Ironman AZ (Steve Poirot photo)
I like Tempe, AZ – I really do. As a college town/tourist destination it’s one of my favorite places to bring visitors and for events (SOMA, Nathan Tri, Pat’s Run, PF Chang’s Rock ‘N Roll Marathon, etc.) The atmosphere in Tempe is wonderful for athletic events – ASU has such a lively sports scene and there are always spectators for any race I’ve done there. Tempe Town Lake is a pretty backdrop to the downtown Tempe area, and Town Lake park is a great place to watch the boats float by.
Swimming in Tempe Town Lake is another thing altogether.
I’ve done plenty of tris over the years, and each one has a swim that I mentally rank on water quality. I don’t think I’ve every really rated the best & worst until now… here goes:
The BEST swim courses:
- Litchfield Hills Olympic Triathlon – Litchfield, CT. Drinking quality water in spring-fed lake. Gorgeous!
- Blue Water Triathlon – AZ/CA Border. Crystal-clear Colorado River & swim is with current.
- Tribal Sprint Triathlon – Lake Pleasant, AZ. Amazing scenery, nice course
- Ridgefield Triathlon – Ridgefield, CT. Nice, wide swim lanes & clean water. Beach exit means sandy feet at T1.
- Timberman Triathlon, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH. Gorgeous lake, friendly course layout close to shore & shallow. (my first tri!)
The WORST swim courses:
- NYC Triathlon, New York, NY. Hudson river. Yuck. Water is disgusting, floating debris (shopping cart, watermelon, plastic bags, etc.) Just a hideous place to have a swim. Water quality abysmal, actually stains swimsuits and exiting swimmers have a “grime line” across their faces.
- Bassman Half Iron Triathlon, Absegami Lake, Bass River State Park, NJ. Man-made lake that is only open to swimmers during the event. The water is shallow and the whole swim is spent with weeds wrapping around arms & legs. The visual is even worse – all the stumps of the trees the cut down sprawl below you in the murkiness and look like giant creepy spiders. It’s a positive that you can stand at any time during the swim – until you run into someone who is standing in a swim lane catching their breath. It is also a very strange sensation to drag your hands on the bottom during a stroke. After the race, police officers forced people out of the water that were trying to cool off. I reiterate – they don’t allow swimming in this lake except for the event. The beach is actually fenced off. It seemed like they were hiding something. Also google Absegami Lake, NJ and read the Sasquatch stories.
- Long Island Sound, Bridgeport, CT. I’ve done about a dozen tris in Long Island Sound up & down the CT coast, and some of my favorite events take place in the dark, salty water (Hammerfest, SoBe). The Park City Mossman takes place in one of my least favorite stretches. In ’07, the tide was so low that some buoys were actually on dry land. We were forced (allowed?) to run/walk between the swim segments. During some of the “runs” your feet got stuck in some muck. Yuck.
- Tempe Town Lake (SOMA, Nathan, PBR, Ironman AZ, etc.) While I characterize the water as “not that bad” it is very murky and you can barely see your hand in front of your face. What’s worse – you can barely see the foot that’s about to hit your nose. I love Tempe, and will continue to do events in Tempe Town Lake – but I need to admit that it’s not an altogether pleasant swimming experience.
- Winding Trails Tri, Newington, CT. (a 10-race series on Tuesday nights) The water itself isn’t all that bad, it is average fresh water lake quality. The reason this race makes the list isn’t because of the long weeds in the deep area (creepy when you first touch ‘em) it is because of the tiny swim lanes. Here’s the math: .25 mile swim with (2) 90º turns in swim lanes about 20 feet wide + 100-200 swimmers in a mass start = a washing machine like no other. While Ironman may be 2200 more people at once, Tempe Town Lake is massive and people are also not all-out sprinting the 2.4 miles. In Winding Trails it is a 110% sprint to the first corner with limbs a-flailing. I’m pretty sure I got pummeled by one of my best friends at one race (thanks Erik).
So, what is it like to hop into 60º water and slap/punch/pull & kick 2400 people? Actually – it’s not that bad at all. Most Ironman entrants (1800 first-timers in ’09) seemed to understand that we’re all in this together and swimming over other competitors wouldn’t help anyone. Yes, the water was really, really cold. This was not the coldest water I’ve been in (Hammerfest ’08), but there was nothing that could be called “pleasant” about the water temps. The amazing part about the chilly water was that only 60 days earlier during Nathan Tempe Triathlon the water was almost 20º warmer and wetsuits weren’t legal. What a difference a couple dozen cold desert nights can make. I was thrilled to wear my long-sleeve Xterra Vortex2 wetsuit. That wetsuit is comfy, buoyant and warm. It is probably a fast wetsuit on a decent swimmer… but I am pretty slow. I was pretty pleased with my 1:32 swim split, only 2 minutes off the mark I’d mentally set for myself.
Up next: It’s not the swim that hurts… it’s the turns!