Iron Girl: Race Report

Another Iron Girl in the books! 

Swim start!

So I didn’t make my time goal. But given that this year’s Iron Girl was longer than last year and there was my complete and utter lack of sleep over the last three days that had me begging for sips of coffee from my parents right before the start? I’m ok with it.

Marilyn and me @the start!

And yea, you read that right. The race was longer than last year, even though it was supposed to be the same course. This year’s swim was a full 600 meters (verses last year’s ~500—apparently the buoys blew in.) Then, because there were so many more people, they moved transition really far back from the beach. So, despite all that, I came in at 1:38. Not too far off my time goal. But, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that because of the changes, you really can’t compare this year and last year, so that makes my goals kinda moot. 

Case in point: the winning time was 5 minutes slower than last year (and it was the same girl). So I’m pretty darn happy to have gotten 8 minutes faster when the winner slowed down by a pretty good amount.

The swim was rough. I spent 13 minutes in the water, fighting waves, seaweed and the girl next to me who decided to cling to my side for. The. Entire. Swim. I would move forward, she’d follow. I’d slow down, she’d slow down. I went left, she’d go left. You get the idea. She even had a wetsuit on (I don’t wear one). At one point she was literally on top of me. We also got caught up behind some slower swimmers from the wave in front of us. That was hard, and I felt pretty sick getting out of the water. I think I’m going to try earplugs (someone told me they help with the sick/dizzy feeling when you get out of the water).

By the time on got on the bike I was feeling a lot better. The first 17 miles of the ride were fantastic. I was passing people (and never got passed!) and felt really strong. A huge shout out to the guys at Bike Loft East for taking the time to make my bike fit right—it made a huge difference! It started to rain right before I got to the iron bridge, so I pedaled as hard as I could so I could get over it before it got really soaked. Mission accomplished, I didn’t fall! Really, the only bad part was right before the last turn back to transition. A car came up on my left, and slowed to a stop, blocking the intersection, right as I was trying to turn left. I had to come to almost a complete stop, go past the turn and turn all the way around. It slowed me up a little but I’m just really glad I didn’t get hit!

The run was the run. It’s definitely my strongest segment, but unfortunately it’s last! Well, maybe not unfortunately. I’m not sure I could swim last, lol! I was just trying to run consistently. Lately in races I’ve been going out too fast and I wanted to avoid that. I think I ran pretty steadily. About a mile in I saw another 20-24 year old for the first time as she ran past me. Oh well. I guess it means I was in first place until then! I let her go. She was running too fast for me and I wanted to be able to finish strong without having to walk.

So close!

It all worked out in the end though. That last goal? The one I was aware was completely out of my control? Achieved! I came in second in my age group and have a really pretty new necklace to show for it. It was so fun to hear my name called and all the people from the Y cheering for me. Definitely a flashback to gymnastics meets. I guess we never get over that little thrill. Oh, and I was 31 overall (out of 1,047). Here are the official results.

I spent the rest of the day trying to decide which was more comfortable, the couch or the bed (my parents couch won out!). But tomorrow I’m back up and at ‘em. Skinnyman is less than a month away!