Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

No problem the first 200ish, then someone that is faster than me - her elbow hit the side of my head (where my implant is) HARD! That f'ing hurt. I put my head up and yelled, "OW!", and she didn't say anything - what an aggressive swimmer. I mumbled "Bitch!!". But then head started throbbing. Some of the girls were violent. I don't remember that last year...last year it was more of "Oops! I'm sorry. Oh sorry I'm slow! Keep up the great work!!", etc. At the turn around, the waves were terrible, due to the winds. Many of the slower swimmers just stayed still, or had to hold on to the kayaks because of the waves, I didn't. Some swimmers would be doing backstrokes but going diagonally, and I had to keep weaving around them.

Getting out of the water was fine, but as soon as I stood up and crossed the timing mat, I knew I wasn't going to have a good day because that's when the throbbing head set in.

Choppy waters due to winds...

Practice more OWS with more severe waves. The last four tris I did, the waves weren't that bad or I was going WITH the waves. This time, the waves were going sideways, so it was just a little weird for me to do since I naturally am a bilateral breather and a few times water would just get in my mouth and had to remind myself to breath on left side ONLY. It was just a little weird to change my breathing pattern for the circumstances.

TRY not to get CLOCKED!!

Did not PR. Eh! :-)

Had to run up to the TA (long road)...throbbing head...slowed down to a walk. Suit came off easily. Had issues getting my CI on. Helmet on, sunglasses, shoes and off I go. Long way to transition - bah!

Uh - get rubberized cleats. My new cleats didn't have rubber, and I slipped a few times...couldn't run like I did before. Luckily my rack was just right near the dismount, so I wasn't slipping and sliding as much as I would have if my rack was a lot further away.

Don't worry too much about the CI...put it on at the run - easier to do.

PR'd by 54 seconds. That's huge. lol!

As I got on the bike, my HR was high and bad headache (especially on the right side) set in. My whole head was just hurting. Instead of pushing on the hills like I wanted, I just slowed down dramatically on purpose to try to keep the throbbing at bay. So I have to slow down on the ascents. I did try to push it a little bit, but it just made me feel worse, so I decided just take it easy. It's not worth trying to shave off a few minutes and be in tremendous head pain at the same time - I ain't gonna win this race. :-P

Looking back, I believe this is exactly where my hydration intake took the turn for the worse. I probably drank like 2 or 3 oz of water. NOT good. :-)

At the turnaround, I knew it was pretty much downhill, and this is where I kicked butt. However...HEADWIND!! Wth? No wonder why it "felt" easier to go up the hills the other side! Just peddled along, and kept my head low and body close to reduce wind drag, that way I didn't feel like I had to push harder than I needed to.

I really could have pushed it way harder as the bike felt a bit easy, but due to the circumstances, I didn't want to.

My proud moment was when I was going downhill, cruising by someone who had a Cervelo Tri Bike. She looked a little distraught when I blew pass her on the ascents, but whatever (I didn't even go that hard!). It's a race, and from what I remember last year...I need to stop being so "friendly". Lol.

Nice turnaround point - a HUGE U Turn on a major highway. Boy those people who are in cars must have been pissed.

Around there, my nose started to feel a little runny. Whoo hoo, SNOT ROCKET here I go! Slight success. Wasn't a great shooting rocket, but got my nose cleared up a little. Made sure no one was behind me. Yay! I think I got some on my top, so I apologize to everyone that hugged me today. :-)

Almost back to the finish line, and it was easy downhill, yet, there was three riders in a row, and I couldn't get pass them, I was going too fast, and just weaved into the car lane around the cones, and weaved back, and yelled, "MOVE AND STAY ON THE RIGHT!" and then mumbled *bitches!* PMS on hot wheels..that's who I am.

I was so glad to dismount...and slipped again (oy! Who wants slightly used Look cleats?!) and head into T2.

HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE!! Who cares if you don't feel thirsty or full - DRINK damn it.

PR'd the avg speed for IronGirl. Not the course, because 4 miles less, automatic PR, but hey I've improved my speed, regardless that my head was throbbing and feels like it's gonna explode at the end. Kind of surprised actually because I took it at a more casual pace, while last year I felt like I pushed it harder. IF I didn't have issues, I could have easily gone 15.7-16.3mph, but I made do.

Okay - The race results says that I did "5:17". That's PURE Bullcr@p. My watch says 1:17, 41:44 on the run (yes I know...bleh!). When I went to get my paper result, the T2 didn't register. So they TOOK off the 4 minutes from my run and put it in T2. So unfair. :-( Since I didn't run "that fast", but I was smoking fast on the T1.

Bike Shoes off, running shoes on, ran then put my racebelt on.

Yay! 57 seconds PR! *whoot!*

There's a nice hill as soon as you get out of T2. I walked it. Got to the trail, and started to run. Head was pounding and left calf just tightened up a little. Jogged a little, and it just kept getting worse and I was just feeling so defeated at this point, and it wasn't even at the .5 mi point yet! I SO wanted to finish the race under 2 hours, and had a goal of 1:50, which is doable for me. Wanted to PR on the run, but wasn't expecting much due to calf issues (yeah the damn calf issues again). However the PR was easily slipping away with the throbbing headache. This point, I just want to be done with the race.

Jogged the best I could, then I had to stop because my left leg was just limping. Walked a little bit, my friend, Jen tried to encourage me (this was her first Triathlon, and she did a fabulous job!) a little, and ran just a little, but then calf just kind of tightened up. Ran when I could. There was a girl that was trying to run, but she clearly was having problems with side stitches. I walked with her, and taught her how I solved that issue when I started running last year. It was nice to pass on something that I've learned. She went running, and when I saw her again, she thanked me for the trick that I learned. Got to the first aid station, and I remember saying "it has only been one mile?!" ugggggh!

Took some Fake-gatorade (BLEH!! What in the God's name was THAT?!). BUT - it was awesome to see hot guys in speedos and cowboy hats passing out water. Sweet Chippendale-like show going on. Anyone want to volunteer next year?? That brought me a smile to my face, and I was looking forward to seeing them again after the turnaround point. I saw Jackie a while before the turnaround point, and she was looking GREAT (she had a HUGE PR on this race). When I went back, the announcer made fun of me. "Miss 187 - Deanna is WALKING! Sweetheart, pick up those feet and and start smoking by the ladies in front of you." Brought me another smile...little did he know how I wasn't feeling great.


Thank goodness that it was cool, not hot. Run was NOT brutal, so I was grateful for the cool air and the wind. I think if it was really hot, I probably would have walked the entire thing. It felt like I was having one of those "one bad run a month" kind of thing. However, I wasn't feeling so cheerful like I was last year (I remember that I cheered on a lot of girls, walkers, etc. This year...just a smidgen). Turned around and then picked up the pace as my calf started to settle in a bit, and didn't stop until finish (1.5 miles with only 2 minutes or so of walking total). Ran through to the finish, HEEL CLICK photo (GOTTA HAVE THAT!) I was just glad that I was DONE!


Hydrate better...that's the name of the game here. No PR - worse run in a while, but who cares. :-) I FINISHED!

There was a lot of women that were a lot slower than I was - either they didn't train enough, naturally slower, or have the issues (pain, injury - can't run, etc), so it's not a big deal to me anymore.

Saw Jackie (who is a coach, not my coach) - and she looked a little worried because I was limping, and told her that my leg was cramping up badly. I explained that I might have done my last run too hard and suffered issues the whole week. She said, "Drink up." I explained that I felt like I had too much water retention and was slightly worried that I have too much water in my system (I was dead wrong), but I listened to her anyway. Drank up the sports drink, and felt a little better. D'oh! I wonder if that's why it wouldn't get 100% better throughout the week. LESSON LEARNED...now I know how to deal with cramps like this. I did take some electrolytes, but I don't think it was enough. Definitely will do better next time I am faced with this type of thing.

Went to find Jen, Jackie, and Mark, and congratulated Jen on her first Tri, and Jackie on her PR. Congratulated many of my friends who also completed the course and went back to the finish line to cheer on Cathy and Deb (who did this race out of the blue...no SBR training, except lots and lots of gym classes and spin classes, she's crazy, and she only done one Tri - Last year's IronGirl). I did keep myself cheerful, and try not dwell on the bit of a bad race. It sucked, but it happens. I didn't DNF, DFL, DNS, or got injured (calf cramping is definitely a nutritional issue, and that's totally my fault). I could have DNF easily, but I think it will take a lot more than a pounding headache and calf issues for me to do that, so I'm glad that I didn't.

Sat down with Cathy, sipping on the sports drink (Powerbar Ironman drink??), and just chilled (literally...it was getting VERY windy at this point!) and just chatted with her for a long while.

Got in my car, and just kind of let out a little tear because of feeling defeated. Said to myself, "There are plenty of other races, and there are PROs that had to DNS/DNF - Chrissie Wellington to name one. Many many many people have experienced this or even had worse issues" Perked up my head, and headed home.

Gave myself a warm bath, read my Nook, played with my dog and relaxed for the day and dreaming of my next race.


Getting hit in the head - pounding headache (I'm wearing a helmet during the swim next time. Faster T1!)
Calves tightening/cramping up
Poor nutrition issues leading up to the Tri.
Not hydrating myself on the bike (oy!)
No rubber on my cleats
Didn't burp my wetsuit
Hair was too long, weighing me down.
Helmet number was crooked.
Didn't smack talk to the other racers enough...need to be more aggressive.
Small pebble on the bottom of my running shoes, weighed them down.
There was grease between chain link #102 and #103. That weighted me down.
Said $hit 13 times...bad karma
Should have worn purple shorts
Forgot to throw salt over left shoulder...or is it the right?

Need I go on?

Hope y'all got a chuckle out of my bad day.



Athleta took over this instead of Aflac. Swag was eh. I got a bandage box. For real. It was really dumb to have $500 gift card from a company that scams you. RedStarGift card. Expo was smaller.

Getting registration, transition area, finish area is well run.
Post Race food - Lots of food, but did not feel good to eat them. I should have hoarded them and bring them home!

Finisher's Medal is nice, and it's nice to have the Host city printed on the Ribbon! (Last year, everyone who did IronGirl, even Duathons got the exact same thing, no matter what city it was in).

Would still recommend this to other people and will do it again next year. :-) Looking forward to CRRRRRUUUUUSH my times.