Iron Girl - The second time around

This past weekend brought my final multi-sport event for 2008. This event just happened to be one of my favorite races, the Iron Girl Duathlon in Bloomington, MN. There are lots of things I love about this race. First, it's a duathlon, so there's no swimming involved. Second, it's a women only race. I don't have issues racing with men or anything like that. I just think it's really cool to see almost 1,000 women out on the race course, enjoying the sport and encouraging everyone they see. Third, I love the challenge of a duathlon and I really enjoy the distance (2-22-2) and course at Iron Girl. The runs are fairly short and the bike is hilly as all get out, but it's just the right combination to make it fun. And lastly, this year I had the chance to spend the weekend and race with my two best friends - Gwen and Greyt. And that is just awesome.

I'm not sure if it's more exciting for me to talk about the race, or to show off what I bought the day BEFORE the race. Who am I kidding?? I was so excited about my purchase, I couldn't even wait till the race to wear it, so of course I have to talk about it first. I'm really not sure how it happened. Greyt and I took a field trip to Gear West. We looked at clothes, they were having a sale on summer stuff. I got a jersey. I got some new Zoot tri shorts. Then somehow I end up in this back room area looking at helmets. Next thing I know, I have the Giro Advantage 2 helmet on my head and I knew I wasn't leaving there without it. I wasn't the one looking for an aero helmet. Greyt was the one researching them all, reading the reviews, contemplating the purchase. She was the one talking about the advantages of the Rudy Project helmet over the Louis Garneau Rocket or the Spiuk Kronos. I was the supportive friend listening to her evaluations, offering my opinion here or there, and then there I was with a helmet on my head and my hand in my wallet. Funny how that power of suggestion thing works. For the record, I did not allow Greyt to walk out of there without buying her Rudy Project helmet either. That just would not have been fair.

Ok, onto the race. We got to the race around 6:30 or so. Race time was 7:30. Transition racks were assigned this year (or at least each row was assigned a group of #s), so there wasn't as much of a need to be there the second transition opened. After figuring out where the run and bike ins/outs were, I decided to set my bike up on the far end of the rack closer to the bike in/out. For some reason, only one other girl had the same idea I did, and I watched as everyone filled in the spots on the other end of the rack. It was kind of funny to see my bike racked next to hers -a kick ass pink and black Scott tri set up totally pimped out with 808s - then a HUGE gap and several mountain bikes, hybrids and road bikes crammed down at the other end. Just interesting to see different strategies at work.

After setting up transition, hitting the porta potties (twice), doing a warm-up run with Greyt, it was game time. The three of us headed to the start to try and get up close to the front, since we were in the first wave.
We're standing in the chute and I look around at the women in front of us. There's Marlo McGaver (3x Iron Girl winner), Sarah Kolpin, Leslie Curley, Jana Severson (local DSM tri/duathlete stud), Julie Hull...an amazing group of really really fast women. It was pretty cool to be standing there with them, chatting it up while we waited for the gun. Er, the Aflac duck, I mean. Yeah, we didn't start to a gun, instead it was a countdown of 3,2,1...AFLAAAAAACCCCC!

Then we were off. I saw Gwen take off on Marlo's heels. I was like, you go girl. I stayed back with the main pack and tried to focus in on my pace. I knew I had to keep myself in check for this first mile. I went out hard, but it didn't feel too hard. First mile was 7:12.
I felt good at the mile 1 marker, so I kept pushing along. I dropped slightly on the second mile, coming into transition along with Gwen at 14:34.

Thanks to my decision to wear use my Pyro Platforms for the duathlon, I didn't have to change shoes so I was out of transition in a pretty fast time. Fourth fastest T1 time in the race, actually. Then it was bike time. Even though I did this race last year, and I knew it was hilly, I had forgotten just HOW hilly. Or maybe I had this crazy idea that I was so much stronger this year than last year that they wouldn't seem as bad, I don't know. But they were bad. And we had to do them all twice. Fun stuff, people. I struggled up the first set of hills a bit. Hitting a whopping 10-13 mph and an HR of about 179. Thankfully it seemed most everyone (the mortals of us in the race, anyway) was having the same issue. Early on I settled into a little "pack" with two other women. For the first loop, the three of us were in our own little world. The fast women were nowhere to be found, and there really wasn't anyone close behind us, so we formed our own little chase pack. We had to keep passing one another to avoid drafting, but it was kind of nice to have a couple other good, strong bikers with me to keep pushing the pace. And despite knowing we were all in the same age group, we actually were very encouraging to each other on those mutha effin' hills.

The second bike loop got a little more congested with the rest of the waves now out on the bike course. Despite the increased traffic, the three of us stuck together the entire second loop as well. We spread out just a bit towards the end of the loop, with one of the women pulling a bit ahead of me and the other falling slightly back. Again, thanks to the pyros, I dismounted the bike already in my running shoes and was ready to rock the run.

I came out of transition side-by-side with one of the girls from our little bike pack. I said "Great bike" we exchanged some knuckles and off we went - she a little faster than I. I knew right away I wasn't going to be able to hang with her. She looked fresh and was running really well right out of transition. My legs felt tired and heavy, and my breathing felt a bit out of control. I made the decision to let her go. I knew I was giving up an AG place, but I also knew I did not have it in me to stay with her. So I focused on getting my legs back and holding on to my race. My goal was to finish the race under 1:40, and as long as I ran fairly well, I would reach that goal. I settled into a good pace, and felt my legs starting to come around. I hit the 1 mile marker and took a quick peek behind me to see if there was anyone coming up. I saw the other girl from our bike pack about 10-15 seconds behind me. Crap. I picked up a bit, trying to hold onto my spot. I did everything I could to hold this girl off, but she was a strong runner. I didn't know it till I looked at the results, but she KILLED that second run. She passed me with about a half mile to go, giving me a "good job" as she cruised by. I could hear the announcer bringing home the finishers on the other side of the trees. I finished as hard as I could, my legs burning like I had just sprinted a sub-60 400m. I came across the line in 1:38.56. Beating my goal time of 1:40, and finishing 5 minutes ahead of my time from last year.

I grabbed some water and cheered Gwen and Greyt in to the finish. They both did awesome jobs! Gwen bettered her time from last year by 5:30. And Greyt finished her first duathlon EVER in kick ass time too! All in all, it was a fantastic day!!