I did a swim warmup so I could get used to the water. The water was very dirty! The beginning of the swim was like a washing machine. It was impossible to see your own hand as you were swimming - zero visibility. So the beginning of the swim I kept brushing people's backs and legs. I know I swam over someone at some point. But really, you couldn't see anyone until you were literally on top of them. So there was a lot of stop and go for the first 75 yards or so. Eventually it thinned out and I calmed down, started counting strokes. On the way back, toward the end, maybe the last 75 yards or so, the swimmers from the Oly distance merged with us sprint distance women, and it became a washing machine again. Lots of stop and go, plus lots of sighting and looking up - like "Am I there yet?" I got out of the water just under 13 minutes. I'm not the fastest swimmer by any means, but I was pleased with that time. This was my first race where I did freestyle the whole time. I usually freak out and do some back stroking.

I think I need to be more aggressive in the beginning and then settle into my pace. I also really need to take swimming lessons. I'm self taught from videos and I primarily rely on my shoulders and arms to swim. I hardly kick. It has worked out bc my legs are very fresh for the bike and I'm never huffing and puffing when I finish the swim, but I think swimming lessons are what will make me more competitive.

Ran up to transition. I was behind a pack of guys who were on the Oly distance (I think) and I got stuck behind them. I was trying to go around, but I couldn't. I'm pleased with my transition time. I wiped off my feet, put on my bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses and race belt. Put GU in my racesuit. I wiped my feet down again. Ran out of transition and then jumped on the bike and clipped in.

I probably didn't need to wipe my feet and legs twice.

I thought this course was really fun. My husband's family is from Iowa, and I did some training out there this summer on the county roads. And the wind can really cut into you blowing across the cornfield. I remember that at one point on the bike the wind was blowing kind of hard, and I thought if I can continue to push on those Iowa roads, this is no problem. I waited for my stomach to settle a bit from the swim, and then took in a GU and water about 10 min. into the bike. I took in water 4 times total, I think. About every 6 or 7 minutes or so. There were some hills, which I was able to maintain pace on, and then I really let it fly on the downhills and continuing to use that momentum. I think I made up some time pushing up those hills. At one point though, this guy was hanging out behind me about a foot and on my left side. It was pretty irritating bc I felt like I was boxed in. I had to ask him to either speed up or drop back, bc he was just hanging out there.

I dont think anything - I was really pleased with my bike. I have never maintained that pace before.

I clipped out and hopped off. ran bike to transition spot and then changed shoes. grabbed visor and off I went!

Figure out how to take feet out of shoes while on bike?

I have done a lot of running this summer in humid weather, so that really helped out! I leapfrogged with this girl who was in my age group, but then about half mile or so, I thought I'm just going to stay right behind her, so I always know where she is. With about a quarter mile left I started to pick up the pace and passed her. About 200 meters to the finish, I came up behind a challenged athlete and the crowd was going crazy. I thought I am not passing this guy up while he is finishing, and I think the girl in my age group thought the same so we were together for a bit. Then we both sprinted to the finish and I just edged her out - by 2/10ths of a second. Take a look at our finishing photo.

http://itsracetime.smugmug.com/2011Races/2011StonemanIronabeTri/182...

I am in the red and black suit with blue shoes. The girl in my age group is in the white sunglasses behind me. Look where our feet are! We patted each other on the back and said nice finish.

I think I could have pushed it a little bit more? I also would have taken in ahot blok at the beginning of the run. I took in a GU while on the bike, but should have taken something small while beginning my run. I got a side stich at around the 2 mile mark, and it really did not feel good. I walked for maybe 10 seconds to work it out.

Walked around, ate a clif bar, had some gatorade and water, waited for my mom to finish. Put on compression socks. The results were posted in real time on a TV so I checked those out. They posted I had first place in my AG! that was my first time getting an age group award, so I was pretty excited. Turns out, the girl who racked her bike next to mine, she was in my age group and got third overall. So she did not get an AG award and so I moved up to first place.


I thought this race was pretty fun. My only (small) complaint is that the post-race food was meat stuff, and I'm a vegetarian. Oh well. I brought my own, anyway.