IronGirl Columbia Triathlon Race Report

This past Sunday I completed the Columbia IronGirl Triathlon, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN!

I did the event with one of my personal training clients, Nikki. Earlier this year she was looking for a fitness challenge, and I suggested she pick a triathlon to do. She was a little unsure of whether she could do it, so I offered to do it with her. And that’s how I ended up doing my first triathlon in over two years.

On Saturday morning we drove from Philly to Columbia, MD to pick up our race packets, rack our bikes, and check into our hotel. The athlete meeting was at noon, so we stopped there first to get race day instructions.

Since the roads were open to traffic during the bike leg, I was particularly interested in finding out how we would be protected from other vehicles on the road (lots and lots of awesome police and volunteers). After that, we picked up our packets and tshirts, dropped in on a tire-changing clinic, shopped at the expo (I picked up two extra CO2 Cartridges and a sweet pair of TYR Goggles), and then headed to transition to rack our bikes.

This is the first tri where I’ve had to drop off my bike the day before, and I have to say, I love this method. By racking the day before, we had a chance to familiarize ourselves with the transition area layout and check out the swim course and run finish (not to mention take note of where all the PortaPotties were located).

 

After racking, we headed to the hotel to check in and get ready for dinner. Nikki’s friend Mona, a 9-time IronGirl, arranged a pasta dinner for about 20 of us, and we all carb-loaded with gusto! After that, it was back to the hotel to organize gear and get to bed.

One of the biggest challenges of triathlon is planning your gear for the day. The most efficient strategy (in my opinion) is to swim in whatever you’re going to wear for the bike and run (aside from socks and shoes). Which, for me, means swimming in my sports bra, bike shorts and running top. I wear an Enell Sport which is extremely comfortable in the water, and transitions incredibly well to the bike and run. Seriously – if you’re a C cup or larger, go with an Enell. You won’t regret it! I’ve done several triathlons in mine and can’t imagine using anything else. Everything is securely locked down so you can focus on more important things.

I chose Terry Cycling Shorts, because the padding in them doesn’t absorb water as readily as some other types, which meant I was very comfortable on the bike and run. They’re also a little longer than my other bike shorts which is perfect for the run. My top was from Costco and dries incredibly fast.

I did, however, break a cardinal rule of triathlon which is never try new gear on the day of the race. But the new TYR Sport Special Ops Goggles I bought at the expo seemed so awesome I decided to take a chance on them (spoiler alert, they were perfect).

Despite an impending 4am wakeup call, neither of us could get to sleep before 11pm. But that’s pretty typical for the night before a big event, so I didn’t worry too much about it. I knew with enough coffee everything would be OK!

Of course, 4am came pretty early…but we still managed to get ourselves up, fed, dressed and in the car by 4:45. At 5am we pulled into the parking lot and scored one of the last spots. If we’d arrived 5 minutes later we would have had to find someplace else to leave the car! It was such a pleasure not to have to spend the extra time in the morning getting my bike off the car rack, dragging it from the car to transition, and searching for my spot.

We stopped first at body marking, then spent the next 30 minutes wiping dew off the bikes, organizing our transition areas, drinking the rest of our coffee, taking lots of pictures, and finding a few of our friends to say hi to. I got my Garmin Forerunner 910XT set up in Auto Multisport mode and set my run-walk alerts. The sun finally started to appear at 6:15 and shortly after that we headed to the boat launch area to queue up.

This was my first experience with a time-trial swim start. We lined up two by two to enter the water, spaced about 5 seconds apart. This method cut way down on the confusion and chaos that usually occurs during an open water swim, and personally I found it much easier to get into my happy zen swim state. Also, it was much easier to stay side-by-side with Nikki as we were swimming.

The entire 1km swim was very pleasant – the water temperature was perfect, the sun was shining, and there was no noticeable current. My new goggles were amazing – no fogging, extremely comfortable, and great visibility. We both cruised along at an easy, relaxed pace and came out of the water after about 33 minutes, ran up the beach into transition, and got ready to ride.

I was SO SLOW in T1 (six minutes, yikes!), due to my Injinji Socks. I run in them almost exclusively because they don’t slip around in my shoes and also protect my toes from blisters. Plus, in the winter, they help keep my toes a little warmer. However…they take a lot of extra time to put on, especially when your feet are still a little damp from being in the water. For my next triathlon, I’ll have to either figure out a faster way to get them on, or find a different pair of socks to take me from bike to run.

The 16-mile bike course was scenic and … hilly. Like OMG hilly. Also, it was partially open to traffic. Fortunately, the dozens of police and volunteers kept things under control and aside from one aggressive driver on a long straightaway, it felt like a closed course.

Nikki did really well on the bike course, and by mile 10, she was just an orange-shirted flash in the distance. Cycling is definitely my weakest sport of the three, especially tackling hills. I’m getting much better at shifting, but on the toughest hill of the day, I crashed and burned when I got part-way up and realized I was still on my large chainring. My options at that point were either tip over or get off and walk (fortunately I wasn’t clipped to my pedals at the time or the choice might have been made for me). I walked about 30 yards until the grade was less intense and I could remount.

My bike time was about 1:15. I cruised into T2 and saw Nikki putting on her running shoes. This transition was much faster – about 2 minutes – and I met up with her right at the run start. We grabbed some water, waved to her husband and kids, and started running.

The run course was gorgeous. Shady, scenic and (you guessed it) hilly. Fortunately, I’ve done a lot of hill training this year so I was prepared. Of course, my legs were pretty toasted from the bike, so it took several minutes to get into a comfortable rhythm, and with Nikki still recovering from a serious bout of shin splints over the summer, we settled into a 30-second run/1 minute walk routine that we stuck with for the majority of the course. We kept up just under a 15-minute pace for the entire 3.4-mile course and finished in about 50 minutes. 2:50 overall time. Not bad!

The race bling was beautiful, and the finish-line celebration was really fun (basically, it was a huge party in the park with massages, cookies, and music). We had a huge crowd of friends and family to meet us at the finish line too!

After about an hour of chatting, drinking water, and relaxing, the race organizers announced that all bikes were off the course which meant we could head back to transition and pack up our stuff. We did, then headed right to Starbucks for coffee. Then it was back to the Hampton Inn to shower and check out. Finally, it was off to the Victoria Gastro Pub for LUNCH! Seriously, there is no hunger like post-triathlon hunger. I thought my stomach was going to implode.

Our celebration lunch started off with some much-needed alcohol: beer for Nikki and Sofia Mini-Blanc for me. Then I ordered an enormous burger with bacon and blue cheese. And duck fries. And I ate every. single. bite.

Overall, IronGirl Columbia was a really great experience, and I’m looking forward to next year! It also reminded me just how much I love triathlons, and I’ve decided that next year’s wildly audacious goal will be a half Ironman distance tri. Most likely the Princeton 70.3 in September, if all goes according to plan. Can’t wait!

 

 

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