Tempe International Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

This swim was LONG. I did this race last year, swim time was 27:xx. I am a better swimmer now. Without the wetsuit I knew I'd maybe be a bit slower, was hoping for 30. At the post race awards, they said it was 2000. I've never swam "naked" in Tempe lake before, I have to admit i didnt like it one bit. The lake is gross and I prefer a nice thick layer of rubber between the lake water and my skin, thank you. Secondly I apparently dont like people touching me without the wetsuit on either. The swim seemed super long, I thought the last bouy would never come. Made the turn around and caugt back up with some of the waves in front. I got out the water and my heart sank when I saw my time.

Fast transition, no wetsuit.

I had a good bike today. I had the fastest female bike split! The course has lots of turns and a total of 4 U-turns (why do people clip out on u-turns???). It was alot less chaotic than the race here last week though, even though there were twice as many competitors. Its pretty flat with a few small hills.

Another fast transition, I can tell the practice pays off.

2 loops around Tempe lake. I felt good the entire run. It was getting hot so I dumped water on my head at each aid station. There is a flight of stairs to go up each lap, always feels wierd, but overall a good run for me. I had a bit too much left in the tank the last mile.

Grabbed some water, food and shade. Watched my team mates finish and hung out for about an hour. Then we had to hit the road, needed to pick up the kids. We had a Tri group BBQ and pool party at a friends house to wrap up the day, my friend had video taped the whole race so it was fun to watch it. Again, it was a bitter-sweet day. My team mates did great (some swimming in OW without a suit for the first time!) but we miss Claudio so much. Got to talk to him on the phone post-race and he was of course in my head all day out there, but it's not the same as having him there with us! :-(


The age group that I am in!!! I came in 6th female, all the fastest times were in my AG, if I had still been in the 30-34 I would have won! Boo!
I'm pretty worn out from racing, training, work, travel etc. Looking forward to a break this summer before I hit IM training.


Average race. I'm pretty tired of Tempe races. The schwag for this race was lame. I wish the swim had been the right length because my goal was 2:25 and I think I would have acheived that on a 1500m swim. Still, good to see so many clubs out there competing, and some really good athletes showed up today.