Planning on this for October and I went to look at the results from last year. They seem surprisingly slow for my age group (Only 27 out of 156 athletes in M 50-54 broke 6 hours). Was there something about last year that made this a slow race (really hot, maybe) or is that kind of typical for this race?
It is still warm here for that time of year. I do not remember anything out of the ordinary as I raced it last year. Do keep in mind that the bike course is three loops within the city of Tempe. A lot of turns and gets crowded quickly which could result in slower bike times perhaps. Have fun and good luck in your race!
Thanks for the response. It did seem like it is mainly slow run times, perhaps because of the heat. It may also be that I’m just getting older and my age group is slowing down. I am too, but I’m still in denial and want to think (despite a lack of recent evidence for such) that I can still run a 1:40 if I get the training right.
On a good year that race is just hot. Usually, it is HOT AF. I live in the area and have spectated several times, but would never be able to handle that heat.
Admittedly, I am a big baby in the heat.
last year was pretty stellar for the temps. Sun was out though which probably didn’t help especially those in the latter parts of the field.
I have done it twice and it is HOT, especially on the run. The bike course has like 80 turns which will slow you down and parts of the road are rough. Great place for a race though… convenient and great fan support.
Last year surprised us. It was supposed to be a cool day (relatively speaking) and temps went up quite a bit more than foretasted. I struggled on the run more than ever on that course because I didn’t prepare for those temps with my hydration strategy or with my clothing choices and it caught up with me. I would say no matter what, treat it like a very hot 70.3! If you get lucky and it’s a cool day, bonus. If not, you’ll have what you need to race strong through the finish.