Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon Recap 2013

I participating in the 2013 Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon in Clermont, FL on September 29th.  This was my last tri of the season and I didn't trained for it.  Come to think of it, I didn't really train for Coteeman either.  Why do I keep signing up for triathlons?!

Denise, Jenny and I drove the hour and a half over to Clermont on Saturday afternoon to pickup our packets and check-in to our hotel.  We decided to stay the night instead of leaving at 3:00am the next morning to make the trip to Clermont.  I'm very glad we did because we were able to check our bikes in at transition, get a look at the lake and drive the bike course to get a feel for the hills.  And oh there were hills!

The next morning we were up, out and setup in transition with plenty of time.  I was very nervous about the lake swim because it would be my longest race swim at 1/2 mile. 

Jenny loaned us Polar shirts to stay warm.

I was in the third wave of swimmers.  We got in the water, waist deep, and waited for our start time.  Once it was go time, I ran in the water until it was deep enough to swim.  We had to swim out to a buoy, turn left and swim to a second buoy, then turn left again and swim toward shore.  I attempted the freestyle stroke that I was practicing over the summer but I was too overwhelmed with the rough water and other people swimming around me.  I'm a good recreational swimmer, most comfortable with the slow breast stroke so I switched to that and took my time.

Half way to the first buoy, my non-fogging goggles were so fogged that I couldn't see.  They never fog!  What happened?!  I had to hold on to a kayak to rinse them in the water. Afterwards, I realized that was my problem...I didn't wet my goggles before I put them on my head.



That's me with the purple cap.

I ran to transition feeling really good after my slow comfortable swim.  I tried to be fast in transition, not worrying about the grass on my feet before I put on my shoes.  Then I was off on the bike.

The bike course was great in the beginning with a couple of little, manageable hills.  The first major incline appeared where the sprint racers separated from the super sprint racers. After driving the course the day before, I vowed to try my hardest to make it up the steep inclines without getting off my bike to walk.  As I started up the incline, lots of racers were walking their bikes up the hill but I was passing them so I struggled on, with my feet clipped in.  The next portion of the course was filled with hills including one other steep incline.  I enjoyed the downs with a top speed of 29mph.  I managed all the hell hills, on my bike, and made it back to transition.



I can tell from my posture that I was tired and ready to be done with hills.

In transition, I caught up with Denise and we took off together on the last portion of the race.  Just 3 miles to run and we'd be done.  As soon as I started running, I felt tightness in my right shin all the way down into the top of my foot.  This was more than the usual bike-to-run, legs-don't-want-to-work feeling.  At the water stop, I took some time to stretch out my leg and foot.  This was also where our paved path turned to dirt...not my favorite thing to run on but my leg did feel better.  I managed my way to the finish line at an easy pace.

I survived the 2013 Iron Girl Tri sprint with a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run.  Now that it's done, I can say that I enjoyed it too!

Overall time - 1:42:42
Swim - 23:03
Transition 1 - 3:09
Bike - 46:43
Transition 2 - 1:11
Run - 28:36
Division Place: 26/41
Overall Place: 106/218


Disclaimer: I was given an Iron Girl Tri registration in exchange for event promotion and a review.  All opinions are my own.