds. Technically it was a personal record for an Olympic distance (Like 5 seconds better because Lake Geneva has a 28 mile course not a s 25 mile course like Chicago’s). Looking back at my first Triathlon back in 2007 I’ve improved so much. My transitions are under 2:10 (My first transition was almost six minutes!), I have a better bike, and I’m a stronger cyclist.
Training was not going so well this time and I wasn’t expecting to PR. My plan was to have a good race, to be consistent, and treat it as my 20 mile training run for the Chicago Marathon.
Below are the Nitty Gritty Details
- Swim: 32:05 (2:09 yds)
- Trans 1: 2:24
- Bike: 1:24:14 (19.9 miles per hour)
- Trans 2: 2:01
- Run: 53:47 (8:41 minutes per mile)
- 145/474 in the 31-35 Men’s Age Division
This was the first year Competitor Magazine ran the Lake Geneva Tri. Speaking with athletes that have done this event before they said it was a quite improvement. I do agree the the race was handled quite well. There were some snags along the way, but I would think all those little things will get fixed by next year.
Here is what went really well with the race:
- Nice Shirt
- Good Swim and bike Layout
- Good Run Support
- Good Medical Support
- Lifeguards that were smart enough to hold off the race for 30 minutes for the lake fog to clear up.
- Breakfast for the finishers
- nice medal
- Wood bike racks in transition instead of the metal poles that had a space for tri bags and forced everyone into the correct bike position. (This was a great idea)
- The race was not priced bad.
Here is what could be improved upon for next year.
- Better directions to the parking lot. If I had an address My GPS would of gotten me to the race faster.
- More buoys in the water.
- The run got cramped at times runners were using the same sidewalk going up and down it. The run needs to be redesigned.
- Better communication on where packet pick-up is.
- The timing chips were bulky and got my ankle chaffed up good. The use of disposable chips would be nice. I would have preferred to used my own strap.
- There was no mention that you pick up your tracking chip on race day. I was freaking out the night before that I thought I lost my chip.
- For something that was called the TriRock, There was only one band the entire time.
That’s it overall TriRock Lake Geneva was a great race. I would consider doing it again and recommending it to my friends.