Tri-ing in Arizona

Upon arriving in Arizona, I was no longer nervous, which actually made me more nervous, but I was totally exhausted. Turns out, it takes longer to get to Arizona than I thought, or maybe I had just become soft when it comes to travel. Either way, we arrived, slept and woke up on Saturday around 5:30 a.m. local time.

After picking up my bike (sans one pedal…so I had to buy a whole set to complete the bike) we headed over to the venue. The crowd was actually less intimidating than I thought, or at least, than it could have been. It helped that the race had around 2,000 triathletes in it, so most of the people were Arizona locals doing the quarter or half iron. The rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful. I did a quick little mini-tri, doing the swim course, a quick bike and a really short run. We finished the day with a BoUS informational meeting, dinner and some walking around Tempe, which had been invaded by a sea of mustard-yellow t-shirts as Arizona had a home game that night.

To set the context, the race was taking place at Tempe Town Beach, which is a few blocks from Arizona State, and right next to a large, river-looking pool. The locals actually called it a lake, which blew my mind, because as far as I could tell this cement-lined, run-off filled, life-form-less body of water was far from what I would classify as a lake. We spent much of the race crossing and re-crossing the various bridges along the “lake” many times, and also swam underneath the cement pillars. Success number one of my day: not swimming into a pillar.

Anyway, race morning came and came early. Thankfully, while I don’t think I was still on east coast time, I certainly wasn’t on west coast, so my waking up at 4:30 didn’t seem all that early. Race started at 6:30 and the BoUS athletes had our own wave (the first one). As we entered the water at 6:30 a.m. the sun had not yet risen. It was such a surreal experience to climb down the bleachers into the water, dive in and start a race with a slow glow rising from the horizon and the moon still high in the sky.

The swim was uneventful, except for the fact that I felt like I was all alone, definitely a bad sign, when I got out of the water. It was my first experience with wetsuit “strippers” which made the transition zone an interesting site. No sooner had I turned the corner than I saw bodies on the ground and volunteers tugging the wetsuits from them. I managed to have help getting my shoulder out of my suit, but took it the rest of the way off when I got to my bike.

The bike course was really interesting. We essentially weaved around the water for what was supposed to be a 27-mile course, but actually turned out to be 32 (a little detail they seemed to have forgotten to mention before the ride). The course was interesting with lots of 180 degree turnarounds and sharp corners. The only hills were on-ramps to bridges, which was actually a bummer because a few good climbs probably would have helped me. Regardless, the second lap of the ride was significantly more crowded as the other triathletes who started in the waves after us, joined us on the course. I got passed by A LOT of women on this ride…which was not unexpected, but still unfortunate.

I was pretty happy until the last 15 yards of the bike. Coming into the transition was a series of sharp right hand turns. There was no one in front of me and I was thanking my guardian angel for getting me through the bike without a flat or other malfunctions, UNTIL, a woman from Maine sprinted around me as I was turning into the parking lot. Hearing her, I braked slowly but she took a hard line into the corner and cut me completely off. I slammed on my brakes, attempting to avoid hitting the curb, and then spiraled over the handlebars. There was probably a loud gasp by the crowd and a few choice words from myself. But I said I was fine and slowly pried my feet out of my clips before getting up and running the bike the rest of the way to the transition area. Luckily I was fine, except some minor wrist bruising, and you can bet that I passed that lovely woman from Maine VERY early on in the run.

The run was hot, but dry, and it seemed very long. The course was very exposed, very flat and very boring. I caught a few people slowly, but was caught back by the woman from Texas with about a mile left. I had been chasing the woman from Nevada the whole race, although she apparently got lost because she blew by me at the line, when I thought she was in front of me.

The race in general was a rewarding experience. While it certainly wasn’t my best race, it was a fun race to be a part of. In the future, I now know that 2 months after the “season” is no longer post-season racing, as I certainly would have benefited from some more triathlon training. But considering my lack of preparation, I guess the race was a success as I accomplished both of my goals: to not die and to not finish last.