Swim
Comments: While I don't dislike swimming, I'm not a fan of going to the pool and working on it, so it's no surprise that since I finished Soma in October, I hadn't been to the pool one time until a week or two before this race. The first day I suffered through 1000 yards of mixed swimming. Then I got hit with Bell's Palsy and that took me down for a few days. I went back to the pool a week or so later and knocked out 1500m without issue. A few days later I did the 1500m splash n' dash and finally the Marquee. My swim pace sucked but that was no surprise. I seemed to veer off course several times on this swim and I felt like I should have been swimming a bit to the right instead of just going straight ahead as I had to make several corrections. On the way back I sighted a bit better and I always did a good job rounding the bouys. What would you do differently?: Obviously get to the pool more. I know my form probably fell apart between Soma and now, so over the summer I need to suck it up and get back to Masters' swim. I'd really like to get down to a 2:30-2:40 finish on an Oly and that will never happen with my crappy swimming. Transition 1
Comments: I decided I'd ride sockless this time around and had trained to do so. I wasn't quite ready to leave my shoes on the bike so as soon as I got stripped out of my wetsuit I hit T1, slammed on my shoes, helmet and sunglasses and headed out. Next time I'll definitely be leaving my shoes on the bike. I've done this before and I think it will be good for my next tri. What would you do differently?: Leave my shoes on my bike. Bike
Comments: I wasn't sure how well I'd ride today since I had ridden the 70 mile El Tour de Mesa the day before. That was a rough ride in cool weather, high winds and 2000+ feet of climbing. I was riding with only one contact lens since the Bell's Palsy prevented me from wearing my left contact. It wasn't a huge issue at El Tour so I expected it to be a non issue today. About 5 minutes into the ride, I heard something weird coming from my rear wheel. I was a bit nervous since I had installed a new bottom bracket and swapped wheels and cassettes around earlier in the week. Suddenly, I couldn't pedal. I pulled over and found that my spare tube that I had secured in my X-Lab velcro strap and come loose, fallen down to my rear wheel and wrapped itself around my cassette and R.D. I worked the tube around the cassette and R.D. and got it all untangled and put it in my pocket. I lost over 1.5 minutes messing with it and it was hard to figure out how it was wrapped up with only one good eye. Got back on the bike and set back off. I finally got my HR to settle down from the post swim peak but it was still a bit high in the mid 160s. I thought I'd get a nice tailwind on the way back, but that never seemed to materialize. It always felt like the wind was in my face. I really wanted to have at least a 20MPH average speed and I did according to my Garmin. Unfortunately, it autopaused while I was messing with my tube issue and so my finaly official speed was not 20MPH. Came back to transition, feet out of shoes, clean dismount and into T2 What would you do differently?: Not much. Maybe I shouldn't do a 70 mile road race the day before my next Tri. Also, the medication for the B.P. was also elevating my HR, so not being on medication will be a plus. Transition 2
Comments: Not a bad T2, but when i came into transition, I'm not sure what happened, but I ended up in the spring Transition area. Maybe it was working with only one good eye, but after I realized where I was, I had to navigate my bike through the racks and into the Oly section. Then I messed with my socks when putting them on for longer than I should have. What would you do differently?: Know where the hell I'm supposed to be going in transition. Run
Comments: I set off feeling pretty decent. I really wanted to have a sub 9:00/mile average for this run and since I knew I'd be fading at the end, I tried to keep the pace well below 9:00 for the first 5k. I probably didn't drink enough on the bike and had taken 1 gel on the bike and that was it. I drank water and had an orange in the first 5k and then hit a gel just after 5k. I felt pretty good overall but the stretch on the south side of the lake, east of Scottsdale was a bit warm. I couldn't remember exactly where the finish line was but I was watching the Garmin thinking I had a bit more to go, but I was pleasantly surprised when the finish line appeared. What would you do differently?: I just need to build a real aerobic base. I can't expect to improve my times if I'm anerobic all the time. Time to get some LT testing done and train right. Post race
Warm down: Hung out with my wife and co-workers. Watched my neighbor finish his Oly and cooled down. What limited your ability to perform faster: 1. Swim training 2. Bike race the day before 3. Medical issues 4. Mechanical issue on the bike. Event comments: Excellent race as usual. Now I have to start getting serious for my first full marathon in a month and a half. Last updated: 2012-01-22 12:00 AM
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United States
Red Rock Co.
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 183/222
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 32/50
Woke up around 5:15, got dressed and packed up the car. Picked up one of my neighbors who was also doing the Oly and drove up to Tempe. Ate some oatmeal on the way and drank some cytomax. Once at transition, got everything all set up and chatted with fellow Intel employees who were also racing that day, most of them in the sprint.
Nothing. Got too wrapped up in talking with my friends/co-workers that I almost missed my wave start. Thankfully my wife was keeping her eye on me and reminded me to get moving. She helped zip me up and I dove into the cool water of Tempe Town Lake.