General Discussion Race Reports! » Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

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


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Lake Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
World Triathlon Corporation
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 07m 1s
Overall Rank = 320/640
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 75/126
Pre-race routine:

First - I had bad calves cramping/pain for a week prior. Either I wasn't hydrating myself enough, or I pushed myself too hard on the last run I did. I was more nervous about my calves cramping up. The day before the race, I did super short jog, and didn't feel much of anything. ***Conclusion: Not enough hydration. LESSON LEARNED! I did heat therapy, ice therapy, Epsom salt therapy, but definitely not enough H2O Therapy. I should do better next time that I have to deal with things that "cramps" my style".*** Oddly enough - Last year I suffered from similar calf issues before Irongirl, but it resolved itself easily.

Secondly - I wasn't as excited with this race like I was last year, most likely because of not as much training as I did last year. However, I got to see my friend Cathy, who I was supposed to meet LAST year...and never did. So I was happy about that. I also was able to see a lot of familiar faces, so that was cool...last year, I knew no one!

Morning of the race - Got everything, but forgot to bring my wallet when I went to get gas. Drove back home to get my wallet, got gas, breakfast, and off I go. Had Tea (only drank very little of it...should have drank more).

Transition set up no problem, very minimal. Small towel, sneakers, race belt, bike shoes, helmet with sunglasses and CI inside, and very small towel to blow my nose on for after the swim. Wetsuit was put on with no problems, and this time I put Body Glide on my arms as I got a little chafing there last time I wore it.

Took off the front Aero wheel because I *knew* it was going to be very windy, so did not want to suffer crosswinds with both aero wheels on. It looked strange with one aero wheel, and one cheap front wheel, one red tire, and the other black. Whatever...I'm glad I did because at the bike the winds were bad. First good decision of the day.

When I went to my car to put back my aero wheels as well as my bike pump to avoid theft (I trust those girls, but you'll never know!), and I wasn't paying attention, and I hit the top of the pump on my lips. Got a nice little bump from that and a bunch of explicative spewed from my mouth. This is the start of a bit of a bad day.
Event warmup:

Stretched my arms and just chatted with my new friend Cathy (which was cool because she was deaf too, done 27 marathons...YEP 27! She's not fast nor BQ'd, she's just a gal that enjoys running. Her husband works for the guy that wrote the book "Barefoot Running", and going on tour with him. HOW frickin' cool is that?!), so we were able to communicate in sign language. It was cold...colder than last year, but the water was perfect temp.

Waited quite a while. I just put my hands between my legs to keep them warm. After a delay, we finally were able to go. Last year, one person went every 10 seconds or less. This time, we all just went. I was just glad that the water was nice and warm...unlike the freezin' Lake Mead from last week!
Swim
  • 22m 57s
  • 800 meters
  • 02m 52s / 100 meters
Comments:

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...
What would you do differently?:

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! :-)
Transition 1
  • 06m 3s
Comments:

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!
What would you do differently?:

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!
Bike
  • 55m
  • 14 miles
  • 15.27 mile/hr
Comments:

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.
What would you do differently?:

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.
Transition 2
  • 01m 17s
Comments:

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.
What would you do differently?:

Yay! 57 seconds PR! *whoot!*
Run
  • 41m 44s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 13m 28s  min/mile
Comments:

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!

What would you do differently?:

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.
Post race
Warm down:

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.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

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.


Event comments:

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.




Last updated: 2011-04-30 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:22:57 | 800 meters | 02m 52s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/126
Overall: 0/640
Performance: Below average
Suit: Xterra
Course: Over yonder - just follow the yellow floaty thingies, and don't get hit in the head by people and kayaks.
Start type: Wade Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Below average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:03
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:55:00 | 14 miles | 15.27 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/126
Overall: 0/640
Performance: Below average
Wind: Headwind with gusts
Course: Out and back. Hills, but nothing too severe. They shortened the course by 4 miles. Very weird to do a U-turn on a major highway with all the cars waiting. They must have gotten pissed off waiting at the intersections.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering:
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:17
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:41:44 | 03.1 miles | 13m 28s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/126
Overall: 0/640
Performance: Bad
Course: Trail, rocky. Slightly better than last year when they had severe cracks, and serious ankle breaking areas. It's an improvement.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? No
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

{postbutton}
2011-05-02 12:30 AM

User image

Master
1539
100050025
Sin City
Subject: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon


2011-05-02 6:34 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Champion
7163
500020001002525
Verona WI--Ironman Bike Country!
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon
Good job sticking it out and finishing that race DJ!  Especially like you passed the CERVELO!
2011-05-02 9:14 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Master
2621
2000500100
Almaden Valley, San Jose, California
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon

It's SO hard to race when the swim is tough...sets up the day wrong.  You handled the whole thing well - kudos to you!!

Love your 'passing the Cervelo' - see, it really is the motor, not the machine!

Nice Job.  Drink up!

2011-05-02 9:46 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Pro
4528
2000200050025
Norwalk, Connecticut
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon

well written report, sorry about the physical nature of the race you had to deal with. Way to tough out a good finish considering all that went wrong!!!

 

congrats !!!

2011-05-02 9:47 AM
in reply to: #3477232

User image

Champion
9060
5000200020002525
Charlottesville, Virginia
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon
Good job DJ, way to stick with it. 
2011-05-02 11:15 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Pro
4100
20002000100
Wherever the trail takes me, WA.
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon
Way to hang in there.  It would have been very easy to call it quits.... YOU DIDN'T!!!  Great job!


2011-05-02 6:13 PM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

New user
29
25
Southern California
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon

Awesome race report!  Not to get enjoyment from your struggles, but yes, your candid report did give me a giggle!  Smile

And I agree, that headwind was unexpected...didn't realize I was getting the assistance from the tailwind on the way out!

 

2011-05-02 8:23 PM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Champion
6973
500010005001001001001002525
marietta
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon

*ahem*....  "Didn't smack talk to the other racers enough...need to be more aggressive. "

ha!   nice job hanging in there!!!!

2011-05-03 11:21 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Expert
1797
1000500100100252525
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon
Sorry that is was a tough day.  It certainly doesn't help to get whacked in the head on the swim.  But way to hang in there and finish. 
2011-05-17 10:31 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Veteran
395
100100100252525
Henderson,NV
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon
Hey DJ

Great job , and way go to , gutting it out after getting your bell rung, it just goes to show how tough you are to keep going after that !
2011-05-17 11:07 AM
in reply to: #3476837

User image

Expert
602
500100
Las Vegas
Subject: RE: Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon

Great report and great job, considering the rough conditions!  My wife did that race also and said it was tough!.  Way to HTFU and push through!  Remember: there are no "bad" races as long as you learn from them. 



General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » Athleta Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas Women's Triathlon Rss Feed