Rio Salado Tri recap...

After the less than spectacular finish at the Marquee tri three weeks ago, and the more than spectacular bonk that occured along the way, yesterday was a small bit of redemption.

I slept well the night before, early to bed, early to rise and no unannounced wak-ups during the night. Easily the best sleep I have had before a race. I am really working on staying nervous-free before races by keeping my mind on other things. It seems to be working.

As always, the morning began with a shower and some oatmeal before heading down to the transition area just after 5am. It might have been the first time when I was not to transition as it opened. No need yesterday, I was not even close to being the first wave. Transition was set up, sun was up, time to race!

Despite the rule of "not trying anything new on race day," I had a new wetsuit and goggles. I tried not to think of another spectacular fail in a race. Good news is, it didn't happen. The gun went off and I flew out off the line. I couldn't count the individuals in front but I think I was in the top 6 or so people for the first third of the swim. Then, my quick early pace caught up with me and so did some others in my wave. I was trying to focus on my form and keeping the intensity up. I finished in about 25 minutes off the actual swim. Not quite what I wanted. But, it was the first open water swim since last July and the first in a race since June. Not bad, I will take it.

My transition felt a little slower than it actually came out. I am still hesitant about taking my wetsuit off, so I used the wetsuit strippers, which probably slowed me down a tad. Either way, it took me 1:12.

I had the hardest time trying to get my foot in my pedal! Probably wasted a minute or so cause my foot would not clip in! But, when I got there, the bike felt really great. Myself and a couple other guys, one from Tri Scottsdale and the other from a team i don't remember, were cruisin together for about the first quarter of the race. Switching leading duties, trying to stay legal however I knew the cat from Tri Scottsdale was blocking a little bit because he would have been drafting if he was in the right. So, no harm no foul. By the turn around on Rio Salado another dude flew past us and I knew that I was feeling too comfortable with the other two, so I made a move to catch up and push my pace a bit. He got away but I put some time between myself and the other two that I was racing with. I tried to keep the pace honest around the next lap and keep on the tail of anyone who passed me. The difference between this race and the Marquee is my consciousness level. I never got into a deficit state where I was just riding to finish. I was always conscious of my level of effort and comfort. I was able to match moves that were made and go with those that passed me. It felt much better. Time: 63:44. I was shooting for an hour, but with my shoe issue and all the turns, it may have been impossible at my riding strength right now.

My T2 was normal. 53.0 seconds. Not the fastest but far from the slowest.

I went out fast on the run. I kept telling myself on the bike that it was only a 5k, even though it was a 10k. I knew that if I went out fast, even if I slowed down, it would still be faster than if I held back my pace because of the longer distance. My first mile was under 7 minutes, maybe just under 6 minutes. I was fighting a cramp for the majority of the first lap. I think I drank too much on the bike which came back to hurt me in the run. Every aid station was walking a fine line between drinking to much and perpetuating the cramp and needing to drink because of the warm 80+ degree temps. I only got passed a couple times during the run. And passed far more. My goal was a sub-40 minute 10K. I didn't know if that was realistic. I hadn't run at all since the Marquee. My lack of fitness, the heat and my cramp slowed my goal time down to a 41:19. Not bad and could have been much worse.

Overall, the race went well. I missed my goal by a bit. I usually understand my fitness very well, in order to set a realistic goal time. I set a 2:10 as a respectable time and came in at 2:12 and change. It came down to a couple mistakes and the heat certainly effected my run time. Had the weather been better and my mistakes been managed, I would have been right there. I don't necessarily think my overshot of my goal was due to my lack of fitness. It was my first Oly distance triathlon and I think it went very well. I am pleased with the effort and I now know how much better I can be over this distance.