well, i started out the race with a BANG. really. the event is sponsered by wear-dated carpet, so at the start and finish there are these BIG rugs over the timing chip pads. well, the race started and someone caught their foot on the edge of the rug, pulling the whole edge up...and a bunch of us went down. i skinned my knee pretty nicely - blood even! - got up and kept going. i bet at least a dozen people went down. could have been a lot worse, all things considered. got a nice little adrenaline rush to start off the race. ran with julie for a while, but then picked up the pace a bit.

last year: 00:27:20 | 03 miles | 9m 07s min/mile

not trip?

long transition area. transition went pretty smoothly. i didn't rush, but i wasn't slacking either.


last year (smaller transition area): 01:15

nothing

julee and i left transition at about the same time. she's a very strong cyclist, so i did my best to keep up with her for the first few miles. after that she took off. a little while later i saw her again - stopped! 'jules?!' well, she was stopped because her front wheel was on backwards. and what idiot put it on backwards? thank you, thank you. after the race i said we should go around telling people how we tried to tonya harding each other at irongirl - she actually tripped me at the start, and i put her wheel on backwards on purpose. good times.

anyway, there was some conjestion on the first loop, so between that and the hills, i didn't ride in aero for the first lap at all. second lap people were spread out more, so i could ride in aero more. feet, arms, and legs were really cold. i had on wool gloves under my biking gloves, but i should have had arm warmers on or my jacket. i got chilled and after that my legs felt really heavy. i was still riding okay, but my legs felt cold. i kind of wonder if this was just from the cold weather, or in part because of the adrenaline from my knee landing was wearing off. drank an aero bottle worth of efuel, but skipped taking the gel i had brought with me.

last year: 00:57:41 | 18 miles | 18.72 mile/hr

extra clothes.

not sure of this transition time, since i didn't hit the split. could be that my bike was faster, or my run was slower. will know once the race results are up. saw leaving julee transition as i was coming in. legs felt pretty heavy running into t2, which made me worry about how i was going to do for the second run.


last year (smaller transition area): 01:15

nothing.

tried to catch julee, but never did. she was just ahead of me the whole run. legs felt okay, just heavy (again, i think because of the cold). still did better than last year. saw ella about 200 yards from the finish, so she ran with me to the finish line. one of the race volunteers said 'you need to let her go, there are people coming behind you!' whatever. i know its a race, but this type of event is not JUST about getting your best time. we kept to the right and there was a TON of room to pass us, and people did so w/o complaint. if i get a dq or a penalty for running w/ ella, i will be writing irongirl a nasty letter. at every race i've been to, people have run w/ their kids to the finish. this race is about empowering women...and GIRLS!

last year: 00:15:37 | 01.5 miles | 10m 25s min/mile

nothing

julee had finished about a minute ahead of me, so she was still at the finish. we got our medals, found bill, fi, and malte. transition area was closed, but they were letting folks in one at a time, so julee and i each went in to get some warm ups since we were both freezing. got some food, checked results. both made top 100/600, which was very cool. did a little stretching. once transition was open, we nabbed our stuff and headed out to meet bill and the kids at a local vietnamese restaurant.


not training much for the last 6 weeks. cold, tight muscles.


this is a fantastic race. last year it was at the mall of america. i prefer this course. more challenging, longer, and no no-passing zone! not as spectator friendly here, but the kids still had a great time. bettered my times for everything compared to last year, despite not feeling ready (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=26864)

this was julee's first multi-sport event (she's a road racer), and she's HOOKED! she wanted to race tri-u-mah next year now. woo hoo!