IronGear Sports Rio Salado Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

The water felt great and I wasn't too nervous about the swim start. I had done the 2000m splash & dash a month prior in prep for the Marquee Half Iron and that went okay, so I was feeling good about 1500m. I got punched in the eye once while heading East, but fortunately my goggles didn't get knocked off. I paused a few times just to sight and make sure I wasn't swinging too far out. I'm not fast, but this went well for me.

Pick up the pace on the 2nd half.

This was my first experience with strippers (wet suit strippers...) and it was great. I can't wait to do it again. I also need to get my socks and shoes on faster.

I should have just laid back and let the wetsuit strippes get the suit off my ankles. I think I was trying to help them, but it probably just complicated everything. I also should have put some body glide on my neck. I found a burn mark on my neck I think was caused by my neck rubbing on my wetsuit every time I took my breath to the right.

This is where the race began for me. I was sure that Todd had already made it out of the water well before me, I just didn't know how long he had been out. There weren't many bikes left in transition at this time. I jumped on the bike and hightailed it out of transition. I started hitting it hard right away and kept on it the whole time. I passed a lot of people so that was cool. I didn't see Todd until I was heading east on Rio Salado and about .4 mile before the turn-around, I saw him. I kept on it and on the second lap I had closed the gap even more. I never caught him on the bike so I was hoping I could catch him on the run.

Not much. I could have taken it a bit easy at the start to keep my HR down a little bit, but it was feeling good. I was pretty sure I'd pay a price on the run for my bike pace, but I was prepared to find out how hard I could push and not completely fall apart on the run.

I was a little scatter-brained here. I had to take my garmin off the bike and reset and change to run mode. I got my shoes on and ran through transition while putting on my race belt, my visor and my garmin wrist strap. I guess for as much crap as I was doing, this was a pretty fast transition.

I set off pretty well trying to catch Todd, not knowing how far ahead he was. First two minutes were sub 9 minute miles. After that, things started getting pretty warm. I saw Todd as I ran over the Scottsdale bridge. He was below me and I thought I'd have a good chance to catch up to him. Things got pretty warm on the north side of the lake and that was draining me. I was dumping some water on my head at some aid stations. I gained ground on Todd on mile 4 and the 2nd time over the Scottsdale bridge I was even closer. However, I faded a bit on the last 2 miles and wasn't able to close the gap. He finished ~1:30 in front of me. It was a good race and it was fun to be racing against somebody. I finished before Todd at Marquee when the swim was replaced with the 5k and I knew he'd be hard to beat with the swim on this race. What a great day to race though.

Need to run more consistently. I like running, but I find myself biking instead most often.

Sat down and drank some Powerade and Muscle Milk. Took it easy in the shade for a bit


I had slacked off my swim since the swim was cancelled at Marquee. I only hit the pool a couple of times prior to this race, so I need to be more diligent in getting to the pool, then maybe I wouldn't be chasing Todd the whole time!


Gender rank for:
Swim: 159/195
Swim + T1: 149/195
Bike: 72/195
Swim + T1 + Bike + T2: 115/195
Run: 113/195
Final: 111/195

AG rank for:

Swim: 41/45
Swim + T1: 39/45
Bike: 15/45
Swim + T1 + Bike + T2: 31/45
Run: 28/45
Final:30/45