Yesterday was the Iron Girl sprint triathlon in Columbia, MD. It was my third time racing in this event, and once again I loved it!

I got to bed early on Saturday night and managed to get a good amount of sleep before my 3:30 a.m. wake-up call. I was pretty well organized with everything I needed packed and ready to go, but I still needed the hour I gave myself before our departure time to wake up and prepare myself for the day!

A friend and I were on the road by 4:30, giving ourselves plenty of time to get through the pre-race traffic. The main road into the park tends to back up. We think we arrived earlier than last year since traffic wasn’t too bad. We were parked and headed to the transition area around 5:30 a.m.

And it started drizzling a little bit.  Uh oh!

It wasn’t too bad at the time, but I was glad my choice of transition bucket had a lid! Last year I used a kitty litter bucket (like this one) and it worked out great, so I did the same this year. Big enough to hold everything I needed, easy-to-carry handle, and doesn’t take up too much space.

Since it was raining, I didn’t lay that much out like I normally would. Instead, I reorganized my bucket, layering everything in the order I’d need it. I may have lost a little time in transition doing that, but I’d rather have dry shoes!

I got body-marked, pumped my tires, ate my peanut butter sandwich, and headed towards the swim start to hit the port-o-pots a little after six. No line that early! We didn’t have all that much time to kill. The transition area closed at 6:30, and the elite athletes were in the water at 6:40. Once waves started going I decided I needed one more restroom stop. There was a line this time, but not so bad. My wave was at 7:01 and I had plenty of time.

I was happy to have an early start time. It’s hard to have to wait around watching wave after wave of women start. But this year, it was time for me to get into the water before I knew it!

I know I’m not great with open water swimming, but I think I’m getting a little better. Not faster, it seems … but I felt fairly comfortable the entire swim. Usually I feel a bit panicked and have to breast-stroke a lot to regulate my breathing. Sure I still did a good amount of breast stroke, but this time it was more to sight or when it got too crowded to swim comfortably.

Halfway through the swim it started raining. While it doesn’t matter when you’re in the water, I would be on the bike soon. Riding in the rain isn’t fun. And I’m afraid enough of the fast downhills without wet roads!

I hoped for the best as I finished my swim…

Swim (1K / .62 mile): 30:09
2009: unknown (since they lost all my split times (grr), but I’m guessing it was in the 30:40s based on photos of other girls in my wave.)
2008: 29:57

I happily got out of the water and took my time getting to my bike. I probably should have run, but I wasn’t that concerned about transition times. I also like to rinse and dry off my feet. If I wasn’t such a princess, I’m sure I could transition quicker!

T1: 5:55
2008: 6:33 (But I lost my helmet!)

It was still raining. I’m actually glad my husband and I got caught in the rain on a ride last week, otherwise I wouldn’t have known I preferred wearing rain-soaked sunglasses to getting raindrops in my eyes!

We had to climb a short, steep (and wet!) hill to get out of transition. A little tricky in bike shoes! But I was quickly up and on the road.

I was familiar with the hilly course from the past two years so nothing came as a surprise. I tried to let go on the hills despite the wet roads, and actually it wasn’t too bad. I took the turns very cautiously, but I think I did pretty well on the hills!

I was definitely not enjoying the rain, but thankfully it let up a bit towards the second half of the ride. Usually you dry off during the bike ride, but  not this time!

Bike (17.5 miles): 1:13:27
2009: 1:14:43 (Garmin time, actual time would probably be a little bit slower.)
2008:1:24:16 (on a slower bike)

I changed into dry socks at transition — my feet were soaked and I was happy to have packed an extra pair. They wouldn’t stay dry for long with the on-and-off rain, but at least I was comfortable at the start of the run!

T2: 3:57
2008: 3:31

Some triathletes dread the run. Not me! I took off at a decent pace, but it’s a hilly run and my calves were screaming at me. I gave in and walked a couple hills, but I still managed to beat both of my previous times by a lot. I think marathon training helped me out here. I was able to move quicker on my tired legs!

Run (3.4 miles): 30:50
2009: 34:16 (Garmin – should be pretty accurate)
2008: 34:44

Overall: 2:24:16
2009: 2:28:14
2008: 2:39:01

I’m really happy to beat last year’s time, even in the rain! But I was a little disappointed when I saw the official results online. They posted incorrect results at the event and for a few hours, I thought I really killed last year’s time with 2:19:16 instead!

I had a blast. Registration opens for 2011 on November 1!

I went swimming!

My legs needed a break after a tough workout last night. I was back on the track, this time with 16x400s with 200 meters recovery. I wasn’t really expecting to run all that well after a pretty miserable Monday run, and the 80+ degree/88% humidity weather wasn’t helping!

It also didn’t help that I started out WAY too fast, running with another member of our group. I knew she was faster than me, so I shouldn’t have tried to keep up!

But that didn’t last long …

1. 1:52
2. 1:54
3. 2:00
4. 2:00
5. 2:03
6. 2:05
7. 2:05
8. 2:04
9. 2:06
10. 2:07
11. 2:01
12. 2:05
13. 2:10
14. 2:02
15. 2:02
16. 2:06

Uh, yeah. I couldn’t really keep up with my 2:02 goal pace yesterday. But at least I was out there, and I finished my workout. I’m totally blaming some of those slower intervals on all the non-runners out on the track. It was really crowded last night. Walkers in the fast lanes, toddlers wandering around, kids on bikes, etc. It was driving me crazy!

My legs definitely needed a break today, so no run for National Running Day. But I did finally get my butt back to the pool to start prepping for Iron Girl!

I was pleasantly surprised to find it pretty quiet at the pool tonight — I got my own lane for the entire workout. I grabbed a kickboard and pool buoy and got to work.

I don’t usually follow a planned workout, though I should probably try that sometime. I just like to get in there and knock out the yards!  I alternated 100s with the  kickboard or buoy with freestyle and breast stroke for the first 1300 yards, taking breaks often as I got used to being in the water.

I was feeling great. I swam the last 300 yards freestyle almost continuously, and felt like I could have kept going. I figured 1600 yards / 55 minutes in the pool was plenty for my first swim of the year!

Gotta love a long weekend. I was happy to schedule an extra morning run when I’d usually be working!

This morning I met up with a couple friends downtown for a  casual run. We started later than usual, meeting at 9 a.m., since one of our friends suggested the time. And then she didn’t even run! I think she was worried that everybody would be faster … but I would have loved to slow it down today. It was hot out there!

I dragged behind my other two friends the entire run. After four miles when one of them had to move on, M and I decided to power through for a couple more miles. We took a short walk break before starting up again, but the momentum was gone. There were a lot more walk breaks in our final 2.5 miles!

Part way through the run, I figured out why I was struggling. Sure, the heat was a factor. And yeah, I did go to a boot camp workout on Saturday.

But yesterday I joined my husband for a 15.3-mile bike ride. It was only my second ride of the year. Yeah, I bet my legs were a little tired after that!

I’m ready to start swimming again, too.  I’m going to try to hit the pool this week. Less than three months to Iron Girl!

Since the Goofy Challenge in January, there hasn’t been too much on my plate.  The only other race I ran this year was this month!

Things are going to start picking up. At the end of May, I’ll be running the Maryland Half Marathon. I love the half marathon distance and wanted a spring race, so this fit the bill. It’ll be a hilly course so I probably won’t be going for a PR, but I’m still hoping for a strong race!

In June I’ve signed up for another hilly race, the Baltimore 10-Miler. I’ve heard great things about this event, and they are known for their excellent premiums!

The next big event (so far!) doesn’t come until late August, when I’ll be doing the Iron Girl sprint triathlon for the third time. To help me train, I’ve signed up for a triathlon class at the rec center. It starts in June and runs until the week before the race. While I did well training on my own last year, I didn’t get nearly enough brick workouts in. This once-a-week class seems like the perfect solution!

We’ll be ending our summer once again in Virginia Beach, where I’ll be running the Rock and Roll Half Marathon for the sixth time. My training for this race has been a little lacking recently, since my focus over the last two summers has been the triathlon instead of distance.

But this year it’s going to be different. I’m going to have to incorporate a lot more distance training over the summer to prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 31.

In addition to all these big events, I’ll be participating in one or two 10Ks and quite a few of these 5Ks throughout the summer.

I’m excited!