AFLAC Iron Girl Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Good swim overall. Lined up in a good spot, front row pretty much straight behind the 1st buoy. Pushed hard till the buoy and settled. I kept pace with another girl the majority of the swim until we caught up to the waves in front of us. Then she navigated better and got away- dang! Had a few issues navigating around people since I didn't want to just plow through, but it wasn't too bad. Kinda felt some fatigue towards the end, but this is a race, right?

My goal for the swim was a 1:40 pace, and I hit that. But I also figured that with that pace, I'd have a 9:04 for the swim- I must have estimated using the wrong distance. My watch said 8:50 when I exited the water, but there was a short run to the mat..in sand and uphill. Whatever, I''m happy with my swim overall.

Continue to push it the first 100 yds or so in a race. I liked how that worked. Avoid getting too comfortable during the swim...keep my pace up especially during shorter races.

Blah! I hate T1 on this course. This was my 4th race that uses this venue so I knew there was a suck-fest hill during T1. I think I'd committed to walking up it this time. In the past I'll run a bit, then end up walking as fast as those running. I think I got a bit lazy here since I didn't run until I got to the top of the hill.

It was cool that they were passing out little golf towels at the top of the hill(that had ducks on them). I think i wiped my face with it, I can't remember. They also put duck foot prints 'walking' up the hill into the T-area. I loved that since ducks are my favorite(non-domestic) animal!

Don't get lazy on this hill anymore.
T1- 59/633

Overall a good bike, but this course is HARD! First off, they are doing construction in the park so the ride started off with some rough roads...not terrible though. Settled into a good speed about mile 2. I knew this was a hilly route, but I guess I forgot its constant hills then recover before the next hills. It's a tough one. MOst of the bike couse was pretty crowded, I got a little annoyed that people were riding all over the road...but most people moved over with an 'on your left'- others didn't. I think I was only passed by 2 people that I remember neither of them were in my AG. I tried to give some encouragement to the girls that were walking their bikes up some of the hills, that would have been a tough ride on some of the single speed bikes we saw! Finally made it back to the park and picked up some time. There was no traffic there like at last years race- woohoo! Ate a Gu to get a little boost for the run.

Not too much. I think I could have pushed a little more, but not sure I could have hit the 19mph I'd set as a goal. If I had, I would have moved up about 30 spots in the overall bike ranking.

I don't feel like I piddled around, but my time seems a bit slow. Not sure why, maybe the way transition was set up. Overall, good though...and I just noticed that I was faster than the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place overall. So I won't complain. Hey, if i can beat them, I can at least have a faster T2 time!

T2- 12/633

Overall a good run. I wasn't really paying too much attention to my time so I was surprised I was running a sub-8:00 or so at mile 1. I only noticed the minutes on my watch not seconds..so I don't know my exact split. But regardless, that's good for me. Kept feeling OK until I wussed out and walked about 20 sec up a hill after mile 1. I really need to learn to suck it up. I was having some quad cramps- which isn't normal. But still, I'm a baby when it comes to hills. Hit the turnaround and still felt pretty good, but getting tired. Saw Nora a little after the turn and didn't want her to pass me. I also saw a girl up ahead in my AG who kept stopping to stretch. I wanted to try passing her, but I couldn't seem to. I thought for sure I could since she kept stopping...but she got away.Continued to keep pushing, passed Heather and Kirks water stop again and had around 1 mile left. Sometime between mile 2 & 3, I watched 2, maybe 3 girls in my AG pass me, walked up a hill really close to the end and got a little boost from another girl in my AG.(I talked to her at the finish and told her thanks, she said I'd done the same for her at Emerald Point last fall. Cool that she recognized me still!!). Anyways, finally hit the mini-hill into the parking lot and finished.

Suck it up. I'm really happy with my run time here, but I need to really work on my mental toughness on runs. I know it's supposed to hurt and all, but I just talk myself into walking way too easily. I hate to keep letting races slip away because of that! So even though I'm please with the time, I know I could do much better!

Grabbed water and walked over to find people. Watched others finished then hung around for a while. They had a cool picture 'both' set up that they'd take your picture with the Aflac Duck and it looks like hes crossing the finish with you. We had a bunch taken, I'm excited to see them!


Crowded bike course, maybe? Nothing much...just need to work on staying positive especially during the run.


I really do like this race! It's organized and fun, plus racing with all girls is awesome. They also do a lot of cool stuff like- printed race results at the finish, lots of pink everywhere, lots of IronGirl branded freebies at the expo, 'fake' mimosas at the finish.

I think my only complaint is that they could do a little better going over some beginner rules for triathlon- how and where to set up your t-area, where to rack your bike, rules about passing on the bike, etc. Maybe they did do this and no one listened. Who knows.