Life Time Tri Marquee - Sprint Course - Triathlon

My wave was men 40+. I would have preferred a 55+ wave but would have to get in there and mix it up with the young guns. This would be my first open water swim of the year. But Tempe Town Lake is familiar so anxiety was low. The water was calm and cool and perfect for my sleeveless wetsuit. The swim was crowded but I found a decent amount of open water and even “drafted” on some feet after the turn-around. But then suddenly the back of my wetsuit opened up and the water gushed in. That was a first. I wondered whether the zipper came down or the suit ripped. But I realized I could still swim although obviously slowed, so I soldiered on through the last 200 meters. My Garmin showed 16:30 when I exited but there was some running to do before the timing mat. I crushed last year’s swim by 8 seconds!

I ran into transition at a good clip, found my bike rack and sat down to get my socks and shoes on. No issues, no stress. I gave back my 8 seconds and 3 more to last years’ time.

Just like last year I didn’t use my race wheels for this 14 mile bike sprint. It was a perfectly calm day and after a few minutes trying to get my heart rate down I got into aero position and realized this could be a fast bike ride. I checked in with my Garmin and saw the swim icon. Dang it. I had hit the stop button instead of the lap button in transition so I realized I wouldn’t get any decent feedback from my Garmin until I started the run.

Back to the task at hand. Despite the easy speed with no wind, there were lots of slow Olympic riders to pass and the fast women from the wave behind me were steadily passing me. I finally found a set of wheels to follow and away we went at 22-24 mph. Unfortunately I heard (and then saw) two women go down only a couple riders ahead of me. Thankfully there was a right lane to veer into or there could have been a pile up. And the accident occurred at a busy intersection so help was on its way immediately. At least one of these women got an ambulance ride to the hospital. (Been there, done that. Hopefully her injuries are minor.) I stayed well above 20 mph on the straights but was slowed by the many turns (including 3 U-turns) on this course. Very pleased with the bike ride which was a hefty 5 minutes and 30 seconds faster than last year.

Uneventful T2 (4 seconds faster than last year) but as I crossed the timing mat to start the run I ducked into a porta-potty. I would have preferred to add that wasted 30 seconds to T2 but it went instead to my run time.

The run didn’t feel very good during the first mile. I was surprised that the gentle rolling “hills” out to the Rural Street bridge were even noticeable. But they were. I was encouraged by a 9:30 time for the first mile which I knew was in reality a 9 min pace given my ports potty detour. Mile 2 felt better albeit a 9:15 pace. I worked even harder in mile 3 but my pace stayed the same. I didn’t even want to know my heart rate so I didn’t check that. I passed no one in my age group and was passed once with about a half mile to go. I looked for a gear to keep up but it was not there. Saw a photographer on the bridge but didn’t realize it was Paul. If I had, I am sure I could have mustered a smile for the picture below.

While I didn’t have good information from my Garmin due to operator error, I knew I should be very close to my goal time. As it turned out I did get in under 1:30 and 5 minutes faster than last year. A good start to my 10th season. Next up Vineman 70.3 in July and my first half ironman since Oceanside 70.3 in April 2013.

1:29:07
M55-59 10/20
Men 109/221
Overall 148/370