Iron Girl Triathlon Sandy Hook: Race Recap Part Two

And we are out of the water and on to T1 and the bike!

Read Part One of my race recap here.

The water the day before

So after a tough swim that has left my lower body painfully cramped up I make it to my bike. I am a little panicked about how I'm going to pull the rest of the race together feeling like I am. I take the advice of Dana and down a bottle of water (with a salt stick) eat half a gel, and swig a little coconut water for good measure. I then stretch, say a silent prayer and work on getting out of my wetsuit.

As a side note, I am super proud of myself for successfully getting in and out of my wetsuit. I am thankful to my friend Jen Small. Jen gave me some really great wetsuit tips in Maine and also sent me on my way with a can of Tri Slide which really helped.

The cramping began to subside enough. (Thank God!) The cramped muscles were super sore from being so tight but workable. I washed off my feet, got my socks and sneakers on, put on my helmet and made my way all the way to the "bike out." Right before exiting I realized I had forgotten to put my ankle timing chip thing back on! GRRR! So I had to wheel all the way back, get that thing on and get back on the road.

Let's get going already!

I have no idea of how long my transition had taken. In the results they listed my transition as 47 minutes and my bike as 4 seconds. Now I will admit that my transition certainly felt like 47 minutes but even with a 47 minute transition I am pretty sure that I didn't bike a 8.25 miles in 4 seconds.

And made it to the bike! Whew.

However, I am guessing my transition to be 10 - 11 minutes easily. It took me a bit of crawling to get to my bike, guzzle 24oz. of water, eat a gel, stretch, shimmy out of the wetsuit carefully trying not to re-cramp, wash off the feet, get socks and sneakers on, head out to "bike out" not once but twice - and none of this was at lightening speed. I contacted the timing chip people and they said my bike out didn't record so they can guesstimate and make up my T1 at 4:36 but that's impossible. Plus I know that I felt pretty good on the bike and pushed it trying to make up time.

I'm feeling pretty good on the bike for the most part. A little sore but pretty good. I know that if I don't cramp again (and even if I did) I would finish this race and that's really what mattered to me most.

I'm back!

The bike was pretty uneventful. Flat a little scenery of the ocean and reduced to only 8.25 miles. I'm guessing my bike was around 36 minutes or so. It was fun to see the Moms who were in waves before me coming back in since the course was an out and back.

T2: 2:54 - Not sure what took me so long but it is what it is. 

And on to the run.

Took a minute for me to figure out if my legs would give me any trouble. I was still sore from the cramping (and would be for days after) but started off with a slow jog. In the first quarter of a mile or so I walked for a second or two and then got mad at myself and decided that I could freakin' run 3 miles, even if it was slow. I soon started to see the Moms ahead of me coming in for the finish line and knew I wasn't too far away to completing my day.

I caught up to fellow Mom'er Dede and that was great. We ran and chatted a bit. She needed to stop for water at the aid station and since I had a hand held, I kept going. 

Running without music was a little bit of a challenge. Not impossible but I was not finding that "enjoyable" thing that many non-music runners report. I felt a little bored. I know my pace would've been a bit better and the run would've been more enjoyable if USAT rules allowed for music. Guess I should consider a few non-music runs in my training for future races.

Love these Iron Girl girls! Dede, Heather and Monica

During the last mile I was getting tired I began repeating a mantra to help me to keep moving forward. I kept saying to myself, "I'm strong, I'm fast, I'm focused." Finally I entered the shoot and headed towards finish line! This was it! I set a goal and I swam, biked and ran my way to the finish line!

I'm gonna make it! And I didn't sh*t the kit! Woo hoo!

How sweet it is to see…

Jennifer Roe - You are an Iron Girl! :-) 

Success!

And every Mom in Motion made it too. A truly wonderful day!

YAY!!

Run time: 32:04 Total time on course: 1:50:55. That time will not get me on a podium but I'm OK with that. From here I can only go up!  I am also pretty stoked that while this swim was tougher, I was much more confident and comfortable than I was on my last Tri. My overall bike was faster and my run was faster too. They were pretty comparable (both flat). Progress!

I really loved this race. 

The bling up close

Thank you Iron Girl for putting on such a good show!

Thank you Dana for taking the time to train us for this big milestone in our fitness worlds!! 

Thank you Angela Lee and Jen Small for all of your Tri advice and hand-me-downs!

Thank you Roxi for letting me use your bike all season!!

Thank you to my fellow Moms who made this journey so much fun and so worthwhile.

Thank you to the Tri Bloggers who've inspired me over the years.

I am blessed and grateful to have had this experience and can't wait to do it again.

XO

Jen

PS: Speaking of my friend Jen Small - the day I was doing this Sprint, she was kicking some serious butt doing 140.6 at Rev3 Cedar Point! Read her journey here. She's amazing.