Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I realized about 2 hours before the event that I had in no way prepared mentally for the swim. Usually I have a plan as to how I am going to swim, what I am going to focus on, etc. For this race I was so intent on riding my bike that pretty much my only thought was to get the swim over with so I could ride my bike. No focus leads to crappy form, worse sighting, and generally a crappy time in the water. I was suprised to come in anywhere near 30 minutes, but I'll take it. Highlight of the race was definitely getting passed/groped by the 20-29 females ;)

I really need to make sure that I prepare mentally for this part of the race, physically I know I will never be fast but I have had much better times on swims.

I think I was so excited to get on the bike this transition went pretty well. I NEED a tri top though I could not get my top on for the life of me. I seriously had Jen pull the back of the shirt down for me... what a lame ass I am.

Tri top.

Ahh finally out on the bike. Despite the fact the course had a bazillion turns it went really REALLY well. The course seemed slower than last year but I think it was a bit more fun, with all the turns and tight lanes it gave alot of room for slingshot passing and mini groups to form. For most of the ride I ended up with the high ranking female competitors that started behind me which was fun because they really pushed the pace at times and it was great for pacing. The new bike handled great and took the turns like a champ and accelerated well out of them. Overall I had a great time on the bike and no problems.

I think I need to work on my bike force a bit, my pace felt like it was dropping more than it should when riding into the wind. I didn't have any tool to measure my speed or power though so I can't be sure.

Good, quick transition

Nothing.

I had secretly had a goal of going sub 3 hours for an olympic race, but with the longer bike I wasn't sure if it was possible here. I checked my watch leaving T2 and saw that if I ran a sub 1:06 10K I would make it. Usually my runs suck after biking so I knew that would be pushing it.
As soon as I headed out on the run is when I really noticed the benefit of having the tri bike, my legs didn't have the "heavy legs" feel. I was able to get up to pace pretty quickly. Only issue with doing a shorter distance triathlon while training for a marathon is that I seriously have one speed... slow. The run wasn't particularly hard and I really didn't get too hot. Water on the hat at every aid station helped. I found myself able to pretty easily keep around what felt like a 10 min per mile pace the whole time. Jen joined me for the second lap and I had an AWESOME time talking to her, it made the second lap go by SOOO fast. I tried on the back side of the lake to pick up the pace but my heart rate jumped super quick so I had to bring the pace back to where I was comfortable with. I got on Mill ave bridge and new that I still had a chance of making my goal... after getting off the bridge I really pushed it all the way to the finish, looked down at my watch and 2:59... doesn't get closer than that and it felt great to have met my goal.

I think I could've done better if I was trained specifically for this distance, given the circumstances it was perfect though.

Hung out at the East Siiiiide tent and had some of the excellent post race nutrition.


Lack of focus on the swim. Lack of bike training because of the marathon, and general marathon training made my endurance really good but me speed overall a bit slower.


Overall this was "just another Tempe Town Lake" race. But that by no means implies it was bad. The race was much better organized than last year hence making it much more enjoyable. For a warmup race during the season I couldn't ask for much more than racing with a great group of friends during a fun, convenient race.