Iron Girl

There are at least 31 BTers racing. I did it solo in 2007, as a relay last year, and am back solo this year. What info are you looking for?Two starting suggestions: ride the route several times before race day, run the route, too, and attend the swim "dress rehearsal" on July 30.

Riding the course might be a little hard since Ten Oaks is under road repair.  I 2nd running the course especially the last half.  I've had several friends do the "practice swim" and it got them used to open water swims.

Good luck!

Even with the roadwork it's possible to ride the first 7 miles of the route as an out and back; this gets you through the short-but-hard climb on Mt Albert and the climb back on Homewood. The roadwork should be done by the end of July.Honestly, this is not an easy race and is not the best choice as a first tri; can you do something else first, like Hagerstown or North East?

I wouldn't recommend anyone to ride on roads that are being worked on. 

Its a tough tri yes but it is do-able.  I'd recommend riding it a lot and running  alot too.  People choose Columbia (which is around Irongirl x2) as their first tri and succeed as well.

This was the race that inspired me to do triathlon and was the first I signed up for. However, I'm very glad a did another tri before Iron Girl.Aimee, I'm not meaning to scare you; of course this race is doable for a first tri, but it is hard. Any practicing you can do on the actual routes will be worth the drive come race day.

This is going to be my first tri too! I run for my college and run everyday so I'm not too worried about the run, but the swim and bike make me nervous. I just started biking last month and was able to bike the course a few times before they started construction, but it was really rough! Where are some other good places to bike in the Howard County area? And how is the swim? I'm hoping to go to the dress rehearsal at the end of the month, but would you recommend practicing more open water swims besides that? And if so, where are some good places? Thanks!

You can ride the first 7 miles and come back the same way. You will avoid any road work area.
There is a women group ride every Sunday at 9am from Princeton Sports in Columbia.. It is a no drop ride so you won't be left behind. They usually ride the whole course but with construction they also do the out and back.

Run the course.

I am not a strong swimmer and it scares me. Well the distance scares me more than the open water. I needed to get over open water fear so I did the DC Tri on father's day. Now its all about conquering the distance for me. I won't but if I had to, I can walk the hills on the bike and walk the run course but there is no shortcut in the swim.

If you have friends who are strong swimmers, alot of people go to either Sandy Point Park or Gunpowder Falls park to practice.

Lovey

I'll be there doing body marking !

Just a few notes:

- MDHillSlug:Registration for the Hagerstown Sprint Tri is closed for this year. You really have to get in that one pretty early (like February) since it's so popular.

- If you want to get used to Open Water Swims and distances, there's still practice swims at Ft Ritchie via Racine Multisports (www.racinemultisports.com). Go to the link and check out the Practice Swims button on the left. Details and schedule are there. Very beginner friendly with kayak support and you can go whatever distance makes you comfortable in a 150m out and back course for the 1 1/2 hours the course is open.

- I've done Columbia and this course has some of the same hills as that race, bike and run. So, I would suggest some hill work during the week (bike and run), plus a bike/run brick (that's a training day where you bike a distance and then do a run right after) perhaps once a week as well. As this will be your first tri, you should know how you're going to feel coming off that bike and getting into the run. Most folks say their legs feel heavy when they start out on the run.

- In addition, you may want to practice your transitions as well. You don't have to necessarily be fast for your first one, but you should get an idea what you need and how you move from one discipline to the next.

- Definitely a good idea to get as much intel on a course as possible, even if it means just driving the course. But, if you can practice different parts of it ahead of time (yeah, I think it's shame they're doing construction now), you'll definitely feel more confident when you're actually in the race.

- Last paragraph of klgray's post X2!

Good luck with the race!


Edited by sbrdave 2010-07-12 2:11 PM

I agree.  Celebration is the same course and was my tri.  If you're from the eastern shore and never see hills then it's going to be tough, but if you're used to riding/training in this area I don't think it should be a problem.

Edited by cornfed 2010-07-12 4:53 PM

Hi all,
I did the celebration tri and found the lake to be very grassy...much more so than last year's Iron Girl.  Do we think there is any chance that something might be done about this before this year's Iron Girl?  The Celebration forum has lots of complaints about it.

I had a blast at this for my first tri! Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why they added five minutes onto our times online from the times they had posted after the race?