On February 25 I participated in my first triathlon race of the year. Iceman is held during the rough Arizona winter and takes place north of Phoenix at Lake Pleasant. The event also includes an off-road triathlon for Xterra and several other categories/types of races. The sprint’s swim course was decreased to 400 from 750 due to water temps. Not sure you should call it Iceman if you don’t expect some ice. The bike and run was on a hilly course with some u-turns and lake views. I thought the weather was great for racing and would have been fine with the swim at the length of 750. We decided to take our teardrop trailer and stayed at the lake itself which was nice. It had been a really long time since I did a sprint, so I wasn’t really prepared, but still managed to finish 3rd overall. I can’t think of anything I would have done differently to make this a faster race. I did have a bit of trouble removing my wetsuit in T1. T2 was really quick. I was off the bike and transitioned well in my opinion. I think if I had trained for a sprint I would have had a faster race. The run was okay but not wow!. I think this race would be better as a mass start and the awards are pretty lame. I don’t need anymore pint glasses and these didn’t even have the finishing place on them. The awards for top 3 should at least be something that inspires those to come back the next year. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems it wouldn’t put the organizers out by handing out well crafted awards.