Race Result

Racer:	Melissa Hancock
Race:	Iron Girl Columbia
Date:	Sunday, August 19, 2007
Location:	Ellicott City, MD
Race Type:	Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Female 35 - 39
Time:	2:17:24
Overall Place:	898 / 2194
Age Group Place:	167 / 361
Comment:	Big hills, coupled with slightly-longer-than-sprint distances.

Race Report:

Last year's IronGirl was my first triathlon ever, and this year's IronGirl was my second. Even after losing my bike chain, I improved my time by 7 minutes! Since I did not follow a formal training plan like I did last year, but simply maintained an active lifestyle, I was really happy with the improvement.

From other Sprints that I have read about, IronGirl is kind of a funky distance. There is a 1100meter swim, 17.5 mile bike, and 3.5 mile run. Bike racking is done the night before the race. Last year was the inaugural race for this women's only triathlon, and there were just under 1000 participants. This year the race closed out months in advance, and there were over 2000!

Race Morning:
Opted to sleep at home instead of a hotel, and big-time regretted it. Each of the 3 dogs decided to take potty breaks a different times, so I was up half the night letting dogs out. Then had to get up at 4am to leave by 4:45 and drive the 1:15 drive to Columbia. I am not a morning person!

My 4-year-old was staying at Grandma's, but we took our 2-year old with us. We loaded her up into the minivan in her PJ's and she went right back to sleep. When we got near Centennial park, there was at least a mile backup, and we were running a little behind schedule. After we got to the park, I raced to set up my transition area, while Rob got Katie dressed.

I had the BEST transition spot. It was directly under the only tree in the whole transition area, so was easy to spot from anywhere. We were also blessed with excellent weather. It was very cool and a little drizzly.

With only 20 minutes left, I headed for the swim start, and met Rob over there. I also ran into the Tines, so it was great to chat with them. I had on my yellow RATS tri-suit, so I was hoping I would be easy for everyone to spot out on the course.

Swim:
23:40
108/361

The water was a little chilly, but not shockingly so as I jumped into the lake. My age group was so big (over 350) that it had to be divided into 2 waves. I was in the first wave and we went off on time. We spread out pretty well, and there was never anyone blocking me, so I could keep a pretty consistent pace the whole time. It was all left hand turns, and the buoys were big, well-placed, and easy to spot. After spending the whole summer doing 1, 2, and 4.4 mile open water swims, this one was a breeze! I didn't push it, though, because I wanted to save my strength for the bike and run. About halfway through the swim I started passing caps from the previous wave, so I felt that I was doing okay. I didn't feel bad for them because I knew most of them would pass me on the run!

T1:
2:55
51/361

T1 was done at lightning speed, thanks to advice from my lane-mates during swim practice (THANK YOU TONY!). No socks, no gloves, no sunglasses since it was still overcast. I just slipped on my shoes and hat and I was off! With over 2000 bikes, though, the transition area was huge, and you had to run up a very steep hill to get out of it.

Bike:
1:08:37
195/361

The bike course was very crowded, and I could not go as fast as I wanted to all of the time, which was really frustrating. Sometimes, there were just too many people, and no room to pass. But sometimes there were just a couple of people, and one of them would block the left side. Some people were staying to the left even when no one was on the right. I would shout "PASSING" or "ON YOUR LEFT" and some people would still not move over. Oh, well. I am not trying out for the Olympic team, so I just waited for a spot to clear and took it whenever I could.

I've ridden this course 3 times now, so I felt pretty comfortable with it, although it is very hilly. More like mountainous. I have about 20 extra pounds between my steel-frame Bianchi and me, so I had to really use the downhills to my advantage, and then try to huff and puff up the next one. There were about 3-4 women who I kept going back and forth with over the whole course. They would pass me going up hill, and then I would pass them going down hill. They were really nice and we were laughing at each other and saying "Hi Again!"

About halfway through I was switching from the big ring to the little ring and lost my chain. I pulled over and was able to fix it pretty quickly, but it probably cost me a couple of minutes.

Near the end of the course, I heard someone going the other direction shout "You go Melissa!" I was pretty sure it was my friend Jamie, so I shouted, "You Rock Jamie!" (Even if it was not Jamie, Jamie really DOES rock!)

T2:
2:11
192/361

T2 was fine. Found my primo spot, changed shoes and hat, and was off!

Run:
40:03
309/361

I am such a bad runner! But I know this and I accept this, and I am working on it. I felt pretty good for the first mile. I actually like the "brick" feeling in my legs, because the whole numbness thing works for me. After mile 1, everyone was flying by me like I was standing still. My heart was beating so hard that I walked up the toughest hills so that I could recover enough to continue afterwards. Going up one steep incline, my friend Lisa passed and said Hi, looking like she had lots of energy and was having a great time. She must have been having a great race since she started a couple of waves after me.

As I neared the finish, I had to work so hard not to walk. My legs hurt so bad, and I really thought they might fall out from under me. I don't think I've ever hurt that bad before. But after I passed the 3-mile mark, there were SO many people there cheering, I would have felt like such a loser if I walked. So I kept running. Just before the finish line I saw Rob with Katie on his shoulders and I called out "Hi Katie!" Now I REALLY couldn't stop. I made a final push to the finish line, with all of the awesome spectators calling out my name and holding their hands out for me to slap just like this was the Ironman or something! It was definitely worth running through the pain.

Finish:

The finish area was unbelievably crowded, so it took me awhile to find Rob and Katie. But I was so happy to be done. Funny, now that I think about it, I didn't even need to sit down. Just walking around seemed relaxing! I didn't sit down until I got in the van an hour later. What a great feeling it was to see my family, though. I hope my kids are able to have as much fun as I am when they are my age!

Overall, I think I did really well. I finished in the top half of my age group and overall. That is a huge achievement for me. Now that I have done this women's event a couple of times, I think I am ready to try a more mainstream, co-ed triathlon next. Hope to see you all out there!