Toyota Desert Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

I started in the 2 line on the outside, defintely more toward the front that I usually do. I drafted for a bit at the first part and then couldn't see the teeny tiny buoy (it really was smaller) and the sun on the right made it harder to see, plus the goggles fogged. I tried to use the tall palm tree straight ahead as marker and realized I'd swam a bit off course to my right when I saw the boat for those needing help up ahead in my path. It was either that or they had rescued someone. ? Anyway, got the buoy in sight and as I turned it a swimmer from a previous wave was treading water there. I asked her if she was okay, because that really was more important than me swimming at that moment. She said thanks, but she was okay. So I powered on. I did have one moment when I felt my wetsuit was strangling me and i had to side stroke a bit. Then I barreled toward the second, more visible buoy and rounded it with ease. The swim to the finish seemed long for some reason, but I may have gotten a bit off. I kept seeing people much further to my left. Anyway, I was passing some people from previous waves and that always makes me feel like I must be swimming fairly well, although I kind of feel bad for them. I got up and out of the water and immediately started peeling my suit off and getting cap and goggles off. I did a slight jog up through the dirt/sand and tiny pebbles that hurt my feet. I know HTFU (harden the feet up).

Look up a little more between strokes to make sure I was on the right path to the buoy and maybe try and catch some more drafting action.

I got on my bike and out to mount at the line and there was an SUV in front of me. Me and another guy are trying to get past him, but he's going very slow and I'm not sure why the vols let him on the course at that time. I'm yelling, OMG, I can't believe it, there's a car on the course. Move out of the way! I'm sure I sounded...well intense, but I didn't tell him to get the f out of the way, which was what I was thinking!

Go around that damn truck

My Garmin wasn't picking up so most of the time I didn't know how fast I was going or what my cadence was. I decided to quit messing with it because it was slowing me down and just ride. I passed quite a few people on the bike and only got passed by maybe 4 or 5 others, two of which were women and probably one of them was one of the women who placed ahead of me in my age group. She was all in pink on a bright pink Pepto Bismol colored bike. I rode pretty well, but didn't go really, really hard because I was trying to pace myself so I could have a higher turnover on my run. I'm still trying to figure out how fast and hard to push on the bike and still have legs left for the run. I think I judged this fairly well though. My avg. speed was 18.4. I would have liked to have it around 20. Since the water and air were colder, my hands got soooo cold. They were numb by the time we finished the race and I had to keep shaking them at the end to have some feeling in them.

In retrospect, I could have ridden a bit harder, but at that time I didn't know that. It's all a learning experience.

My hands and feet were so numb and just wouldn't move well so getting my helmet off was challenging. I couldn't get the sides pushed in to unlatch the helmet so I tackled getting my shoes off and then putting my run shoes on the tongue got slid down and I couldn't grasp it with my still numb hands. At that point, I went back to my helmet and finally got it unlatched. So, I'm really amazed all that only took 2 1/2 minutes. It felt like an eternity.

Velcro gloves to my bike and put them on during the ride so my hands weren't so damn cold which would have allowed me to unlatch my helmet and get my shoes on quicker.

When I started the run I passed a guy who was walking and then a few others. There were several women all running around the same pace and we kept together for a while and I tried to strike up tiny conversations to break up the moment. Many of them had ipods and I didn't. It took about 1/2 mile to get my legs going, but then I got into a good rhythm and felt really pretty good even though I could not feel my feet. They were both numb from being cold, I guess.I was hoping my shoes wouldn't fall off because I didn't think they had been pulled on tight, but I couldn't feel it. It felt like my left shoe was dangling on my foot. I had put new Yankz in, but hadn't secured them well enough I guess. By the end of the race I was just getting all the feeling back in my feet. At one point, I thought I love running.(Yes, even with numb feet) And, I guess I really do. The time for me was pretty good and had it been a true 5K instead of just a 3 miler it would have been a PR for me. I did have a bit of a kick left at the finish line, too. The announcer for the first time said my name. That was pretty cool. :-) Usually it's hard for them to pronounce, I guess so they skip it, or there's others coming across at the same time. I was pretty much alone coming across the line.

Nothing I can think of. They had water and I took just a small sip at the first station and nothing at the second. I mean it was only 3 miles and it wasn't hot at all.

Walked to find my water bottle (my favorite one) that had fallen off when I passed the SUV that was in my way at the bike start. I had hit a bump in the road and lost my water bottle. DH and I walked to try and find it and I figured that would be a good way to warm down. We didn't find it.


Cold hands/feet.


I just love this little race in the desert. There weren't as many people there this year as last though. Probably something do to with the economy. The Klein-Clark folks do a great job of organizing and have music at the front end and back and a good announcer and nice noshing food and lots of water and friendly and plentiful volunteers. They are on time and it's really a great way to start the season. My DH says I should do this race every year as a tune up and to get a gauge on how I'm doing from year to year. I'm all for it. It was a really nice getaway with my husband and we found a really great fish market/restaurant that had lots of choices on fresh grilled fish and shellfish and salads, which is right up my alley. It really is a pretty spot with the reddish mountains framing the desert and the snow-capped peaks off in the distance. It warmed to 80 by the time we got out of there around 1 p.m. They do have long thermometers in the desert. Yeah for my first tri of the year!