Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I actually got in the water a little early and swam a little for a warm-up before they pulled everyone out of the water to go over the timing mats. I seemed unusually calm waiting for the swim leg to start, then the gun (noise maker) went off and WWF started. Some of the guys I train with started off to the side and mentioned later that they didn't have any trouble in the water. I on the other hand started right smack in the middle of the crowd (not by choice, I just drifted that way) an got right into a great wrestling match. At some point I had 2 swimmers on my legs using me like a surfboard as the paddled out to catch some imaginary wave. I eventually managed to pull away from them and get into an ease pace to finish the swim.

Looking back on my swim performance I did OK but I think I left too much in reserve. I’ve had much faster swims in the past and still had energy coming out of the water; today I had a lot of energy and barely felt warmed up. This is something I well continue to work on for future races, pacing.

long hike to my bike but I managed to jog the whole time to get there, usually I walk T1. Took a some extra time to make sure my feet where cleaned off well and dried before I put my socks on. (lessons learned from IMAZ, I got some serious blisters on the bike that day)

Not muc, maybe pick up the pace abit.

I started out good coming out of T1, I remembered to have the bike in the right gear for the hill exit (unlike the poor guy in front of me who popped on his bike at the mount line tried to pedal once and proceeded to fall over and land on his side with his feet still attached to his pedals because his bike was still in its hardest gear, I hate when that happens). After getting over the only real incline on Curry Rd. I quickly settled into a grove and focused on maintaining a constant pedal stroke. The 1st lap was quite out there due to the wave start of the swim but by the time I came around for the 2nd lap there was a lot more riders out there making the cornering a little more challenging but still not over crowded. On the start of my 3rd lap I came up behind a training buddy Andy S. and chatted for a couple of moments until I realized that we were on the same lap, it was time to step it up a notch. (There's actually a picture of me passing him) I had a good 3rd and 4th lap and managed to come in just under 20mph avg, which is very good for me.



Again I need to work on pacing. I need to be more consistent.

Nice smooth transition

Although I didn't feel that tired I just couldn't seem to run today. Actually even at my fastest pace most would consider that a jog but even for me this was a very slow day. I had a small goal of the day to make to the 1/2 mile mark on the run before I was passed by another training buddy Commodore. I actually made it to mile 1.25 until Commodore accompanied by Andy (who I caught on the bike) passed me. Andy actually ran with me for about 5min. then slowly pulled away. By about mile 4.5 I was starting to feel the Arizona heat and slow even more when I saw Hardcore mike heading the other way gaining on me. Now there's really no way I could ever beat Mike running but since he started in a couple of waves behind me I needed to pick up the pace so he at least didn't pass me. I did manage to finish strong and ahead of Mike (at least physically, he finished 20min. faster than I did in time).

RUN!

Hung out with the AzTriClub members in the shade and watched the rest of the racers finish.


RUNNING