Tempe International Triathlon - Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Well the swim was definitley the part that I was the most nervous for. Standing in the starting area, all I could really think about was the swim and how I really just wanted to make it through that, no matter my time. I found some people in my wave and hung out and joked with them for a bit. Everyone was a bit confused about the course because apparently the first wave completely skipped going around a buoy. Before I knew it we were up on the platform and hopping in. It was all a bit chaotic in the water as there was only one little red baloon looking thing to mark the start. One other competitor felt that my shoulder would make a good ledge so he tried to keep himslef afloat by pushing down on me, fun times beneath the water ensued. Anyways I popped up from that and before I knew it there was some sound and everyone was off. All I remember from the first part of the swim was arms, asses, hands legs and feet. Suprisingly though I was able to stay quite calm despite the melee around me and I made my way to the outside, near the docks. At this point I was actually passing people! Mind you I have never, ever passed a soul swimming, either in OWS or in the pool. So I was pretty excited, I kept going at my own pace, grabbing a leg, arm or ass here and there. I just pretended all the asses were hot chicks despite being in the clydesdale/athena group. And before I knew it I was at the first buoy, by the time I got to the second buoy I was noticing people in different color caps which made me feel good as I was catching a few people from the previous wave. What did not make me feel good was taking a breath and having a huge mallet hand knock my skull right under water (note Tempe Town Lake tastes as bad as it looks). From there we rounded the last buoy and I tried to really slow down as I was pushing a bit to hard so I got in a comfortable stroke the way back and was back to the dock before I knew it.

Overall the swim went better than I had planned on, I wasn't fast by any means but I stayed calm and swam at a reasonable pace. Now I have the mental factor taken care of I just need to get better at swimming overall.

I got out of the water fine but my heart rate was pretty dang high, mostly anxious/adrenaline at that point, but I decided to walk into transistion to lower my heart rate. It worked pretty well as I was pretty calmed down after getting to my transistion area to see Jen and Tanya(StandsWithFist). There is certainly no modesty in triathlons as I immediately begin the strip tease of the wetsuit, suprisingly the wetsuit came of VERY easy. From there put on the biking jersey and shoes (note the ratchets are kind of hard to get on) and grabbed the bike and headed off.

Not much. If I was really focused on time I would've ran in/out of transition but today it was all about keeping heartrate as low as possible.

I LOVE MY BIKE! I have to say the bike leg was great, I was so happy despite getting out of the water to maintain a pace of over 20MPH. The bike was fantastic despite only being my second ride on it. The pavement out there is great. I only got passed 3 or 4 times during the event (once by BHannahs, he is fast). What really helped was keeping speed through the turns, alot of people would slow way down to make the turn I would move to the outside and cut right through the apex. Each time doing that I would usually pass 1-2 people. The hill on Curry was actually a bit harder than I thought it would be. Mainly because the swimming had severely limited my ability to stand to climb because my arms felt like Jello. It was super dry out there though so it felt like every 5 minutes or so I had a terrible case of cotton-mouth, I ended up drinking all of my waterbottle which was suprising for me on a 12 mile ride.

Get faster on seated climbs. I typically like to stand but it wasn't happeneing today after the swim. Also just work on getting faster, riding the bike is fun for me so I really want to excel here.

Transition 2 was pretty good, I actually came into transition just behind Brian(BHannahs) who I didn't even know at that point, went to the my rack spot and to my suprise Chris(cordova61) was there. Now at this point I was pretty tired and a bit delusional, but he was putting on his running shoes so I was super confused. He was doing the olympic distance and either he had unknowingly lapped me a few times in the bike or had finished the olympic swim in about 2 minutes. When I looked up he had his bike helmet on and I realized not everyone has clipless pedals... duh, confusion over. It was good to see Chris in transition though as well as Jen and Tanya routing everyone on. I put on the running shoes and shorts and was off.

Not much, I was taking it easy in transitions. Although at this point I did realize I was quite hungry so maybe take food on the bike.

Ugh the run. After completing the first two events I wasn't TOO worried about the run, however that level of worry soon escalated as I realized I was barely moving. It was hot out and my legs were pretty tired. I took on some Gu at the start of the run which helped but it really wasn't enough. Once we got to the first mile I was pretty drained but the next section about did me in, up a hill to some rocky, dusty access road along the lake. No shade all exposure and it was pretty miserable. Finally I saw the turnaround and honestly once I made the turn my second pair of legs arrived. I fet like after dumping some water on my head my pace really picked up. On the way back I felt pretty decent. I caught up to a fellow racer and chatted a bit about triathlons and races and stuff, and come to find out after the race it was fellow BT'er Brian(BHannahs) it is really great having people like that out on the race course that despite the heat and run can still just sort of hang out and chat while running, it really boosts the spirit and passes the time. As we were running though this guy must have been gallow-walking (sp?) and he would pass us going fast and then walk, pass us then walk. It was seriously so damn aggravating, seeing as he looked to be in the clydesdale group there was no way I was going to let him beat me so once he passed us the third time I think I said I would see Brian at the finish and took of after him. I caught him just as he was slowing down to walk and then I never saw him again thank god. From there I kept that pace right through to the finish where Tanya and Jen were cheering me on. It felt so great to finish and I was so tired but it felt great to be done with my first one.

Practice more BRICKs.

Warm down consisted of oranges, bananas, lots of vitamin water and hanging out with fellow BT'ers which was great.


The main limiting factor for me was the run, I can run faster and with more BRICK workouts I will. My swim is slow but I just started so that was to be expected.


Overall it was a great first race, I really appreciated the support of everyone there. It has been especially good staying motivated with the OWS with ESCKTC out at Saguaro Lake as that helped me alot in staying calm in the water. The event was put on pretty well overall despite the overbearing/anal race director. Now I am ready to train harder and get ready for the next one.