Iron Girl Las Vegas - TriathlonSprint

Water was awesome temp, didn't bother me at all! Ran from the timing mat to water, started my swim, oh.my.f'ing.gosh. Water is soooo murky, unlike the other OWS that I did. I tried to swim, but I couldn't even blow my nose in the water. Took it easy for a while to get my groove...didn't come until really late in the swim. I was hoping to get under 22 minutes. I did mostly breaststroke and backstroke. Passed many newbie swimmers (I guess that's a good thing, lol!) Every time I tried to do a freestyle, it just plain sucked! I did at least try a few times, and took advantage of that and did sprints in hopes to get a better time. I didn't allow it to defeat me, I just swam, cheering on the others and just enjoyed the process and ignored everything else. So what if I didn't do freestyle the whole time. I'm happy that I did better than HALF of the women! So that should count for something! :-)

More OWS experience, especially in this water.

LONG run from Swim to Transition! Totally unexpected, but whatever! Saw my triathlete friend, and ran with him for a little bit, then stopped and walked. I knew that I would be on a massive rolling hills coming out of the bike, so I needed to walk to slow down my HR/breathing. Suit came off quickly and easy, shoes/helmet/Cochlear implant on just as quickly as I could. And ran out with a smile!

Learn how to run after the swim? LOL! Nothing I would have changed.

I didn't listen to myself..."TAKE IT EASY for the first couple miles, then hammer it!" Whatever, I passed SO many people at the beginning and the hills. Hammered it on the descents, and took it a little easier on the ascents. Calves wasn't bothering me, but slightly bothersome on the ascents.

Everything went okie dokie until Mile 12. I have NO idea what the heck happened. My rear tire started to feel REALLY weird, like it was out of balance. Stopped the bike (wasn't easy cuz I was going 18mph!), checked the rear tire, still inflated. Went on my merry way, and it just felt really weird for the rest of the ride. I could NOT figure out what it was. Every time I had to do a curve, especially turning right, my tires would skid/slip. So I had to quickly change my game plan - instead of hammering it, don't crash! I wasn't sure if it was the brakes or what! I just kept going, there was a couple descents that I *could* have pushed it harder, but kept it slightly easier just in case, I don't want to crash. Ended up in transition in no time, and didn't check my tires. When I came back to pick up my bike, it was totally flat. So I have no idea if I was riding on a flat or just half flat? If I did have a flat, how come I was able to push it to 20mph? Oh well. Hope my rims aren't ruined.

Nothing! I could have pushed it harder on the descents just the last few miles, but I didn't want to risk a crash with weird thing going on with my tires. Did WAY better than I expected, so I'm very happy with this! I *think* if I hammered it harder, I probably could shave off another 5 minutes, I took it too easy the last 5 miles, but I was still under my goal time of 1:15. Not to be nice and allow the slower rider stay in front of me. I was too nice for several riders that were on mountain bikes in front of me, when I could have just passed them (I'm used to group rides! Dang it all!)

Easy peasy.

Not spend too much time with the Garmin and set it up to Multisport during setting up transition stuff...silly me. Wasted 30 seconds to a min to change it to new sport. Whatever! I wanted to record this for keepsake. I think for my next triathlon, I'll just leave it on the bike, and wear a watch instead.

Walked the first min or so to lower my HR a little, and pumped up! Calves was really painful, and I knew I would be suffering after the finish. So I ditched the 4/1 run/walk plan and just run when I could, walk when I could. At one part, there was another woman that just grabbed my hands and we started running together. I got a lot of praises and high fives. I felt pretty good throughout the entire run. I hated the course, but I still had a f'king great time! Had water, poured water on my head, new visor kept me really cool, walked up the hills, ran down the hills, ran the flats. Saw my triathlete friend again (he's a guy, so he's forbidden to race. LOL) and he kept me going all the way to finish, I ignored the severe calf pains, ran to the finish line, and did a jump-heel-click for race photo. I must have had the biggest smile on my face!

Practice running more on hills and difficult terrain. My goal time was 40 minutes...I'm REALLY happy with my result, even with the rough terrain, and feeling like I walked more than I ran. Many people were bitching about this run course.

Ate banana, OJ, and stretched out just slightly, but decided not to push it any more than necessary. I was already hurting really bad. After getting my bike (and discovering the flat), and ready to go home. Calves were screaming "HEAT NOW!" Treated with heating pad, feel way better.


NOTHING! I was UNDER my goal time of 2:30! So yeah, I'm extremely happy with my first triathlon. There's PLENTY of room for improvement and that will come with time and experience. I can't wait to do another triathlon! Oh yeah, not to get calf pains?!


It's definitely perfect for first-timer. There was a LOT of first-timers so it was perfect pick for an easy paced triathlon. There was no real competition between each other, we all cheered on to one another. I thanked ALL the police that was manning the intersections, it made me feel so much better. I thanked a lot of the volunteers as well and cheered on those that was going on slow (many were using mountain bikes and I knew that they would be very slow).