General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread Rss Feed  
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2012-03-01 1:06 PM

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Subject: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
Has anyone done this race? The swim is in a heated pool at the YMCA.


2012-03-01 1:20 PM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
yep, in the heated pool at the YMCA.  If I remembe right the course was a loop that we did 4 times (????) and a 2 loop run.   Lot's of fun and the pool is 50 meter length each way. Do it serpintine style, get out, and do 3 more times (or something like that).   Regardless.....it is a fun race! 
2012-03-01 1:33 PM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
The swim is a bit confusing, I was glad to have my hubby there to tell me how many more laps. They had us do 1600m instead of 1500m to make it less confusing.  The run course is short, not 10k. The bike course is a lot of loops but very fast. It's a good one.

Edited by riorio 2012-03-01 1:36 PM
2012-03-02 12:20 PM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
Yes, the pool is heated.  78-79 during the winter.  Fun race, very fast.  as rio said the run course is short by a k or so.   Hit up ground control afterwards, Good menu and killer beer. 
2012-03-03 1:15 PM
in reply to: #4075500

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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread

Has anyone done this race? The swim is in a heated pool at the YMCA.

haven't done it, but will be doing it this sunday as my first OLY-distance race. as others have mentioned, it's a serpentine pool swim and a looped bike course. it looks like 6 loops/laps for the OLY. 

2012-03-03 1:49 PM
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Charlotte
Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
Is the swim confusing? Sometimes the pool can get really clogged up, especially if you are swimming like 3 sets and then getting out and running or whatever? How do they seed the times? I haven't registered yet...and is the bike clogged too or can you get out and spin pretty well?


2012-03-03 2:44 PM
in reply to: #4078756

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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread

mchisholm - 2012-03-03 12:49 PM Is the swim confusing? Sometimes the pool can get really clogged up, especially if you are swimming like 3 sets and then getting out and running or whatever? How do they seed the times? I haven't registered yet...and is the bike clogged too or can you get out and spin pretty well?

i have done 3 previous sprints, all serpentine-style swim. it's not confusing, but it does get clogged up. usually there is a timing mat where you'll jump into the pool. after you do your first set of laps [up and down the lengths of the pool] you will exit, run back to the beginning and do 3 or 4 additional sets of laps. the race official will hold any starters for you to go ahead. at 2 of the sprints i've done, swimmers lined themselves up by time - though i am not sure everyone was as honest as i was about their times. at the last tri-family racing event [the people putting on this one], swimmers were lined up by number and age group. this was a huge mess. i counted 9 people in one lane at one point in the swim.

don't know about the bike course...but if last year's race is any indication, there will be much fewer people out in goodyear than the tri-family event that was last weekend in scottsdale. that one was sold out [or nearly sold out] and the bike course of 4 laps was still pretty wide open. 

PS if you guys see a tall thirty-something guy with a hunter-orange saucony visor at the event, that's me!

2012-03-04 10:09 AM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
Hopefully it's a setup where you guess your time and line up accordingly. There were huge pile-ups in the tri-family racing even this past weekend. It was kind of funny though... Saw a big ex-swimmer just plow through the course haha. Turned into a OWS kind of experience.
2012-03-04 9:18 PM
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Charlotte
Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
What do you mean by pile ups, and what's OWS?
2012-03-05 1:32 AM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread

mchisholm - 2012-03-04 9:18 PM What do you mean by pile ups, and what's OWS?

I worded that wrong. Pile up = clogged lanes. There were times when I was swimming with four+ people around me.

OWS = Open water swimming. Kind of that mass start with lots of people around you.

2012-03-05 9:03 AM
in reply to: #4080256

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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
I received the information for the race in my email. They are putting us in bib # order. I hope I am in the back so I am not holding anyone back. I am a slow swimmer and doing the oly distance in a pool will take me longer than a OWS.

For the Olympic distance we do our first 8 laps (50 meter pool) and then will run (walk fast) back to lane one, jump in feet first again for another 8 laps, and another, and another until they have went through the 50 meter four times before exiting to the transition area.

Bike 6 laps =24 miles

The run is essentially (semi-circle) an out and back run course (2) 3 mile loops.


2012-04-22 10:45 AM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
I love your quote, "Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still."  I am a Penguin follower and walk-run marathons at a frantic 14 min/mile pace and am horribly slow OWS with one hour mile swim pace.
2012-04-22 6:42 PM
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Subject: RE: Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread
I am glad there are others who proudly state they are slow. When people ask me how big the pack is, I can tell them 'causeTI can see all of the participants in front of me! When people ask me how I did on a race, I tell them I worked hard and finished with a smile. Once someone asked me if I won and I actually chuckled out loud. BTW, the SW YMCA pool looks very nice. I just like OWS races so much that I don't do pool races. Good luck to all wo do this one!
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General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Southwest Valley Regional YMCA Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread Rss Feed