LeadmanTri Marquee Epic 125 - TriathlonOther

Having swam at the Splash and Dash Thursday night, was VERY apprehensive since that practice swim did not go well. But, once I got in the water, I headed to the outside back of my wave and dunked my head a few times, got water in my wetsuit, was happy the water felt good. Chose to go with the full sleeved suit which was a good decision! But, my goggles didn't seem to be sealing well on the right side. Gun went off and I tried my best to stay controled but goggles kept leaking so had to stop multiple times to empty, fix and try again. Even held onto a paddle boarder so I could figure it out. Just decided to deal and keep going. I typically bi-lateral breathe but figured I would just breath every 4 strokes on my left so I didn't have to sight using my right eye. After the second turn I finally got them semi-sealed so found a little rhythm and was able to pass a few people and stay consistent. Very frustrating since I think I could have had a good swim if I didn't have goggle issues. OWS is NOT my favorite and always need more practice! Just happy I finished in under 1 hour!

More OWS practice, double check goggles sealed properly. The goggles are fairly new but I have swam in them multiple times so not sure why I had issues.
MORE swim training. My swim training was NOT consistent over the winter/spring due to my entire family being sick on and off for weeks, along with missed workouts and vacations.

Thank goodness for wetsuit strippers. I chose to put on a jersey so I had additional pockets to hold stuff and keep more sun of me. choose not to wear arm coolers, which turned out to be a bad decision. Put on additional sunscreen and walked bike to mount line, which seemed very far away. Said hi to my husband and away I went.

MORE sunscreen, put on arm coolers.

Biking is my strongest leg. I teach spin 4x/week and 2 classes of those use power meters, so my biking has improved greatly in the last year. I love riding my bike, so even with the 4 loop course, I was able to stay on pace, eat and stay hydrated. Stopped 1x to pee on the 2nd loop. The first loop was calm and I just wanted to warm up and find a good pace. 2nd loop is when all the crazy fast Olympic and Sprint bikers started passing and flying by. USAT rules or not, there was some dangerous passing going on and I just held my line and stayed to the right. There was a LOT of car traffic on the restricted lanes next to us and saw 1 accident and 2 near accidents. 4 U turns and multiple tight turns meant you had to really keep control of your bike but I had no issues. I kept telling myself to hold steady because I really wanted to run most of the trail run, so didn't want to over-do the effort on the bike. My husband said it's easy to look for me because I stay pretty consistent.
The wind was blowing on occasion, but with so many direction changes, you didn't have to deal with it for long.
The 3rd loop I developed a side cramp/pain on my right side that didn't go away no matter what I did - breathing, stretching, drink more water, drink less water, salt tab. Nothing worked.

Put on more sunscreen. Maybe eat a little less but not sure if that was my issue...never experienced this during training. My legs felt strong despite teaching 6 classes the week leading up to the race. Probably not the best idea but a girl's gotta make money!

Chose to change clothes again - into a t-shirt and running shorts over my tri shorts. Everything went smooth but I couldn't find my sunglasses so that ate up some time. I had put them on my bike - duh. quick sunscreen application (not enough) and walked out of transition because my side was hurting so bad. Stopped to see my family on the way out and hug my kids.

Not lose my sunglasses, more sunscreen.

After seeing my family, I tried to run across the bridge to N. side of TTL, but the side cramp hurt so bad that all I could do was walk. Stopped to stretch and breathe multiple times, but nothing helped so figured I would keep walking. Walked the 1.5 miles to the start of the trail. Tried running multiple times but could only manage 30 sec or so. Any movement in my core made the pain worse and it felt like I had a knife in my side. I had my hand held water bottle so just kept drinking and decided against eating anything else. It was hot, but the heat didn't bother me...I think I was so focused on just moving forward and not breaking down into tears because of the pain. Walked/hikes most of the technical stuff and made it to the canal path. Managed a few more jogging seconds here and there but not much. Wanted to stop and stretch more but figured as long as I was walking, I was moving forward and didn't want my family worried that I was taking so long. My husband said he got an update text on his phone when I was at the 1/2 way point so he had an idea that I was going WAY slower that expected. Figured I could still walk the darn thing in 2 hours so kept moving. I think drinking more water was helping and at each aid station (volunteers were amazing BTW - LOTS of ice and cold water!) would try to drink. There were quite a few walkers at this point since it was SO hot out so at least I wasn't alone! Changed up my breathing pattern since exhaling hurt worse and things started to get a little better. Was able to run a few sections and it felt so good to just be moving a little faster! Finally made it to the sidewalk section, up a big hill and down to Mill ave. I just wanted to be able to run the section where my family was and into the finishers chute. Mustered up whatever pain tolerance I had and ran around the corner where my kids and family were waiting. I had the whole finishers chute to myself which was fun and finished as strong as I could! It felt like the longest 8 miles EVER and I was so happy to be done. I had really looked forward to the run part of this course so this was all very disappointing.

maybe I ate too much on the bike, not enough water - I don't know. Never had this happen in training and have never experienced this much pain on a course. I think my run training was average for this race, considering I did only 1 trail run before the race. I can always improve in this area!

got more water, medal and met my family over in a shaded tent area. Place was pretty cleared out by this point so there was lots of room. Laid down on the ground and stretched. Ab cramp was starting to go away and I started to realize how sun burnt I really was...crap. had a few orange slices but didn't eat much else. Walked back to transition, gathered everything up and headed for the car. Stopped by In N Out on the way home which was the best post race food EVER. I think part of what kept me going was knowing I was getting a double burger and fries when I finished :-)!


Swim fitness/practice, severe cramps and pain on the bike and run.


I would do this race again. Not sure I will sign up for another longer race in the Spring though. My family had so many issues this Winter/Spring with illnesses, kids home from school, vacations etc etc...so I did maybe 75% of the training I should have. Doing longer course racing after a winter of issues is very stressful and not sure I want to go through that again. BUT, the race itself was great. I really hoped it wouldn't be a multiple loop course with so many turns, but didn't mind it. I've raced in Tempe so many times that riding this course is like second nature.
I think Lifetime did a GREAT job with what they had to work with. Everything started on time, plenty of course markings, plenty of cold ice and water (even for the later finishers) and volunteer support was fantastic! Maybe not scheduling it on the same weekend as another HUGE event, but I think it all worked out.