Monday, June 17, 2013

Iron Girl Triathlon

On Friday I decided to do the Iron Girl Triathlon in Lake Zurich.  It was a pretty last minute decision after I saw a girl from UD post on Facebook about it and I had nothing going on for the weekend, so why not?  I did my run on Friday to the Athleta store in Lakeview to register.  Apparently I met a pretty famous blogger and didn't even know it.  Catherine was telling me that the girl who writes a blog she regularly reads (www.mealsandmiles.com) was working this race.  I said I met a girl named Meghann who seemed to be in charge of the show and Cath said, "that's her!"  I had started talking with Meghann as she helped me register.  I was wearing my PwC running shirt and she said her husband works for PwC.  I will definitely have to start reading her blog now.  Here's a breakdown of the triathlon:

Before the race - as ready as I can be to swim


Swim - 1/3 Mile - 17:09.  I am a terrible swimmer.  I don't think I really put my head under water much, but I ended up with a lot of water in my mouth.  I don't really have a technique - I'd say it's mostly a doggy paddle, with some backstroke and side stroke and what I feel like doing that will somehow propel me forward.

Finishing the Bike

Bike - 14 Miles - 56:01.  The bike route was hilly, which got to be pretty difficult during the last few miles.  I average 4 minutes per mile which is kind of what I expected, but I should be able to still go much faster than that.  Since the 29 and under age group was the last wave to start the race and my swim was so terrible, I was essentially one of the very last people out of the water.  So on my bike, I just tried to pass people.  I passed 37 people and nobody passed me.

Run - 3 Miles - 21:44.  Luckily the run route was relatively flat.  When I first started running after getting off the bike, my legs felt like jello.  I thought I was going so slow, but when I got to the first mile, I was at 7:26.  My 2nd mile was 7:00 and my 3rd was 7:18.  I started counting people as I passed them on the run too...67 people and nobody passed me.  I counted  in my head; it's only bad if you count out loud, right?  And most of the races I've done lately are huge, technically aren't "races," and I always start too fast so then I don't exactly end up passing people.

Finished!


Overall I finished in 124th place out of 303 women.  My swim rank was 267, bike rank was 221, and run rank was 11.  I think I will try to learn to swim and bike better before doing another one, but that will probably have to wait until after the Chicago Marathon.

Free Breakfast!

There were a lot of good freebies at this race.  The race shirt was so-so.  But afterwards, all the athletes got a catered breakfast.  They were a bit skimpy on it though because they were really limiting what each person could have.  They wouldn't even give me an extra piece of cantaloupe.  But then there were jars Biscoff spread and you could take as many as you want!  It's very similar to the Trader Joe's Cookie Butter.  We took 7 or 8 jars I think to give to some of the family members later at the Father's Day celebration.  There was also a Walgreens tent so I got some Chapstick, a stress ball, a pedometer, and a first aid kit.

Apparently the thing to do in the blog world is to ask questions at the end of the post so that people comment.  So here are today's questions:

What would be your best leg of the triathlon?

What is your favorite free item you have gotten from a race?

-Mine is the deck of cards I got from my first half marathon - the Chicago Distance Classic in 2006.  I still don't use them to play with because I don't want them to get ruined.

5 comments:

  1. The best leg of the triathlon for me would be the run, followed by the bike and then the swim. Bad swimming runs in the family. Favorite free item from a race is a mini-flashlight.

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  2. I think I would have to say run, bike, swim as well, even though I do not really enjoy riding a bike fast with people around me…I prefer spinning classes. I’m going to have to work on this if I want to do a Tri someday.

    The second question is hard because now that I’ve read your answer, all other giveaways are blocked out and I am just focusing on that awesome deck of cards, which are still in pristine condition in their box. I guess the sticky notes from that first CDC were also pretty sweet.

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  3. Me thinks I need to see a photo of this deck of cards from the CDC. They intrigue me now.

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  4. Your sister Mary Ellen would resent that comment. She reminds me often that she was on a swim team at the Niles Oasis Pool. I guess perhaps your comment was referring to your immediate family, in which case my mother would not resent it. #swimming#

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