Tempe International Triathlon - Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

All I can say is that the time spent out at the Lake on Thursdays certainly helped me in my preparation for my first OWS triathlon. Just knowing what to expect mentally out there was huge. I didn't have any real strategy other than find open space and swim. The start was what I expected, people bumping trying to find thier way to the first bouy. I handled it the best I could and should have been a little more aggressive. One guy kept zig-zagging in front of me that I knew I could past, so that was frustrating. Once I rounded the second buoy I drafted off one guy for probably 25-50 meters until I lost him. After that is was clear sailing to the last turn and headed back to "shore". It was chaotic trying to get out of the water at the stairs, everyone seemed to bottleneck. I banged my shin pretty good on the stairs getting out. On the way to T1 I couldn't find my strap to unzip out of my wetsuit, which was a little embarassing, but I managed to find it before I got into T1.

Hard to say...part of me thinks I needed to be more aggressive off the start and push my way through the masses the way I was being pushed around...but then the other part thinks I did the best I could and managed it perfectly. I guess I will get a better idea as I gain more OWS experience.

Once I got to my bike I managed to get out of my wetsuit in quick order. But after that I seemed to have a mental block as to what to do next. It felt like I was taking my sweet time...almost to the point where I yelled at myself and said "Let's go dumb a$$, you are in a race!" My time should have been faster...

Have a little sense of urgency... but not to the point of rushing everything. I have had better T1's than this one that is for sure!

When I left T1 I tried to ease my way into the ride and drink some water (something I needed to do more of). My legs felt like I had already rode 20 miles, I just couldn't get them moving like I do in training. I was doing OK until I headed into the wind and it slowed me down more than expected. My second lap was better on the flats but tougher on some of the hills.

I got passed quite a bit on the first lap and it can be really demoralizing sometimes. I know I can be better, I just need to put the time in on the bike in training.

First and foremost...drink more. When I got back to my bike at the end of the day I found that I had barely a sip from my gatorade bottle and only half of my water during the ride. I have a hard time drinking when I am breathing pretty hard but I will have to learn how to otherwise I'll never be able to make the jump up to Olympic. Not drinking enough came back to bite me big time at the start of the run.

As mentioned above, I need more training on the bike. Of all the events, I love to ride my bike more than anything else yet I haven't put in the kind of time needed to go from 16mph to 18mph averages.

T2 was fast and everything went much better than T1.

Grabbed my water and brought it with me as I was already getting stomach cramps (stitch)

It was a horrible start to the run and I had visions of my Anthem Race racing through my head. I had a terrible stitch in my side and with my "brick" legs I was barely trudging along. At Mile-1 my time was 12:30 and any thoughts of coming close to a sub-10 minute mile pace were quickly dashed. I grabbed water at the aid station and drank what I could. My legs came back to me and I was able to keep up a good pace, in fact my average for the rest of run would be 9:45/mile. The cramp/stitch would come and go but it wouldn't ever be as bad as that first mile.

Once I climbed the stairs at the bridge I knew I had a half mile left. Josh (Robot) was on his bike for his Olympic-distance race and called out my name...I was amazed he saw me. I picked up the pace to the finish and sprinted the last 200 meters. I am not sure where I got all that energy to sprint to the finish but it showed me I had lots left in my legs.

More bricks. Whether they are short ones or not, I need to practice more bricks. Regardless of the cramp, my legs were not ready for the first mile of the run.

Drank lots of liquids and watched the finish of the Olympic distance race. Congrats to all of them who dealt with the heat a lot longer than I had to and finished strong!


Not enough training to raise the levels of my performances on the bike and run. For the training I put in, I am happy with my results for the most part...but I want more out of my races, which means I need to put more into training as well.

I have a lot to work on but at the same time I can look back 12 months ago and realize I would have had ZERO chance at finishing this race. I have come a long way and now its time to take it to the next level:)


I enjoyed this race and felt everything was run smoothly with the exception of how they handed out time chips and made you figure out how to tie on the straps to them since they didn't have velcro on them.