Race Type: Triathlon
Distance: 1500 meter swim, 28 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Participants: 418
Overall Place: 144th
Age Group Place: 21st
Time: 2:53:32. Swim: 39:30, T1: 2:04, Bike: 1:21:56, T2: 1:24, Run: 48:37
This is the first race in a series put on by Lifetime Fitness. The next race is also an Olympic distance on 9/21 followed by a half ironman on 10/19. I am signed up for all three.
There were three distances available, sprint, ~olympic, and ~half ironman (Leadman) totaling almost 1000 people.
I had not competed in a Lifetime event before so wasn't sure what to expect. My first impressions, nice job.
Packet Pickup
Packet pickup and bike drop off had to be done on Saturday between 12 and 5pm. Additionally, there was a mandatory race meeting at 2 and 4pm. I arrived around 1:30 and received my packet and goodies. This went quickly as there was a separate line for the people who had signed up for the entire series.
I didn't have time to find my transition area before the meeting so I put the bike on a temporary rack and listened to the race spiel. After about 30 minutes I decided that I'd had enough and headed to transition.
I was told to rack my bike wherever I could find a spot in the first 6 rows by the bike in/out. Another series perk... Having got rid of the bike I headed to another Lifetime tent to pick up my included series jacket.
Pretty painless packet pickup.
Pre-Race
This race had a wave start. Being in a large age group I was in the second wave behind the pro's and 20-29 group. This put my start time at 8:03. To be honest, this felt like a luxury to be starting a race so late. I was able to sleep in until almost 6am and still had plenty of time to set up my transition area.
After laying everything out I headed to the bike tent and had them top off my tires. This was the largest triathlon event I've attended to date so I had to snap a few pictures.
My transition rack is back there somewhere
Lots of bikes around here
I headed out of transition with my swim gear and discovered a set of porta-johns with no line. Nice!
After that I found the swim/bike transition entry and then watched the Leadman distance triathletes coming in on the swim.
Ten minutes before the start I found another AZ Tri Club member. For those of you who don't know I recently joined a local triathlon group, AZ Tri Club. I was sporting their kit for this race and one of the the other non-participating members was out taking group photos. Hopefully I can add these later. For now, here's a picture from the official photo company.
And here are a couple pictures with the AZ Tri Club before the race...
The Swim
I'll preface the swim with the statement that I haven't been swimming enough. It certainly shows by my time and placement in the pack. Of the 418 participants I came in 356th on the swim. I can't blame it on issues, nerves, kicking, or whatever. Simply lack of training for this leg. This is a wake up call, I need to hit the pool at least three days a week.
That said, Lifetime had plenty of buoys out there and I feel that I sighted well and didn't go drastically off course at any point. This being my least favorite leg I just took my time and got through it slowly but surely. Of course I was kicked and hit a number of times but no more than any other swim. No cramps, no loss of goggles, not bad.
Course Map
My Results
Transition 1
It was a bit of a jog from the swim to my bike rack. Nothing exciting to report here. Stripped the wetsuit, tossed on socks, shoes, glasses, and helmet, grabbed the bike and headed to the mount area.
The Bike
I really don't like the bike courses around Tempe Town Lake. There are so many turns and I feel like I can't get into a good rhythm. There really aren't a whole lot of local options in open water though so I just have to suck it up.
Ignoring all the turns, the bike leg was pretty enjoyable. The course was 14 miles long and had to be repeated twice. I spent the entire time passing all the faster swimmers. All told, about 200 people. Throw in the sprint distance and Leadman distance triathletes and there was quite a bit of congestion at times.
My pace was slower than planned but I didn't mind. My heart rate had started high, around 170, but over the first 30 minutes dropped into a reasonable 155 or so. I decided not to push it hard at any point and save my legs for the run.
My stats were certainly better for this leg, 105th of 418.
Course Map
My Results
Transition 2
My rack was only five deep from the bike/run transition. I swapped shoes, tossed on a hat and headed out. Unfortunately I left my Gatorade behind though.
The Run
The run was a single loop. I ran past another AZ Tri Club member at the beginning of the course and chatted briefly.
Shortly after I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was still recording the swim, or something. What I knew for sure was that I must have hit the wrong button at some point and it wasn't logging data as planned. I cancelled the current event on the watch and started it up again as a run only. Bummer. Luckily it looked like it had captured the swim and I had another GPS going on the bike so I didn't think that I'd lost much data.
After the next mile I started to get in my running groove but it was also getting pretty hot. I decided that I would walk through the aid stations and drink a cup of water and dump a cup of ice down my back. This worked well.
Over the course of the run I passed another AZ Tri Club member and another dozen runners. Nobody passed me.
This wasn't the fastest time I was capable of but I didn't have the drive to push harder today. Instead I simply enjoyed the run and the feeling of accomplishing another triathlon. I came in 84th on this leg.
Course Map
My Results
Finish Video
I enjoyed doing this race. I didn't go into it with lofty goals or the intention of putting it all out there. I feel that this gave me the ability to relax a bit and appreciate the event, the participants, and the volunteers.
Lifetime did a great job with the course and the post race activities. There was free rice and chicken bowls for participants, free beer, and plenty of non-alcoholic liquids. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Almost forgot, and I'll have to add a picture later, the finishers medal serves a dual purpose. The neckband is velco and can be removed so that the medal can be used as a bottle opener. There is even a magnet on the back so that you can stick it to your refrigerator. I like it!
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