beginner friendly races in AZ

This race company does great beginner races:

www.trifamilyracing.com

If you are female, you could do the tri for the cure which is a pool swim, or in May there is a woman's only tri in Tempe lake- the SheRox tri (www.redrockco.com)

Good luck!

The only other thing I'll add is to use the training logs on this site. Some people don''t because they think they don't do enough or that they're too slow or whatever reason, but the log help.

They'll help you see what you doing, and

by letting others see your training, they can offer advice and inspiration.

Many rank their races as "A" down to perhaps"D" with an "A" race being one that they are training for to beat a time, gain a personal record, or complete a longer race length.  The "B" races may be fall back plans to pick up a race if your are ill/other issues on an "A" race, and C/D are fun races that are realy training days for future events or excuses to race with freinds for fun.

That said, most of us are Beginners as in amatures.  So we learn from each other, ask alot of questions, experiment on nutrition, and pick one or two "A" races in a season.  The other events are to participate with freinds, or just to show Chris that he has to wear the pink Crocs and the pink Tutu when he is beat by the slow chubby guy (Me) that is just using the race as a training step for the June Half-ironman.

Like SportyJ, I would tell you to try to train with a group and meet new people.  I happen to know that ESCKTC runs on Wed nights at Tempe Town Lake and has group rides most Saturdays or Sundays and soon Open Water swimming.  Groups improve safety, and provide company in a sport that we all love.

Soooo - sign up for as many events as you can stand but rank them according to your own goals.  (Always remember that the "sprint" in this sport is not seconds, rather over and hour or two, so do not be fooled into doing one every weekend or two!)