Chicago Chase Corporate Challenge

Chase Corporate Challenge

Ran the chase corporate challenge last week, no photos or garmin track for this post as the computer that has the garmin software on it is currently dead (needs a new graphics card).

The good..

Had a great time ran a 26.15 for the 3.5miles (7.5 ish min miles). This by far was a PB for me across that distance. 2 years ago it was my first race in my new healthy lifestyle and ran it in 35 mins. So it was great to come back and see how much I had achieved.

Newtons felt great, performed really well and with the new shoes I continue to not have blisters.

The bad.. (my rant)

23600 people complete this race, so as you can guess it can be quite congested as its only 3.5 miles. However the organisers try to take this into account by trying to set minutes per mile banners at the start to give people an idea of where they should be lining up. However... not everyone seems to understand how fast 7 minute miles really are.

Walking is not 7 minutes per mile! 2 years ago when I ran this I started in the 10 minute section and ending up walking almost the first half mile, so this year I lined up at the 7min mile knowing I would run between that and 8 min mile. However there were a large number of idiots walking and running very slowly who did not seem to understand why they should line up correctly.

Also these walkers/runners tend to run in pairs meaning all of a sudden the path is blocked in front of you. Afraid after the 4th or 5th last second dodge around people, I lost my patience and barged between the next pair. (hangs head in shame, I know very rude). I did notice all the dodging did tweak my hamstrings a bit while they were cold and it took a while to warm up properly.

After the first mile it was easier to move through the crowd as everyone is running roughly the same pace.

Baby update..

Babies are still not here, Gemma has her c-section planned for 6th June, so only a few more weeks of just the two of us.

What a difference 6 months makes!

What a difference 6 months makes..
6 months ago the element was my tri transport vehicle, it was great I could put the bike in their fully assembled and take a ton of kit with me.. here is a picture of the car when we drove down to Florida for IM.

6 months later and the babies are about to arrive. The car has changed from being my tri transport to the baby transporter.

Not shown in this picture is also the massive twin bob stroller that now takes up the trunk space!


Guess my poor bike will be relegated to a bike carrier on the outside. Unless that is, it is legal to strap the baby seats to the roof.... um must look into that. Just a little worried about strapping the bike to the back of the car, wouldn't want it to fall of ;-)

Ran the Chase Coporate challenge last night, will I tell you about that in my next post also in that next post you will hear me rant about an incident on the chase corporate challenge. (I rarity for me I know!)

Cycling Socks at Work

Flatman set a challenge to wear your coolest cycling socks to work. For me there was only one pair of socks that would do...

1st Bithday

Today is my first birthday, its been a year since I completed my first official triathlon. 1 year ago yesterday I completed the Galena sprint triathlon. (660yds lake swim, a hilly 16.8 mile bike, and a very hilly 4.3 mile run.) Upon completing this first triathlon I knew triathlon was for me, and that I had found my sport.

Entered a few more events now
A number of friends are running the Muddy Buddy here in Chicago so have signed up for that, team name is Nor4k n Chance (say it quickly).
I still have a half IM to sign up for but other than that I think my season plan is complete.

Shamrock Shuffle (Completed)

Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5m Run - 22nd May (Entered)

2 Mile Swim - Splish Splash Lake in the hills - 14th June (Entered)

Oly Tri - Twin Lakes Tri - 29th June (Entered)

2 Mile Swim - Splish Splash Crystal Lake - 12th Jul (Entered)

Oly Tri - Lake In the Hills Tri - 19th Jul (Entered)

Running - Muddy Buddy - 3rd Aug (Entered)

1/2 Iron - Lake Geneva - 6th Sept or Great Illni. Not sure which yet.

100m - North Shore Century - 21st Sept

100m - Apple Cider Century - 28th Sept

IM Florida - Nov 1st (Entered)

Two weeks ago I completed a 9 miler (the longest in my Newtons so far) and I got the largest blood blister I have ever seen! Went back to the Tri shop and talked through what had happened. Without a question they switched out the shoes (had them for 4 months and run almost 60 miles), and they got me to try a different pair of Newtons with less support. Been running with these for 2 weeks now (couple of 5 milers and two 8 milers) and the difference is amazing. Confidence in the shoes has been restored.

Babies are doing well, we are now past 35 weeks and they are due any day. Finally persuaded Gemma to create a blog, to show friends and family the babies development.

2 posts in one day wow. This is more a post for my UK readers, but it was an emotional weekend for another reason. I am a Football fan (soccer for any US readers) and yesterday was the last day of the season for my beloved Southampton FC. And as usual we were at the wrong end of the table fighting relegation.

(Relegation for any US reader is where the team can drop down to a lower division, a very different concept from US sports I know).

We needed a win, and to hope that other teams lost to stop us getting relegated. Well we managed to survive. Below is a little video showing what my emotions were like..

Moving house, and getting ready for the twins

Wow its been a busy 2 weeks. No babies yet, which is a good thing. Gemma is now 33 weeks, and we need the twins to stay in for another 3-4 weeks.

Last weekend we moved apartments, I think you forget how much stuff you accumulate, and by stuff I mean junk.
With Gemma being pregnant she could not help at all, much to her frustration, so we relied heavily on friends. Without them I could not have moved us. It took 5 of us 10 hours to move a 2 bedroom apartment. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Great strength workout though.

So now we are in our new place Gemma can start nesting. The cribs went up last night, and Gemma can start getting the babies room together. (I can put the bike up on the trainer in the spare room and start nesting with my sports kit!)


On the training front, I have been able to keep up my low level of training. Continued to do 2 spin classes a week, 1 core class and 2x 5-10 mile runs a week. Nothing major, just enough to keep myself ticking over until the end of this month when training will start to increase for the run up to IM FL. Need to get back into some swimming as well. (Update.. got a 6.3 mile run done plus a 36 mile bike this weekend. Bike was on the trainer and I noticed the speedo was still reading 112 miles as that was the last time I'd ridden my bike!)



B-FitB-Day
I have joined Romans B-FitB-Day site. Originally I didn't sign up as my Birthday is the beginning of Jan and the site wasn't set up then. So I was talking to Roman and I am going to nominate a Birthday for this year as my Birthday was before the site was up. After further discussions I am going to choose the week the twins are born (sometime in May). I doubt there is a chance I can do the Gold, of all events in 24hours, but I hope to be able to get the silver (all in 72 hours). For me that means 3 miles swim, 30 miles bike, and 3 miles run.

My First Baby Purchase

Iron Babies (I know a terrible extravagance but they look great!). 2 in yellow for the baby girls. Though they only had them in size 12months so they will have to wait a while to wear them.