Desert International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Just waded in and let the gung ho get out first, then spent the rest of the swim passing as many of them as I could. Sighting was great and I held a good line the whole swim. I checked my watch as I got out of the water and was happily surprised to see my time.

I was happy with my swim and sighting. No changes for now!

since my registration got messed up, I wasn't racked up with my wave start. As I was in the last wave, I came back to an empty rack. That was really nice!

I got my socks and shoes on fast and got outta there.

I love the flat flat course! This was the fastest bike speed (19.1MPH)I have ever had in any race since I start doing Tris. (about 5 or 6 years)

It did seem to be slightly up hill on one side of the "loop" and slightly downhill on the other side. As I slowed into the corner to enter the loop, i was passed by a guy who immediately slowed down right in front of me so i just re-passed him. We continued to see each other for the rest of the bike. We would traded place about 4 times during the 2 loops. I passed him at about mile 18 and said, "See you again in a few minutes!" He smiled and laughed.

I dismounted at the line, took 5 steps and said to myself, "you messed up!" My legs were jello and I just didn't think I had enough left in them for a decent run. (more on that later)

Even though I had such great bike (for me), I still meed to put in more time on the bike in training. (lots more)

I had nothing left in my legs as I ran through transition. I thought I went way too hard on the bike to leave much for a good run.

I racked the bike, changed shoes, put on my hat & race belt then took one last long drink of Accelerade from my bike bottle.

As I jogged to the Run out, my legs immediately felt better. I realized my MTB shoes just aren't that good for running in through transition.

The legs felt much better as I ran out onto the course.

Wow! I really thought the mile markers were off as I reached mile 1. I got there in under 8 minutes. (I just broke the 10 minute mile mark in the last year) I thought I had pushed too hard on the bike and now I was running faster than training at the beginning of the run. I knew I had to slow down or I wouldn't be able to jog/run the whole course. I just kept going at what seemed to be a comfortable pace. As I reached the mile markers, I kept doing the math in my head to calculate my pace and it was staying really close to 9 minute miles. (I don't run that fast, EVER)

On the second lap, I reached the mile 4 marker and heard from behind me, "I thought I'd never catch you!" It was the guy i had been trading spots with on the bike. I passed him 10 miles ago and he just caught up. He was running with a buddy now. We traded encouraging remarks and ran on. For the rest of the run, they would pull ahead of me on the gravel and I passed them on the cement. It was great to have a pace buddy with me. Right after mile marker 5, I was about 10 feet behind them and feeling tired and wanted to take a walk break even though I had only a mile to go. Just as i was about to walk, my new friend turned his head back and said, "Is our Clyde still back there?" That got me motivated to keep going and I kept pace with them for the next 1/4 mile till we hit pavement again and I went right past them and on to the sand and the finish line. Thanks Guys!

I crossed the finish line and couldn't believe my time! Best race pace ever!!!!

Nothing except trust in my training and know that I can push through a little more than I think.

Walked to the athlete food and get water and some cookies, then walk around and back to the finish chute to wait for my wife to finish.


I think there should have been one more water station on the run. It was getting really hot and dry out there and the water stops were almost 2 miles apart. (at about 1/4 mile, then not again till almost mile 2 - repeat on lap 2) On m second loop, the second station was out of cups and just pouring water in to our mouths right from the 2.5 gallon jugs. (oh well, I got water and a cool off at the same time)