Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

About 3 weeks ago I had the worst experience at a Splash & Dash race. The water was cold, I coudn't breathe, and I worried about everyone around me. After a couple of decent swims out at BJC, I felt all I needed to do was be aggresive at the start and just swim. So that's what I did. I got jostled around over the first 50m, but after that things calmed down. I never slowed down. I wasn't great at sighting the far bouys where we made the turns. On the way out I was too far to the outside. On the way back I was too far to the inside. When I got back to the stairs I had some difficulty pulling myself up to the first step...when I finally was back on land I was shocked to see 33:00 on my wathch. My goal was around 35:00.

Sight the bouys better.

This transition went about as good as I could expect. he wetsuit came off without much of a problem. My feet were really dirty from the dead grass but I didn't want to hang around and try to clean them off.

Not much really.

Typically on most races my legs lack any power after the swim and it takes a while to get my bike pace up to where it should be but I was surpised how quickly I was able to get up to speed. I really felt great over the first lap of the course. I did way better then I thought I would going over Curry hill and after the first lap was finished I was feeling like the second lap could possibly be even better. However, I started to feel the fatigue on the second lap and started to wonder how I was ever going to run a 10K after all of this. I battled through it and made up some time by taking the turns and u-turns a lot better the second time around. My second lap around time was very close to the first lap.

This is hard, because I dont know where I could have done this a little different. Maybe a little harder on the flats but I don't know how that would have affected some of the short climbs we had. I do need to improve my bike handling skills on carrying my speed through the turns.

My bike slot in transition was so far from where I had to dismount. It was like I ran 6.5 miles for the run...0.3 with a bike. It was the first time I used speed laces and it made a huge difference in my transition time when I got to my bike rack position.

Can't think of much

The first two miles were great (9:31 and 9:01), and the third mile started good too until I got my stomach cramp that happens every race hit me...right around the time we had to climb the stairs at the bridge. My third mile split was 10:01...and I never seemed to get back to 9:30's until the final 1.2 miles. My first two miles may have been too fast in the beginning anyways. After the cramp went away I knew I still had a chance to finish sub-3hrs. I didn't know what I needed to do exactly but I knew I was close. A 3-hour finish was my "Super Bowl" finish because I didn't think I could manage everything in the race to get that result. With the last two miles to go I told myself "if you want this...the time is now to go". I had a good final two miles...I was spent, tired, hot, blistering, and a cramping a little...but I was not stopping and I refused to slow down. The final stair climb was my last hurdle. From there I knew I had it if I could keep running. When I finished I knew I was close...only if I was super slow in transition would I miss the 3-hour mark.

A little slower in the beginning to leave more for the finish...walk the stairs because I think that set off the stomach cramp...after that not much else...

Had some water and gatorade while talking to some friends and old memebers of ESCKTC.


This was my best result in a triathlon so I can't say anything really limited my abilty to be faster. I might have lost a minute or two by swimming a little offline and probably lost a little time on the run when I cramped up...but overall I couldn't be happier with the race as a whole.


I thought this was a good race and seemed more organized than the last time I did it two years ago.