Iron Girl - TriathlonSprint

I got too close to a few feet and wound up taking on a ton of water early on. I haven't choked so bad in a race in quite a while. I rolled to my back to cough and collect myself and then continued on. If the swim was really 500 meters, then I definitely went quite a bit slower than I wanted to.

Learn how to draft better.

Getting into my shoes didn't workout well b/c one of the velcro pieces came completely out and I had to lace it back through while riding. Ugh.

Nothing...

My legs burned on the bike right away but I knew it was good. There wasn't as much intrinsic drafting as I had hoped. I felt no relief as I approached people to pass in the 15 second window. I was thankful not to be in the first wave, though so there were plenty of people to follow. I dreamt that I took a wrong turn on the bike so I definitely didn't want to be out in front alone!

Not a whole lot except perhaps keep my shoe strap from coming loose.

Well, the dismount line was all clogged up when I got there. I had plenty of control of my bike except I had to STOP to keep from running over all the people. the abrupt stop caused my rear wheel to begin coming up just when my foot hit the ground. A volunteer tried to "help" me and jumped in front of my bike with one leg on either side. I wasn't very nice to him when I told him to "get out of my way!" I'm sure he meant well!

Um... I'd beg for a wider dismount area!!!

The run was hot and hard. As I came out of transition, Staci yelled to me "you're in first place!" I probably got chilled and I know I did a little "oh my god!!!" The run was hard immediately. My head was racing wondering how far back the next girl was. My stomach flipped. About 0.2 miles into it I found a mantra and kept repeating it to myself ... I - can - run... with each breath. The run was all about not giving up even though it was so hot and I felt so slow already. My mental capacaty slipped away over the 3 miles to the point where I didn't even think to split my watch at mile 3... but I did look over my shoulder a few times before crossing the finish line. I knew that since no one in my AG had passed me, I had won.

I don't know what I could have done differently. I gave it all I had even though I felt it might not be enough.

Lots of walking and drinking water. I downed 2 water bottles very quickly.


The humidity was the worst part of the race. I also think my stomach felt the effect of swallowing all that water for a while. After about 20 burps on the bike, I felt OK.


For a race this big, I expected a bigger expo and a bigger post race spread. I think lots of people had trouble finding the food because it was back behind the transition area. The beer was a nice touch although I'm not a beer drinker. Donuts, pizza or pancakes would have made me happier :) However, the volunteers were great, the numbered bike racks were great, and in general the race was run very well. They even did awards earlier than scheduled to help us all get home.