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


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Lake Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
World Triathlon Corporation
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 55m 39s
Overall Rank = 119/435
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 19/76
Pre-race routine:

Going into this race, I had really hoped that I have NO calf issues. The last two Irongirls, I suffered from calf cramping issues. Leading up to this race, I was very diligent on drinking more H20, and hopefully that will help!

The night before, I decided not to have pasta and just had a small dinner instead.
I woke up at 3:30am, and did not feel hungry at all. In fact, I felt a little too full to really eat anything. I got down some food, homemade energy snacks bars(totally awesome! and I'm replacing nearly all my nutrition with these instead.), and tea. I barely ate actually, so instead of woofing down food, I just allowed my stomach to decide what was enough. I did find that a little unusual, because I'm usually hungry, but I was not feeling up to eating food. I think it helped my race not to have a lot of food in my stomach like previously. Kept it much more simpler than my past races. I think this helped my performance a LOT.

Arrived at TA, got marked (and luckily no negative karma with telling the guy the wrong number! See Post-Race for more info) set up my stuff, put on sunblock (and this time I used 50+ SPF instead of 30, did not get sunburned at all today), drank little water, had one more snack energy ball. Got my wetsuit and went to the lake about an hour before the tri started. Fourth person in line. :-P
Event warmup:

Did a lot of walking from car to TA, and TA to water. Stretched out my arms a little bit and roaring to go.
Swim
  • 22m 6s
  • 800 meters
  • 02m 46s / 100 meters
Comments:

I seeded myself way at the front because I knew that I would be slowish on the swim, and rather have a bunch of people pass me then pass them on the bike. :-) I actually was slightly nervous this time because last year I got hit in the head on my implant site and it ruined the day for me, so in a way I wanted to avoid all the slower swimmers. Good plan actually!

Every 4 seconds two girls went. I got in the water the same time as the Overall winner, that was cool.

Took my time, and told myself just swim the best you can, and deal with the fact you'll be slow. I hardly wasn't expecting anything. However, what I wasn't expecting was my POOR navigation skills. WOW...I must be one drunk swimmer. It was awful...definitely one of the worst swim at trying to sight the monstrous buoys, and there was many! What the heck?! Took my dear time, and before I knew it, I was ready to come out of the water. This was one of my better swims I've done endurance-wise, and I did it with only three stops to check where the heck I'm going. "Oh, the buoy is that way!" Sheesh! Controlled my breathing perfectly. My strokes were okay, my pulls were a little poor.

Ran out, and prepared for my long ass T1.
What would you do differently?:

Same as Rage. Need to get in more swims, seriously. LOL! OH yeah...sight better?!

Shockingly - this is my PR for all three Irongirls...by 10 seconds. I am surprised that my overall placement is higher than expected.
Transition 1
  • 06m 51s
Comments:

LONG Transition. They changed it a bit from last year, I think it's a little longer, depending on where you're racked. 0.4 miles. I was kind of hoping to get a PR here. I pretty much jogged the entire time, so I'm glad I did that. Arrived to my bike, and tried to take off the wetsuit. For the FIRST time, the wetsuit got stuck around my ankle. I don't know what I did differently. I believe it's because I tried to yank my foot out a little bit, but then sat down and started cursing, and the leg part just kind of rolled into each other causing issues. Finally yanked my foot out, then did the other one. Had a little bit difficulty putting the socks on. This was probably my biggest mistake of the day...I used ankle socks instead of ankle-less(?) socks that I never have issues with putting on wet feet. I had a bit of hard time putting those socks on. I would have practiced riding and running sockless, but nothing new on race day! I want to try though. My HIM race, I'm not going sockless that's for sure.

Anyhoo - cursed for taking so long, then ran to mount line and got out there. Had to tell a girl to MOVE when she was pedaling so slowly up the first hill. It's not my fault that these people are putting their bikes in the hard gear. D'oh.
What would you do differently?:

Don't use those socks, use your TRUSTY race socks!! If there's a mix-match, who cares! I couldn't find the matching twin, hence I went with the one I wore today!
Bike
  • 50m 19s
  • 14 miles
  • 16.69 mile/hr
Comments:

The first few minutes were slow going because of trying to weave pass a couple girls that were ahead of me and trying to decide on whether to just pass more girls or just stay to avoid penalty.

First big hill was a doozy. Took my time to climb out of that one, and passed a few of girls (they passed me on the swim easily...since I was 4th in the water, but definitely not the top 20 on getting out of the water!).

When I got to the top of Lake Las Vegas before the turn onto Lake Mead Pwky, I looked at my time, and was a little disappointed because I did much better last week.
Kept going, and passed a couple more girls on downhill and uphill. Got to the flat area, and started to question myself on whether I should have put on my race wheels. It was NOT windy at all...until the turnaround. :-) However, my cassette on the race wheels is a bit old and will ruin my new chain, so I decided against it. I'm not sure if it would have helped, but my mind was playing a bit of a mental game.

At turn around, I did it so sharply that I've gotten a few whistles from the cops. I was awesome. Nice lean...any more, I'll be kissing asphalt!

Suddenly, I was hit with hard headwind. I literally screamed out loud, "F*CK YOU!!!" no lie. It made me work harder, but I KICKED Wind God's A$$! Took me 28 min to turn around, and 22 min back...with serious headwind on my way back. 19mph avg baby...in the wind. Can't beat that.

Saw my watch when I got near to Westin, and I just exclaimed, "Holy $hit!" Can I make it sub-50? I came really close though!!

SUPER happy with my bike performance!
Hydration was spot on this time!
What would you do differently?:

Push it a little bit more on the flats. Other than that, it was a great bike.
Transition 2
  • 01m 47s
Comments:

Great transition, but I think when I started my run out, I slowed down a little too much. I did better last year.
What would you do differently?:

Do more transition runs. My transition with racking the bike, and putting running shoes on is great, but it's the getting there and leaving that I need to work on.
Run
  • 34m 36s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 11m 10s  min/mile
Comments:

Walked the first few mins. It's straight uphill, and HR was already a bit high. Jogged a bit, walked a bit, jogged some more, sped downhill, saw some half naked men at Aid station (whoo wee!), got to turn around, and kicked butt. No idea my splits, but I felt like I hit the 8:20-:30 pace downhill.

Felt like I maintained a good pace throughout, with exception on uphill. I slowed down a little bit on the downhill in fear of blowing myself up. Looking back, I could have pushed it a little bit more, but I'm happy regardless.

I didn't like the course much, because it's a little hillier than what I'm used to.

Course may have been a little short by .4 mi.

Interesting enough, I PR'd on Triathlon 5K exactly 1 minute. I do have room for improvement. :-) But not sure if it really counts because course could be a little short.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really. I sipped a little water to get rid of dry mouth. Train more on hills.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around a bit, found my friends, ate a bagel (and I was pretty hungry at this point!), a couple of oranges, stretched and talked about my race with other people in my tri club.

***After the race, I went to pick up my bike and stuff. I was stopped by a volunteer saying, "Is this your bike?" I just said, "Yes it is", and double checked to make sure that it is indeed my bike. I asked why did you ask? The numbers on my arm doesn't match the number of the bike. How embarrassing! That's actually MY fault. I told David (SWIM2Live) 142. I have NO idea why I said 142....I'm 162! Had to prove the guy with my wristband number and bib that it is indeed my bike. Luckily, he was very nice about it and his daughter is going to school to be an audiologist and learning sign language. I told her that it is the most awesome thing that you can do because there's a lot of Deaf people that get upset when their audiologist don't signs. I wished her luck, and went on my way.

Got home, had my chocolate milk recovery drink, put on my calf sleeves (just in case!), and reeled in the day.


What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of swim, and hill runs.

Event comments:

It's Irongirl! One of the better races I've ever done. LOTS of variety in food, that was awesome. Took home some tea bags. Shhh!




Last updated: 2012-04-07 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:22:06 | 800 meters | 02m 46s / 100meters
Age Group: 30/76
Overall: 163/435
Performance: Average
Suit: Xterra
Course: Triangular course, calm waves.
Start type: Run Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 68F / 20C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Good Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:51
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:50:19 | 14 miles | 16.69 mile/hr
Age Group: 13/76
Overall: 65/435
Performance: Good
Wind: Headwind
Course: Out Lake Las Vegas (nice hill climb), two major hills, out and turn around.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:47
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:34:36 | 03.1 miles | 11m 10s  min/mile
Age Group: 41/76
Overall: 239/435
Performance: Good
Course: Hilly (bleh!), out and back on asphalt. Better than last year's trail run, but still a little more hillier than I would have liked. There's a better run course going left instead of right out of Westin, but whatever.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5