Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I'm so glad this race was wetsuit legal this year. I haven't done a lot of swimming lately, but I knew if I had the wetsuit, I'd have no issue with the 1500m. I didn't ever stop and hold onto anything, but paused a few times to sight and spit out some water. Otherwise, I just kept chugging along at my slow pace and tried not to get beat up too badly by the other athletes from the waves behind me that caught up to me quickly. I thought I saw quite a few people cutting inside the first green bouy but I managed to keep it on my left despite the sun being in our faces. On the final leg to the stairs, I was sighting on a red bouy and somehow ended up swimming directly in to it. Duh! So off I went again and made it to the stairs. I slipped a bit on the stairs, but quickly got going again and headed to Transition.

More swim practice...that's about it. I don't freak out in the OW and people around me and running into me isn't a big deal. However, it this hadn't been wetsuit legal, my swim time would have suffered quite a bit and that probably would have carried over into the next two legs of the race. 73rd out of 79 in my AG for the swim clearly shows I have a lot of ground to gain in swim performance. Hopefully low hanging fruit for the next race, now I just need to go and pick it.

For some reason I was struggling with getting my zipper down on the wetsuit as I was running to my rack. Fortunately, my rack was nearly at the far west end of transition, so I had time to mess with it. Finally got it off before getting to my rack. Wetsuit didn't come off the leg with the timing chip as well as the other one, so that ate up some time. Took a sec to try and get all the dried grass and dirt off my feet before putting on socks and shoes. Once that was done I was off and running I also wore my Garmin this time, so that took a few extra seconds to get on. Finally, I was trying not to leave a mess in transition, so that ate some seconds too.

Figure out how to get that wetsuit off faster! This is a pretty long transition.

I felt pretty good on the bike this time. I had gotten in much more riding than my last race (avg of 18.16 mph on flat sprint course), so I was pleased with this time. The course has quite a few hilly areas and for some reason, I tend to pass the people I'm near on the hills and they move past me on the flats. I think I tend to focus on pedaling technique on the hills and let it go away when I'm on the flats. I just need to focus on good pedaling all the time until it's natural. According to my garmin, I averaged 18.8 MPH on this course. Took plenty of fluids with me, so I didn't need to take any on the course. There were a couple of guys that I kept going back and forth with. One in my AG and the other not. The guy in my AG made it to transition before me, but I was right behind him on the exit to the run.

Not much. I didn't stand much and crank on the bike as I wanted to make sure I still had legs for the run. Plus, my legs were sore before the race even started and as I'd flex them on the bike, I could feel the soreness in my quads. This was a much more technical course than Firebird sprint and my average speed was higher and for 2x the distance. Much better.

I had been practicing undoing the ratched buckle on my cycling shoes (the're MTN bike shoes) while riding and I got both of them undone as I was rolling down Rio Salado for the last time. Popped out of the pedals and straight to my rack which was pretty close to the bike in/out, so that was nice. Got off the cycling shoes fast and on with the running shoes. took one last drink from my water bottle and off I went.

Nothing.

In training, the longest brick I did was a 26 mile bike with a 4 mile run, so today was new territory-not the best training practice. First loop wasn't too bad and I a 9:3x pace. 2nd loop was a little rougher. I was dumping water on my head and on the sponges to stay cool. Within the first mile of the run, I managed to pass the guy I was going back and forth with on the bike and I left him behind for good. I got passed by a lot of people, but I didn't have to stop and walk at all and pushed through the tired legs. Picked up some last minute energy with everybody cheering at the finish line and a shoutout by BTer PhxPhotg. Thanks!

More brick training sessions and not show up with sore legs. Plus more run training in the weeks leading up to the race. I sadly lost a week of training a few weeks before the race and only got one 5 mile run in during that time.

Ate a Clif bar and drank some water from the super cool finishers' can cooler water bottle they gave us at the finish line. After cooling down, I had to pack up and get out of there to relieve the inlaws that were watching the kids.


In general, I need to follow a real training plan, not just wake up and ask myself if I feel like running, biking or swimming. I'll probably also have accept that fact that I'll need to to multiple workouts each day so I can do more than just 'finish' the race. I wanted to come in under 3 hours and came close, so if I do this and focus on getting my swim a little faster, I should have no problems breaking 3 hours. However, I'm pleased overall for this time on my first Olympic distance triathlon.