Iron Girl Columbia Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I felt stronger on the swim than last year (my first tri)- sited better and just felt stronger. I did get my goggles kicked off once which caused me to stop for about 15 seconds to readjust my goggles (luckily they didn't come off my head) and I also felt like my timing chip was coming off a few times (it had come un-velcroed a bit) so that my have slowed me down a tad but I was shocked to come out of the water and see I finished over 2 minutes slower than last year after a year of training, coaching, etc. Sounds like from what others were saying the course was probably about 100-200m long so that would make sense and I'd be on my pace, or a little faster, than last year.

Continue to train hard on the swim- it's my one huge limiting factor and I just can't seem to get faster despite lessons, endless hours of practice, etc.! I need more upper body strength, I think!

Faster than last year by about 30 seconds- had a better transition area. Only thing that slowed me down was that I couldn't get my helmet buckled!! Took about 10 seconds too long to buckle it.

Loosen the strap just a little to help make it easier to buckle!

Very happy with my bike- .5 MPH faster than last year. Wasn't passed by anyone and passed a lot of people in my age group. Felt strong.

Get a better bike or have my bike fitted to me. Continue to work on power.

I had to backtrack through transition for this transition (we were racked all the way near the bike out) so that might have added a little time; otherwise, I don't think I could have done anything faster- got out of my bike shoes and into my run shoes, grabbed everything else and ran for the exit.

Learn a flying dismount with shoes on the bike.

Again, faster than last year by a few seconds. Felt strong on the run and didn't feel as hilly as last year (maybe because it was earlier and not as hot yet since I started in an earlier swim wave this year) Wasn't passed by anyone.

Nothing- running is my strength (finished 4th overall in the run)

Ugh- this was the most frustrating part of the day. Very crowded at the finish with no one giving out water (that I saw at least). I went to get my stuff out of transition so I could change and then back to see if I could get my results and stood in line for almost AN HOUR with promises that it would be "10 minutes more" every 15 minutes. Finally gave up and went to get food and more drink.


My swim, clear and simple. Need a propeller or fins, I think :)


While I really love this event and the "vibe", and think it's generally a well-organized event, this is the second year in a row they've had timing issues. Last year awards were given out erroneously and it ended up I won an award in my age group after the awards were straightened out but it took almost a year before I finally got the award that I was told would come last September or October (just got it a week before this year's event). This year the results were all over the place and the finishing places keep changing. I am listed as 27th overall one place, 25th overall another place, 5th in my age group one place, 7th in another place...there's someone with a swim time of 3:14 (wish I could have seen that swim!) and a lot of people with off-the wall times (top finishers with 10+ minute/mile runs). It's just frustrating and I haven't ever experienced such confusion in any other race I have run.
Again, I think it is a great race, super support and very well organized...aside from the timing issues (which aren't really the race organizer's fault) it's very well-orchestrated and you can't beat the supportive environment.