Chicago Triathlon FTP 2024 - #4 Run Clinic

um we will go ahead and get started here um welcome to the uh so we are now at Clinic number four uh so the Run Clinic um so I'll just quickly go over the you know kind of uh introduction information in case there's anybody who you know is here for the first time or watching uh one of these clinics for the first time um so my name is Gillian I am one of the co Coes of the first timr Clinic I do all of the virtual clinics um so you can always reach out to me uh via our Facebook group the first ERS Facebook group or um at my own email address which is Gillian so g l l i n live l i v grit git t.com um I appreciate uh those who are here in uh real time so I'm going to lean on you all to ask all the questions that I forget uh for your fellow athletes who are going to be watching this on video so as always these are the goal here is to answer your questions um just over the years I hope to uh we've kind of learned what the questions are that the first- timers have so that's how we've compiled these um and changed these clinics over um over the you know seven or eight years but please yell out your questions type them in the chat um the run is the usually the shortest easiest of the clinics um because there's not a lot that I'm going to tell you that you you know probably don't already know um the next Clinic that will is going to be the transition clinic and that's usually the the one that most people have been waiting for to learn about those Transitions and and how they go what to think about what to do and what to expect um little caveat having a little internet issue so if I get uh delayed or kind of um spotty just type in the chat that you can't hear me or something like that um I'm also out of town and there's a major road behind me so hopefully we don't have too many buses um driving by so I apologize for any background noise but with that let's get this kicked off so um Swim Bike Run just a recap that is the order that you are going to be doing uh the different sports for the triathlon um and so we've gone through the swim we've gone through the bike and now we are going through the run the only other sport uh the fourth sport of triathlons transitions that's what we'll talk about next uh in in a couple of weeks so as far as distances if you are doing Saturday's race distances in the course um you you have a 2.5 uh kilometer run so that's about one and a half miles um the Run course here is this blue line so that's south on the lakefront path um so you're going from basically Foster Beach down to Montrose you turn around and you head back north um again if this is your first Clinic uh definitely go back and watch the other ones but this Orange Box right here that's the transition so you're going to come into to the bike on the northwest side um so up in the corner and then you're going to run out of trans position on the Southeast side um so that's for Saturday's Super Sprint race um oh hold on a second let me go back um so real quick I'm GNA show you much like I did for the bike a very short video that was done years ago um for the Chicago Triathlon but I think good overview so and then we'll talk about it so let me know if you can't hear it Trans Am pathline The Run [Music] course the Run course in Chicago is truly oneof a kind spanning vast stretches of Chicago's magnificent Lakefront through its world famous parks with breathtaking views around every corner beautiful and exciting from the very start the run's aome you head out of transition you're running South um hundreds of Spectators so you got all the spectators from the swim cour are spectating the run as well it feels great because it's so beautiful and it's not one of those like concrete very boring path runs it's so gorgeous you forget you literally forget that you're in a race the 5K Sprint distance competitors will cross Walden Drive then turn around and head back North Olympic distance Racers cover 10 K heading further south past McCormack place before making their turnaround spectacular views throughout the race passing iconic Chicago landmarks one after another you come down through the museum campus area you're going through Grant Park past Buckingham Fountain all these landmarks you go around the Shed Aquarium Soldier Field you know if you're doing the Olympic distance past mccormic place all these you know Staples to Chicago and but the best part is actually when you're finishing when you're coming back you come around the Shed Aquarium and the skyline just opens up to you and that just there's something about that that just you know gives you a little chills and you look up and then you're like wow this is truly truly a unique unique race at that point everyone is heading Westward then under Lake Shore Drive before making one final turn at Columbus Drive for one of the most exciting finishes in all of amateur sport you know that's where the adrenaline kicks in and if you thought you didn't have anything you all of a sudden found something that you didn't think you had to get to the Finish when I spit around that corner and on that final stretch I'm like in a full Sprint it's amazing come on when you get up to the Finish Line you're coming down that shoot he's yelling your name great race great job great finish and everybody screams for you nice job the race is over but the party has just begun live music cold drinks so much food and an incredible feeling of accomplishment and camaraderie shared by all oh it's awesome it's great energy everyone's got all their endorphins released it's awesome to be around all these motivated people can relax finally it's over it's done let's do it again all right so hopefully that gets you a little excited um but um but that was yeah you could see the the course the uh during that video so obviously it's Sprint you're doing a 5k uh International distance you're doing a 10K um so 3.1 about 3.1 miles versus and then 6.2 miles um so here is the course again so as we've talked about it um the transition is up here in the orange Big Orange uh blob here um you're going to come in so the red lines are the bike so like we talked about in the last Clinic you're going to come in on the northwest side um and then to run go out for the Run you're going to go out on the south um westish side um and we talked about this last time but there's going to be big arches that will say you know bike in run out so you you'll know exactly where to go um if you're doing the Sprint distance that turnaround is uh just south of Soldier Field at walren drive so if you want to do a dry run of the the Run course um you can uh that's where you would turn around and then go up to Columbus back up to Columbus Drive if you're doing the international you're going to go all the way down to in this cut off a little bit sorry 31st Street beach um basically and turn around there and the for the Sprint there is one there's there is an aid station so like water and such right when you're coming out of transition um and then there's one at the turnaround um and depending on kind of the Heat and stuff they may sometimes if it's a hotter year they'll bring out the fire trucks and have water and sprinklers like along the course cooling you down um and then for the international you'll you'll actually have so you have the Aid Station at Waldren and then you'll also have it at 31st Street and then you'll have it again back at Waldren so there'll be three Aid stations um for you um and we'll talk a little bit about nutrition and such um in a minute here but that's the course pretty straightforward it ends on Columbus Drive um there we'll talk more about this um obviously you can see where the F for finish and the transition are not uh in the same area um so that is walkable if you want to and lots of people do um or they're going to have trolleys that will take you from the Finish Line Festival back up to the transition area um so uh a question that was just asked great question is the Run closed off to only triathletes no the lakefront path is uh is is open um and they they can't close it totally off but um but what I you know I think people you know either come up on it and are like oh I didn't know this was happening I'm gonna go the other way or you know very few people aren't in the in the triathlon who choose to be amongst that many people running on the lakefront but no it is not um you're not they will keep like bikers uh you know from you know have them not going down the the leg front path but um but you will see the uh stray you know kind of uh weakened Runner out there um but yes so that's that um any questions on course or distance pop them in there um but we will move on to kind of gear um so clothing and accessories uh so we you've seen this before if you've seen the other um clinics but running it's it's fairly straightforward so you need some kind of shoes um you know as I say that I I realize every year somebody asks if barefoot running is allow and I always get the answer to that but so if that is a question for you you know email me and we can uh find that answer but most people are going to wear running some kind of running shoe um so you will either have worn that shoe on the bike if you're not flipping in um or you're G to take off your bike shoes and put on your running shoes um and uh then we have sunglasses sunglasses hats something if it's a sunny day is something you might want um and then the race belt so this is something we've talked about um so it's this um and it's something you can put your number on because for triathlons you only need to wear that front number and it does have to be on the front for the Run for the swim you aren't going to have any numbers on you it's going to be based on the color your cap color and then you are going to have a timing chip that you wear throughout the whole race and then on the bike you will have to put a number on your helmet and a couple of numbers on your bike um that they lay out very clearly uh in the packet where to put them or feel free you know there's going to be a lot of us down at the Expo to help um or even race morning though you'll need to have your numbers on your bike before you get into transition um but they they have instructions for that but you only need the front number for the run so some people do wear it on the bike and and safety pin it to their shirt um I guess you know the one thing to think about is just it kind of blowing in the wind and if you're wearing that um shirt you know for the swims or if you're wearing a TR on you don't want to wear that number while you're swimming um necessarily so so that's why a lot of people use this race belt so they you know I usually I put it in my shoe so I don't forget it um and it's the first thing I put on after I get off the bike a lot of them also have place for you to put nutrition so these are like the Goos we've talked about before um so so that's uh one thing and um and talking on nutrition hydration vest and hydration belt are totally allowed you can wear a camel bath totally allowed um you can wear it on the bike um that's allowed so you can do that for sure um but uh and then so let me go back to so we have yeah so the run the things that are different from obviously you're going to be wearing some kind of clothing so whether that's a triathlon suit or whatever short top you're going for um so you will have had that from the beginning um you may have put on socks for the bike that you are then going to put into your running shoes um or you might just if you didn't wear socks on the bike putting those on when you go out for the Run um a couple other random things you know that you can think about is some kind of sports watch to keep you know the time Pace um things like that but but other than that that's really the only gear for the Run um body Glide we haven't talked a lot about body Glide so it's an anti-chafing thing um if you do you know uh run you probably heard of this so anything you know basically if if you go out for a long run and there's anything so whether it's where your sports bra hits or like you know where your shorts at whatever it is um body Glide helps to with the the chafing the other really good use of body Glide is it you can use it on like your ankles or your wrist to help get a wet suit on that's one thing or the back of your neck if you're wearing a wet suit so if you've tried one on thus far inevitably or you've seen in the back there's velcro that uh latches it together um at some point in time you're going to get that velcro a little bit off and not know it and you're GNA come back from a swim and be like wow why does my neck hurt um and it's because that's been rubbing on your neck so FR guide great to just to put on your neck as well um but really we we we thought the slide was a little boring to just say you need shoes so so just a couple other things to think about um but but while we're talking about shoes uh shoes are really important um and so I would highly recommend you know if you're in the market for a new pair of shoes of going to a running if you don't have a pair that you've worn you know that you know you love this brand in this style um and they're just your go-to shoe going to one of the running stores around is a great thing to do to have them look at you know how you run and finding the right shoe that fits for you much like uh biking and what I talked about last time you know that biking should not be uncomfortable because of the position you're in biking might be uncomfortable because you're pushing yourself you're building up your endurance you're riding into headwind that might make you uncomfortable but you should not be in pain when you're riding a bike much like you should not be in pain from your shoes and such uh when you're running so just don't be like this is just part of running yes running is hard and it hurts sometimes but not because uh you know it shouldn't hurt you know because of your shoes um nutrition and hydration so um there are multiple points in the triathlon that you're going to make want to really make sure you have your nutrition and hydration down first one being uh that morning of you know before you get into the water what is it that you are going to take with you from transition down to the starts um and for that hour you know hour plus that you're waiting what is it that you're going to be consuming um and that's certainly going to be some kind of hydration so water um electrolytes um and again there are so many different kinds out there um that you can try the biggest thing is to try them before race day um and then some kind of nutrition you know just having water and electrolytes is not going to be enough for the distance and the time that you're going to be from start to to finish here you're going to want to be consuming calories and you never want to get in a deficit of of the Cal you know the energy that you're taking in um so one making sure you know you're eating um before you get into the water you know you don't necessarily if if you're doing the international distance and you're leaving your house at 3:30 in the morning you don't want to not have anything to eat at that 6:30 time or whatever seven that you're getting in the water um and the big thing is is also don't try to get fancy with it and and you know um I think obviously like the old like carbu like pasta dinner before you know my personal biggest advice is whatever you train with eat that on race day you know even if it may not sound like the most you know um like I said we had one of our coaches uh who you know he was a big fan of Froot Loops and a banana and so that's what he even you know on race day wrote ate his Froot Loops and banana before he got in the water um so that that's your first time the morning up and then you have your first transition so going from the swim to the bike um and making sure you have you just water there again water and nutrition you know when are these points that it is going to be easy for you to take in hydration and take in nutrition um you know you certainly being in transition it's a lot easier to you know eat a goo or a banana or whatever it is that you want at that time than it is on the bike obviously you know it is possible and you should still be taking it in but but kind of finding those points that are easiest for you to do these things um and then what I said you know last time on the bike Clinic the biggest problem I see or kind of um you know issue is for people who are newer to biking cycling who um don't get comfortable with taking the water bottle out of the water bottle cage while you're riding with people around you so really practicing that when you're out on your rides of drinking out of a water bottle while you're riding um because that bike you know it's going to be you that's the longest you're it's going to be long and you certainly don't want to get dehydrated on the bike um uh and then you come back and you have another transition taking that opportunity to take in some nutrition and hydration um and then we then we get to the run and uh the run as we talked about has the Aid Station s they are Gatorade they'll have water and then Gatorade endurance which you know like Gatorades sports drink um again if you you know it's worth trying the Gatorade endurance beforehand so you make sure you like it and it it works for you but um but just knowing that's what they have and if that's not what you want to do then you're going to have to have some kind of hydration belt or something like that um and as far as how much nutrition you know I mean I'll be transmitted I I'm not a uh you know uh performance coach so I can't I don't want to like you know give recommendations as to how much nutrition you should be taken in and there are ways to get very specific around these things um but you know we big of them is I wouldn't go 100 calories an hour um so like those goo packets you know those tend to be like a 100 calories of like minimum that that's what you're you're taking in um um from a like energy standpoint but really it's going to be you going out on some of these long runs these long rides these brick workouts and trying what works for you um you know things to like be mindful of if you start getting like the Choy sweats you're dehydrated um if you just kind of you know if you're out on a run and you kind of hit that like you know low um earlier than you would expect you might be low on energy and nutrition so just you know kind of start starting to think about this now making notes about like what you drank and how you felt um by the end of the workout and see if you can kind of figure out what kind of nutrition hydration works for you so um so that is that um or Gatorade endurance um that's gear any questions on gear or anything pop them in the chat um I will keep an eye out for that um so training um kind of three different ways we're training for the Run um you know at this point big one is long runs is building up that endurance um for uh your long run um uh so you know if we look at the I get over to this thing if we look at uh so this is week six S8 of the very basic um training plan that we have on the first timers page um but you look at you know so these long runs we're going by minutes here um versus uh mileage um but also you know it's called The Run there is no need um and I don't majority of people you know are probably not running the whole thing so though it's a run you know you may find that what works best for you is some kind of uh you know interval of run walk or even you know uh a walk that whatever it is at this point you know your your goal is to get to the end uh that finish line um like in the video so um that it's called right you know whatever works for you to get up to that distance of whether that's the 3.1 or to the uh 6.2 miles um but then um you know on our training plan specifically we don't have at this point the interval training interval like so that's more speed training so it does help build with uh endurance in in such in a certain way um we don't have that built in at this point um mainly because our this plan again being a very basic plan um designed for people you know kind of starting out and trying to get to that endurance and then working on you know the speed um we're more focused on those long runs and the distance and the bricks um so the bricks are if you look on this the middle of the road here um that is when you go on a long bike ride and then and as we talked about you get off your bike and right away so just just like you're in transition you get off your bike you know lock it if you're out on the lak front path um put on your shoes or just get off your bike if you're wearing your run shoes and right away you go out on that run um and you're not doing as long of a run as like the uh your long run day um but you go go out for the the run and the idea here is to get your body used to moving from the bike to the Run um and so it's very important and I would start you know we are already what July I would start building that if you're not doing this start building this in one day a week you don't have to do it more than that if it if you don't fit it into your schedule um but doing it at least one day a week getting that brick workout in um though it's perfectly great to you know if you go for a swim and then you the time and you want to go for a bike or whatever it's great to practice that too it's not really it you know it doesn't serve exactly the same purpose um as like I would highly recommend these brick workouts um so kind of going back to interval trains if you are up to the endurance of um you know that whether it's the 5K or the 10K then you might want to build in some kind of interval workouts um one of the days a week and that's where you're going to do you know something like you might run you know go 90 seconds at a um you know 80% effort so 80% of your like uh capacity to to run or walk um and then you do a you know 30 second uh recovery or something like that again you can find a ton of interval workouts by Googling interval run workouts for triathlons um but um but I would say number one at this point with the time we have left is about building the endurance and then building in the speed you know and um you know in the offseason and things like that um so let me answer a few questions here um uh so great qu there's a great question so the question is about nutrition and and what do you do with it for the bike um and and I'll answer for the run too so yes so you're not GNA want to swim with your nutrition so if you let's hypothetically say we're using like goo packets or like shot blocks which are like gum bare things um you're not going to want to swim with them so you would have them in transition next to your bike stuff um or already depending you know um yeah so next to your stuff in the in next to your bike stuff um and if you have a shirt or shorts with pockets you can just stuff them into the pockets of your shirt or short and then that would also be something to practice is taking it out and um you know eating it while you're writing remembering that one of the penalties you can get um is for littering so whatever you take on put it back in that pocket um your clothes will get Gilly and that's fine people do also tape them to their bike if if that's what um you want if you don't have pockets or or whatever reason you can definitely take them to the bike the other option is that they do make bags that are called like pop tube bags that go around the top bar of your bike and they have a zipper and you can put them in there so then you just unzip and do it so a top tube bag would be the other option but again whatever option you choose make sure you practice it um but those would be the three options in your shirt tape to your bike or in a top tube bag um let's see and then as as far as a great question about body Glide when do you use it um and that's G to kind of be up to you and your you know how helpful you find it I mean if you historically not add a lot of like chaing issues or you run and you know no big deal um then then you know then obviously don't use it if you do then yes you would want to put it on before the Run um if that's where you're using it for Because by the time you've gotten to the run after the water of the bike and then the uh or sorry water of the swim and then the sweat of the bike it's going to be gone so yeah you would just slap it on wherever it is as you're running out you as your end transition so great questions though those are great um all right so um yep there's that um so okay so much else to say on the run so if you have any run specific questions pop them in the chats so what I've found is about now we're starting to get a little question a lot of questions about you know how's the day work timing and such do not take anything any of the numbers here as like the final numbers these are from the past year um so um so basically if you're doing the internet so if you look at the big the the timing on the right oh so the timing up here on the left the small box that's the Super Sprint um so the Super Sprint goes after the kids triathlon at Foster Beach um so you have to be out of transition by 9:45 a.m. um so you can if say for example you have a child doing the kids try you can go into transition at 5:30 when they're there and it closes at 645 um but then the kids try is going to go and then it will reopen at 9900 am and you'll have 45 minutes to put your stuff down in transition then transition will close at 9:45 so that's for Saturday's race for Sunday's race transition will open at 4:00 a.m. for absolutely the international distance but if you're doing the Sprint and you are there for whatever reason you can go in at that time it closes at 5:45 and then the race starts at 6:00 AM um the uh transition then opens again at 6:30 for the Sprints and then close it again at 800 am so all of these times are to make sure the flow of athletes nobody can be in transition when the race has started unless you're coming through as an athlete so that's why it Clos closes and then the race starts it's also why that there is a time that you're going to have to wait um because there are you know so many waves and such um and you can't be in transition um so that's yes so closes at ADM and then uh the Sprint starts you know around right around 8 AM um they do have times around athletes entering the water exiting the water but I'm going to reiterate that uh you know we had a long discussion last year with the head official and basically what he said to me is he cannot recall in the years he's been doing this um if an athlete was progressing forward in whatever you know in some way you know uh then um they are not you know they're not pulling you out of the water but you know but they have to put time frames on it and um but that is but even past that they they do not if you are moving forward they are going to be right there with you get getting you to the Finish Line um let's see um I I think this was a big question last year so I just for this year to show everybody uh parking if you know you're going to park these are the garages you're going to park in again we'll talk way more about this on uh race day the race day prep one but I do think you can buy discounted parking passes at this point for these Lots um and it's a really easy you're to come up and you'll be like right at Lakeshore Drive to get into transition now at the last clinic and at the core stock they will we're gonna we'll talk about if you are coming for the Sprint because the international the early transition you can enter right off of Monroe for the when the transition reopens at 6:30 you're going to have to enter off of Rand off um but again it'll be super marked um and we'll talk about that more as it gets closer but just kind of wanted to want to give people an idea so you can start planning in your head um if you are staying at the Hilton Hotel it's right down on Michigan Avenue so easy walk right over there um yeah so um I do uh okay so this is an example um of the and I do just want to put this out there um this has changed in so many different ways every single year I have no pull as to when the first timers go um and over the last eight years there's been multiple different you know thoughts and on how it goes this is the first year that this triathlon's being run by a new super TR which is a really exciting for a lot of reasons um but I don't know where they're going to put the first timers but I wanted to show this so you can see kind of how the timing works um and how uh they're split up so I I do believe this was last year's um and like I said you know you're gonna at first looked at this and be like whoa why do I have to an hour and a half that's GNA be a long time I promise it goes fast um but if you you know and and like I said we're not going to know until like two weeks before what how the um how the divisions are broken up but if you you know so you can certainly if you feel comfortable at this point for you being in the actual first- Tim wave um you know you can transfer into one of the age group ones if you want but I can say I can't promise they're not going to all of sudden then this year move the first- timers first or whatever but I do want to just throw this out there um so that it's not a surprise if you know if we are wave 19 and 20 or or whatever it is and the idea is is that um to kind of put the first- timers in a place where you're not going to have thousands of people swimming over top of you who maybe done the Chicago Triathlon 15 times you know or whatever it is um so putting you in a comfortable place um so like with the international there's going to be a Break um between you know the international um and then when the first you know wave of the Sprint starts um so that you know you have more room and things like that but just kind of wanted to show this shows what color you know that you'll have a swim cap like gray or red or yellow um but uh but yeah just kind of wanted to show that um from last year um so and great the question uh that popped up is a great question that's about um phones so as we talked about no electronic devices in the S you can't listen to them um and you can't text somebody or whatnot but you can have them on you um they just have to be in a pocket out of view or in a bag out of view so yes if your running belt um has a pocket you can put it in there you can put it in your back shirt pocket though I I know for me my shirt for whatever reason always like bounces up and down I find it very annoying but um but yes you can 100% have your phone with you obviously don't want to swim with it but on the bike run totally fine just don't use it um and then yeah that's no big deal at all um if you don't want your phone um then either as we've talked about there will be um you can either leave it in transition leave it with somebody else or there is the finish line bags that get down sent down to to Finish Line um again though you kind have to just weigh your com how comfortable you are with putting it in there but um but we will talk more about that on race day about bags and packet pickup and stuff like that so all right so that's the run I I always more but that's really it so um yeah I I hope everybody is having a good time training um I hope ever you know people are thinking about getting into Lake Michigan it's it's getting warm I know I've seen some people out there already um but um yeah we're just over what like uh I don't even know six eight six weeks or so um until the triathlon so I hope I hope you're enjoying the process because that's what it's all about is enjoying the training um and the race is just kind of the icing on the cake so um as always if you have any questions I will pop my uh email into the chat right now um uh and let's see so um so this last question let's see um so it says uh so the question is about changing your wave and will they see uh that they change it so my understand and to totally be totally transparent um I have not been into the new registration system um but my understanding is that if you sign in you can maybe change it within there the other way to do it is and I'm just trying to pull up the email address right now um is you can email them directly um hold on I should have had this sorry so if you're interested in what the email address is um stay on if not um then we'll see everybody on the 17th um but I'm sorry I'm just trying to there is a email that they will answer all of your questions about uh um let's see you know what I will pop it into the Facebook group because I can't find it right now um but I will pop in if you have questions about moving your wave or can't do it online you can email them and they will do it if you don't get a response email me and I will connect you with the right people um and uh we will go from there so um all right well I'm excited I hope you're excited and we'll see everybody in a couple weeks