Last November I heard that the Iron Girl series was introducing a new triathlon event for the West Coast in Vegas that would include a Sprint distance (short swim, short bike, short run). My mom came out and watched me at
Wildflower last year and was amazed at the wonderful supportive atmosphere of a big tri. I was looking and looking for the perfect women's beginner tri for her that I thought I could get her interested in doing. Iron Girl was perfect.
My mom committed and mentioned that she was talking to some of her friends and maybe 1 or 2 may want to train with us...would I mind - of course not. Next thing I know my mom has 11 friends and co-workers signed up and ready to go. So what I thought was going to be my mother-daughter bonding experience turned into this amazing group journey. Some women were coming from a zero fitness level, some from walking, some from cycling classes and some with an athletic background - but none had ever tri'd before.
I started to panic because I have helped with tri training but never been responsible for this many people before. But we worked our way through it and by the day of the event a new tri club was formed (complete with jerseys and sponsors) and new athletes were forged.
I had a metric century bike ride scheduled the week before Iron Girl and during that ride suffered a bit of an accident that ended up in me taking off about a softball size chunk of skin off my knee. The week of Iron Girl everyone was fighting off colds...by Friday when we left for Vegas I was running a fever and could hardly breathe. I told my husband that I wouldn't do the event if Ifelt too bad but that I had to go to support my mom and all of the others. We came so far, I had to see everyone off on their big day. The night before I found the perfect mix of cold medicine and remedies that helped me feel somewhat alive. I was up all night coughing and blowing my nose and then the alarm goes off at 4am...and it is race day. I decided to race and just take it incredibly easy. I also packed up my transition bag with doses of cold medicine so that I could perfectly time my next doses.
It started out okay...the Afrin was in full effect and I thought that it might be able to help me get through the mile swim. It would have been a perfect plan except that because the event was being filmed for NBC and that dramatically delayed the start times. So as we were waiting for the waves to start my medicine was starting to dramatically wear off. I went back and forth trying to decide whether or not to bail out on the race...but I desperately wanted to share a medal with my mom from her first tri...I knew I could get through the bike and the run sick - that would be easy. But the swim, I had some misgivings. Swimming is not my strength and I had visions of how completely horrible lake water and a head cold may be...I decided to just do it because I thought worst case scenario I could just bail out in the water - but I had to try.
The swim started out great and then the wind picked up and the glassy lake started to feel like the ocean. The last turn and leg of the swim was killer. I think the long wait in the sun (in a wetsuit) and the cold medicine really dehydrated me and I started cramping during the final 15-20 minutes of the swim. I finally made it to shore. I was so grateful to be back at transition and back to my cold medicine. I loaded up and headed out for the bike. The bike leg included 3 hills known as the 3 Sisters....I bet you can guess what the locals called these hills. I felt completely drained and I was nervous about cramping on the bike. The first hill was annoying but okay...the second hill okay but I was really hoping that it was over sooner, the guy at the top of the hill said "if you live out here you have to learn to climb" - that annoyed me...I climb mountains on my bike and these were bumps, not even foothills...so with a new energy I sprinted up the last hill after that the entire ride was nice and flat. I dropped into my aero bars and just maintained the cadence (my kleenex tucked in the leg of my tri shorts) I made up considerable time on the bike. Still I was one of the last bikes in transition as I headed out for the run. I dosed up again in transition and took off for the run. I knew I couldn't just run the entire thing so I decided to just set up 4 min/2 min intervals and just keep moving. The run had some good hills in it and I was so grateful that I had insisted on hill training once a week for this event. It started to get pretty hot and I was starting to lose steam when a woman came behind me and said "no more walking, run with me" and I did and she took me all the way to the finish line. That is the most amazing part of Iron Girl - the encouragement, the love, the support from the other women on the course is overwhelming
I have a montage from the event...I just haven't quite figured out how to upload it...in the meantime...discover your inner Iron!
