Training & Racing in Arizona

It was the first race of 2015.  I was not “race ready”.  I hadn’t ridden my bike outside since the fall, nor had I been in my wetsuit or done any open water swimming since last August and I certainly hadn’t run in the heat yet.  It had been an abnormally cold winter, I think it was 5 C when we left Toronto on April 10th for sunny Arizona where it was around 30 C.  We were there to train, not race.

Along with fellow coach Eric D’Arcy, I was in Tucson to lead the Toronto Triathlon Clubs Training Camp from April 12-19th.  Someone had let me know that there was a triathlon in Tempe in the morning of the 12th.  And like normal triathletes, promptly, six of us signed up to do the race before camp had even started.

Thank goodness for time zone changes because in Tempe races start early.  The first wave started at 6:30am which meant we were up at 4am.  I’d only ever been up that early for Ironman, not a sprint tri.