Havasu Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

Everyone was anxious to get going and I was in wave 4. All the Clydesdales were in that wave and you could really tell we were chomping at the bit. The RD was on the bullhorn trying to rein us back with a warning about the cold water and not to charge out hard.

I got out in the middle and started passing people quickly. As we rounded the first buoy someone grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down during an inhale. That was the first hard part of the swim. I could not get my breath the rest of the way and I started to panic. I had to flop on my back and catch my breath and clam myself down. The water was so cold my nose would not exhale and I had to blow out through my mouth under water. That was a totally foreign experience. We all started to peter out near the finish but we were bound and determined to get it done. We even caught the slow swimmers in the ladies sprint.

I drafted a bit to the water line and stumbled out over the rocks. I was surprised by how quick my swim time was considering the conditions and having to back stroke for 50 meters.

Not too much anyone can do to prepare for the extreme cold swims.

T1 was hard. My equilibrium was shot and I kept saying, “I can’t find the ground.” Stripping off the wetsuit was not smooth at all and getting my shoes on while still swooning proved very difficult. A very slow T1 later and I was out on the bike. I passed the trailers of the wave ahead while running up the sand hill to the mount line. The time spent running with the bike is calculated in the bike time.

Maybe Bodyglide my heels? GO FASTER!

Off and going on the bike I found my cadence quickly and settled down into the aero-bars. The bike felt surprisingly good and I got going quickly. I was able to restrain myself for the hill I knew were coming. More trailers from the previous wave and a lot of MTB’s were easy prey. The hills started around mile 4 and continued to the first of two turnarounds.

The first turnaround meant we were able to scream down the hill we just died on. That was fun and I got up to 37 MPH while not pedaling. Now at the bottom of that big hill was a sharp right turn so we couldn’t keep any of that speed for the next climb. The rest of the climbs were not too bad; not any worse than Old Spanish Trail.

The second turnaround was at the base of a hill meaning we slow down for the u-turn and climb back up. The way back was more flat with some ups and downs but it looked and felt like the salt flats compared to what we just went through.

Two other guys and I played cat and mouse over most of the bike course. It was a lot of fun and we talked and laughed about it on the last stretch. We again had to dismount and run through the sand to T2. That time was also put into the bike time. That left the bike average speed a little slower than actual.

Prepare more for hills. I need to ride more hills at home.

Although much better than T1, I was still way too slow in T2. Two full minutes for T2. Now the transition area was fairly large and we had to run through the bikes and around the entire transition area before we hit the timer pads. Of course I’m looking for excuses! I had a 2 minute T2!

Not much. The long T2 zone was difficult to overcome.

The hills burnt up my quads and calves and I’m surprised I had anything left for the run. I started slowly and started to get faster. The cramps started to kick in and I had to walk a couple of spots. The stair climb to the London Bridge killed my left knee. I plodded along and made a run out of it. Everyone I passed on the bike or in the water caught me and blew by me in the run, as usual.

Running is my poorest event in triathlon. Not much I can physically do about that with my knees and asthma.

More stretching.


hills on the bike killed my legs for the run.


I went into this race wanting to do better than 1:35:00. I was right on the money with a 1:34:15 official time. I timed myself with my watch and the lap counter feature to get my splits this quickly. I’ll update with the official splits when they are available. My self time was really close at 1:34:16. So I am fairly confident in my splits.

Overall I’m pleased with my performance on this race. (WARNING more excuses to follow) Especially considering my poor preparation for the race and the weight gain from the vacation we just took to California. I plan on doing this race again next year at the Olympic distance. It will be an A race next year in preparation for the Soma Half-Iron in the fall of 2008.

What’s next?
Next is the Xterra race in Mesa on April 21st. It is a long distance race with a 1500 meter open water swim in cold water. I’ll probably be walking the 10K at the end!