Leadman Tri Marquee Epic 125 - Triathlon

I swam almost 7 minutes faster than last year's disaster and maintained pace for the first 1400 to 1500 meters or so, but form and pace fell apart for about 500m, then somehow found some form again and picked up the pace.

I thought that I swam pretty well and fast considering that I got no swim training in since last Aug.

I was on average 6 to 7 minutes slower than the top 6 swimmers. I can't place myself on the podium by being that much behind from the start.

I would move to a different town so I can have a year round pool.

I came out of the water at about 39 minutes and 40 seconds, it took a while to get up the stairs and then to the wetsuit strippers, we had trouble getting the suit off my wrists, probably sucked up an extra 25 seconds. After this, I jogged to the bike and put on my stuff and got off pretty fast.

Get up stairs and suit off quicker

The Leadman Group has this listed at 109.5km or 68 miles... my Garmin says 68.95, and my power meter says 69.48... so let's say 69.2 miles.

A good bike leg... I was trying to avg. above 24 miles per hour and get the bike split Preme. I avg. 24.15 for the first 57 miles, but I was hurting at the HIM point, if I would have continued at that pace, I would have blown up my running ability.

I backed off at this point around mile 57 (I clocked a 2:18 for the 56 miles), and only avg. about 23 for the remaining, it was mostly on the hills that I backed up, thus the avg. speed dropped.

This course is flat with some hills, but it's the turns that slow you down... with 12 stop and start U turns on the whole course and countless 90 degree right and left handers. It kills avg. speed about .3 mph. as opposed to a full open length course.

During the 3rd lap when the traffic was heaviest... I came up on a rider who was in the left lane, I always yell "on your left" when approaching from behind, and said it 3 times to the rider and he didn't budge... I was forced into the gutter almost hitting the curb at 25 mph and when I rolled out of the gutter, my tires scraped hard against a lip of road tar... I thought that was it for my tires and wheels. The tires lasted, thanks to the toughness of the GP4000s, but after the race upon inspection... there were gouges through to the metal carcasss. I will have to toss these tires out now... and they were brand new. Luckily nothing happed to my FLO 60/Disc wheelset. But that jerk should have been called for blocking.

Then on the last lap as I was rounding the curve around the Papago loop of Mill ave. a GM Duelly pick up truck with a Life Time Tri logos pulled out in front of me and I had to hit the brakes... he stayed and slowed me down for a while since he was wedged in the race bike lane between slower cyclists in from and me behind. I thought, this aint cool and a stupid move by the race folks.

As for PM data:

Weather: perfect 80 degrees except for some windy conditions around 5 to 10mph, but the net effect of wind is probably ZERO b/c of the loops.

Total weight 177lbs (149 rider / 28 bike) - my bike setup is about 18.5% of total weight - YIKES!!
Avg. moving speed - 24.25 mph
Avg. power - 265 watts
NP power - 280 watts
IF - 85% - roughly a 330 watt FTP
VI - 1.06
Cadence - 88

Helmet - LG Vortice w/o visor on
Suit - Pearl Izumi Octane

On the suit, I used the PI Octane for the first time... I was aware that any wrinkles could cause some drag... the suit fits well, but bunches slightly around the inside of the shoulders... other than that it's a good fit... I don't know if this slowed me down VS. my previous suit sleeveless DeSoto suit.... and I don't kow if the helmet did anything VS. my Cobb aero helmet.

69 miles is a tough distance, but just continue to train on the bike in order to hit my goal of a 25 mph avg HIM bike split at this course in Tempe.

A little bit too long, but I had difficulty with straighten up after racking up 69 miles in a TT position.

A good run... it took about 500 meters for my back to loosen up and my stride to lengthen... if finally did and I crusied. I'm happy of this run... my goal was a sub 60 minute split, but came in off pace, but the hills are a speed killer... so all in all a good run. I improved my runtime by over 6 minutes from last year.

On the flats, I maintained around a 7:10 pace, which is solid for me at the moment in my tri career.

I stopped at the aid stations to splash water, get some drink and get a slight rest... maybe those extra 10 seconds added up to about 30 to 40 seconds in total, but it wouldn't have changed the end results... I would have had the 2nd fastest run time though.

I maintained a strong pace on the flats, but made sure to take it a bit easier over the mountain pass... I didn't walk, but trudged lightly, so to not blowout the legs or lungs.

Not much, just walking around


Lack of swim training


A great and organized race by Lifetime... lots of fun. Thanks to the volunteers and congrats to all competitors. It's a tough distance and race.

Overall, I improved my time by just over 23 minutes from 5:05 last year and 15th place to 4:41 and 4th place, and 8th place overall. I was really hoping for a podium spot, but some damn fine athletes showed up, especially swimming. The WTF moment is that the 45-49 AG was the fastest overall of all age groups!!