Chicago Triathlon | Pre Race Tips | Freddy Machete Tips

oh sorry I got excuse me sir sir it looks like we have none other than Freddy machete here Fred Fred critz 20ish time Iron Man swim support for the Chicago try uh you just swam in Lake Michigan yeah how how is the swim here in Chicago it's about one of the best ones in the world the water's clear it's cool pristine um you can't beat it it's a great training day or just something to do every day every day of your life if uh if you're not familiar with Chicago uh Ohio Street beach here is the number one place in Chicago to Open Water Swim we got lockers we have a designated swimming area with quter mile half mile buoys it is the number one place for people come to to warm up before the Chicago try absolutely um and do you have any do you have any tips for race day Fred anything to calm some anxiet for the first timers or the experienced athletes yeah my number one tip when you start swimming don't go too fast you know for folks who've done foot races when you're doing a a 5k or a 10K or a marathon you don't start out like you're going to do your best 100 meter dash a lot of people start swimming like they're going to do their best 100 yards about 200 yards they start to lose their breath when you're running you just slow your pace down and you know within 1 minute it'll catch your breath people don't have the patience when they're swimming they slow down and they're not catching their breath yet just slow down and have faith you'll catch your breath in about 30 seconds so don't go out too fast and when you slow down know you're going to catch your breath soon yeah F focus on your breathing first yeah then then focus on your stroke and your effort so start easy and build in on my when I do swim support for the Chicago triathon I'm usually in that first 100 to 200 yards on my board and that's where I see people needing the most help they just need to be calmed down and remember that they can just Glide across the water and that usually works for them yeah and there there's no rule in Tron that says you actually have to like go fast and swim hard right in the beginning so you can just float around for a little bit yeah let let other people swim past you and then get your own space as well yeah and then just follow them just just follow their feet they might pull you along so when you when you finish this swim this is a question we get a lot do you peel your wet suit off right away and throw it over your shoulder to run into transition or do you peel it down partway or do you keep your wet suit on until you get into transition I've done it every way at the Chicago Triathlon myself I want to get that thing off so I can run to transition I wouldn't get it off right away as I get out I mean you know you clear some of the family and The Spectators that are standing around the swim exit you just go off maybe about 20 40 yards and then peel it off completely and run with it and because it's going to be a warm uh weekend I have some friends who are saying hey I'm going to go without the wet suit so I don't even have to worry about that um you know it depends on whether or not you're comfortable swimming that without a wet suit or not but uh yeah I like to peel it right before how about you do you yeah yeah especially if it's a hot day which is forecasted to be as soon as you get out of the water strip the wet suit off step on the material throw the wet suit over your shoulder and run into transition so you're not not overheating on on race day yeah so cool that's a a quick tip from none other than uh Iron Man legend and Chicago Tri volunteer extraordinaire uh Fred crit down here at Ohio Street beach so good luck everybody on race day and uh we'll see you out there [Applause]