Soma Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swam at a comfortable pace, I've gotten slightly slower lately but I'm getting out of the water in a decent time feeling good.For the most part I swam pretty straight and right at the buoys. My only problem was spotting the first turn buoy as the sun rose but there was a guy right next to me that was sighting a good amount so I just swam right next him until the turn.

Not to much. I think a little more time in the pool working on speed and I can get my time back under the 2 min/100 pace.

This transition was one of the funnier things I have been through in a race. When I ran into transition I some how decided my number was 648 (not the 468 it was) and I had not been able to find a good landmark where my bike is like usual when setting up. So as I wandered around the six hundred rack looking for a bike that wasn't there I looked at the number on my arm.....yep 648...continue to look around aimlessly...look at arm again...ooh 468. Oddly enough right after that I found my bike.

Not forget my race number and/or learn to read numbers.

By far my best ride of any race I've ever had! I've never been able to average over 20 mph in a race and have had many races hurt by a slow ride. The past six months I have made a point to conquer this problem once and for all and this made me feel like I'm well on the way. I felt really strong the whole ride and just went with the pace that felt good. Fortunately since my swim wave was early in the starting order the first lap wasn't too crowded, the second lap was pretty tight in some places but it wasn't that bad considering how narrow the course was.

If I could ride that ride in every race I'd be pretty satisfied.

Didn't really rush through transition, pretty much took my time to get fully ready for the run and had a GU pack and some gatorade. One positive: I remembered my race number and where my area was.

I had not really gotten in the amount of run training I should have for this race so wanted to just set a sustainable pace and cruise with that. I felt better than I thought I would on the first lap and didn't really start to feel like I was hurting until halfway through the second lap. Dumped most of the water I got from aid stations over my head so I did a pretty good job of keeping cool. I felt like I was pushing myself pretty hard the last bit but I knew it was almost over and I wanted to stay under 5:30. It was fun and refreshing to dive down the water slide at the end until I saw the water I was landing in at the end.

If I put in some more miles I could have had a quicker run but it was a fun experience in having to push hard no matter the pace.

Had to sit down for a bit...then hung out to watch friends finish and pack up.


Run fitness, but this was a PR for so it's all good.


I love to do this race, except for ironman this is by far the best organized and well run I have done. The only negative was a tight u-turny course but this seems to be the curse of Tempe races.