Athleta IronGirl Atlanta - Age Group Win!

Sunday May 15th was my first triathlon of the season!  The Athleta IronGirl in Atlanta.   This was a 600m swim, followed by 19 mile bike, and 5k run.  It was a cool and cloudy morning but I felt great.  This was a big women-only race (1005 finishers) with 9 start waves, I was in the 8th wave to start - 35 minutes after the first group. 

At the starting line - Wave 8, 25-29 AG

Entering the water, only about a third of the women were in wetsuits, water temp was about 68 degrees.

There were 111 women in my wave and I lined up right in the front.  It was a great swim for me - fourth out of the water with a time of 10:10.  This was my first time racing in a wetsuit and I worried I would have trouble transitioning quickly, but right out of the water I was unzipped and peeling it off my arms as I ran up the hill.  In transition, I passed the three girls in front of me and took off on the bike in first place.  


There was a strong cross wind for most of the ride on a rolling hills course.  I held my lead on the bike for the first 10 miles until I was overtaken by Rebecca Rush, we passed each other back and forth a few times til she eventually pulled away with about 4 miles to go - I remember thinking "COME ON LEGS!!" and "we'll see what she's got in the run."  My time for the 19 miles was 1:00:36, slower than I wanted but an improvement on last year.  My quads were on fire when I rolled into transition and I hoped I had something left for the run.

Navigating through the crowd into transition

Rack bike.  Helmet off.  Shoes on.  Race number. GO.

 Run:  My favorite part of a triathlon, trying to run with legs that feel like jello after an hour on the bike.  I couldn't really feel my legs for the first mile and didn't bother to check my split.  This course was an out-and-back:  The first mile was a gradual uphill, then a flat second mile, and cruise it in downhill the last mile.  After just passing the mile mark I saw Rebecca ahead of me and knew I would catch her.  By the turn around I had already pulled away by a good 45 seconds - she was a great sport saying "nice pace" as I passed her going the opposite direction.  (Rebecca finished 3rd, right behind me, at last years Acworth Womens triathlon.  She beat me by 5 minutes at last years IronGirl event).

My run time was 18:48, which earned me the fastest run split in the entire field of 1005, and made up enough time to capture first place in my age group.  Overall my time was 1:33:20, good enough for a top 10 finish overall, in 7th place.   You can see the official results here.

Awards 25-29 AG, 1st - 3rd  (Laura, Rebecca, Katie)

 

 

The best part of this race was doing it with my dear friend and swimming partner Karen, who became a mom last year and is still out there competing.  She had a great race!  Karen - You are an inspiration to me!

Laura and Karen (one tough Iron Mommy!!)

Link to Adirondack Daily Enterprise writeup.

My next race is the Bolder Boulder in Boulder, CO on Memorial Day.  We'll see how these legs and lungs work at the high altitude and uphill course!