Tempe International Triathlon - Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Well my arch nemesis, the swim, wasn't to bad today. But it being a sprint I was never very far from someone who wanted to drown me. I ran into a few folks who were treading water. I got run over a few times, couldn't see in the water well enogh to draft. My biggest time waster though was trying to get out of the water. As I swam up and grabbed ahold of the rail I couldn't figure out if there was a stair or just a wall to put my foot on and climb out. Well the guy behind me got impatient and grabbed my by the shoulder and pulled me back in the water so he could get out. Which made me start my process of getting out of the water all over again. Seems like at Nathan's last year that race had folks helping you get out of the water.

More swim practice. Need to keep imporving my stroke mechanics. I guess I need to practice climbing that wall out of the lake too.

Decent transition. With all of the dead grass I chose to stay standing to put my shoes on. Takes some time to get all of the debri off ofyour feet.

Maybe sit down to put on my shoes. Or learn how to mount a bike with the shoes already in the pedals.

Overall the bike went well for me. First race on my triathlon bike. I probably could have pushed myself more, but I never know until the race is over. I keep track of my heart rate in order to pace myself. I almost crashed on one of the hairpins. Just not comfortable making that sharp of a turn. Luckily there was only one guy right behind me and he was able to get by me. Had to kick a foot loose, but ended up making it. Enjoyed the ride overall.

Just get more training in. Practice hairpin turns.

I need to learn how to dismount with my feet out of my shoes. I have never even attempted to jump off of my bike while it is moving either. Overall a quick t2 for me.

Run felt very good. I was able to keep up a good pace for the whole race. I took in minimal liquids in order to avoid the bloat I have got on other runs. That worked well.

I could have had a little faster kick at the end but not much so overall I was happy.

Walk around, get some fluids and snacks. Then stretch.


Need more swim training. I could still get into better condition. I need to learn how hard I can push myself on the bike and still perform well on the run.


While this race has organization. It could be improved. The packet pick-up is very different from every other race I have done and was different from the year before. This year they just let you pick whatever cap color you wanted to wear, so it was difficult to tell where your heat was at the starting line. The announcing during the wave starts was weak. I do give high marks to the goodie bag and the quality and amount of sponsors that show up to the race. The volunteers are great and the available recovery foods are very good.