Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Even though this was my first triathlon, I feel my swim was very poor. Having not done any open water training, my navigation was all over the place. My breathing was poor, my overall strength was poor. I was intimidated by the distance, even though I swam that distance many times in the pool. I tried to stick to the outside to avoid getting kicked or ran up on from behind. I knew I was a weaker swimmer so I stayed to the side and tried to keep from zig-zagging all over the place. I had to do a lot of breast stroke to regain my bearings and to catch my breath. When I exited the water I was suprised to be where I was at with the time, I figured by the way I was going it was going to be closer to 45 min. So I was quite happy to see myself at 35 min.

Spend more time in the pool getting stronger with my stroke, working on breathing. Do some open water training.

Transition was probably slower than it should be. I don't have clip-on pedals and shoes for my bike so I had to get into my running shoes at this point. Dried my feet off, put on socks, put on shoes and got out of there. I also didn't have my bike geared correctly so when I hopped onto it there was some difficulty.

Get cycling shoes with clip-on pedals. Make sure my bike is geared correctly.

The bike portion seemed to go well given it was my first. I didn't get my computer set correctly and after trying to fiddle with it I eventually gave up and just rode. It was a three loop course so the first lap I was just trying to get a feel for the course and get comfortable riding with other riders. 2nd and 3rd laps I felt much better and just tried to crank as hard as I could. By the 3rd lap I feel I was gearing well and turning well.

Put more time in the saddle. I only did 3 rides going into this race for a total of maybe 50 miles. I also need to get shoes and clip-on pedals.

T2 was pretty quick, I already had my running shoes on. I removed helmet and grabbed a drink and took off.

nothing

Very, Very Hot!! I was expecting to run my 10k in about 50 min. granted I hadn't done any brick workouts going from bike to run. But the heat drained everything out of me. Half way through the run I was walking all the drink stations and alternating run/walk for the last couple miles.

Do bike/run brick workouts. Train in the heat.

Proper training. I need to improve in every aspect of triathlons. I wasn't prepared for the heat.


I definately want to come back next year more prepared and give it the best i got!