Massachusett's Iron Girl 2013

One of my favorite parts of working at Athleta is speaking to all the women that come in talking about their sports that they enjoy.  If someone mentions triathlon, I get even more excited to share experiences with them.  If we talk about triathlons, I am quick to mention the Athleta Iron Girl which will be taking place in Massachusetts in July this year.

Last year I participated in my first sprint triathlon and this year I will be headed back to the same event, which has now become the Iron Girl.  The Masscahusett's Iron Girl event is July 21st in Webster, Massachusetts.

If you have ever thought about trying out a triathlon, I highly recommend an all women's triathlon such as this event.  All types of women show up for this race.  Competitive, non-competitive, mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers....You will feel comfortable here!  The swim is incredibly relaxing including swim angels floating around encouraging you and giving you a friendly hand if needed.  The bike and run are FAST, they were over before I even knew it.  The finish line is AMAZING and one I smile every time I think about it.

A little bit of information about the event:

Iron Girl’s Mission is to Empower Women Toward a Healthy Lifestyle!

Launched in 2004 with just two events, the Iron Girl brand has grown to now include 18 events nationwide, varying in distance from 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon to duathlon and triathlon.

Iron Girl's mission is to empower women toward a healthy lifestyle. The Iron Girl event experience provides women with a competitive platform and amenities such as: a post-race catered Breakfast Café, performance shirts sized just for women, professional timing, personalized race bibs, custom finisher medals, post-race giveaways and much more. The Web site is filled with training tips, guest columnists and nutrition information. Iron Girl has also furthered its offerings with the addition of IronGirlshop.com with items such as hydration and nutrition products, jewelry and sports bags. The Iron Girl brand has been featured in a range of media outlets to include USA Today, The New York Times, Runner's World, Family Circle, Ok! Magazine and Women's Health.

Event Details:

Date: Sunday, July 21, 2013

Location: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

Entry fees:  Sprint Distance Triathlon   1/2 mile swim/12 mile bike/3 mile run

     $95.00 until June 21

     $105.00 until July 20

     (you must be 18 years old to participate in the sprint distance event)

**Note there is an additional $12.00 fee for non-USAT members to cover your one-day permit through USAT)

Read more:

Registration:  http://www.irongirl.com/Events/Webster/Registration.htm

Event Website:  http://www.irongirl.com/Events/Webster.htm

Registration Site:  http://www.active.com/triathlon/webster-ma/athleta-iron-girl-webster-triathlon-2013

To receive a discount to the Iron Girl event please enter WESTFORDMOMMY as your Coupon Code.  You will receive $10 off your entry.  This expires June 1st.

Please let me know if you decide to sign up for the event as I would love to share training stories as we get ready for our goal races.  My sister is also competing this year and I hope to share some of her training as she gets ready for her third sprint triathlon.

**I was given a free entry from Iron Girl for this year's event.  All opinions are my own.

Tales from my Long Ride

Yesterday I spent my Mother's Day on my bike.  Besides the time I spent with my kids, I wouldn't have want to spend my day any other way.  I rode for four hours followed by a 40 minute brick run.  Four hours of alone time leaves you with a lot of time to think and so I will bring you along on some of my thoughts...

Last week I completed 14 hours of training in preparation for Ironman Lake Placid.  This was around 6 1/2 hours biking, 4 hours running, and over 3 hours swimming plus 30 minutes of core...14 hours!  It was my third week of building so luckily I will have a rest week this week.  As for how my body is responding to training, it is doing amazing.  My mid-week rides are in the mid-19 MPH.  My runs are still averaging low 8's.  My swimming is showing improvement on times and I feel strong in the pool.  The most notable is while I am tired at the end of the day, I am not overly sore nor feeling burnt out, YET!  Do I feel ready for Ironman?  I can only answer that with a big, ehhhhh.  :)  I know I can do it and feel more confident than I did last year.  But, I am afraid of the long ride.  My back starts aching at the end of my rides.  It starts aching further into each ride so hopefully with many long rides I can reach the 6 hour mark before it starts hurting.  In 2 weeks I have a 5 1/2 hour bike ride on my schedule.  I am scared of this one.  I know I will be approaching 100 miles with that ride.  And I am only 2 weeks away from it.  SCARY!

This long ride was full of climbs.  Miles and miles of elevation gains.

Those small blips at the beginning and the end were hard hills for me last week.  This week they were just blips as I felt like I was climbing a mountain out there.  The whole ride I wondered what my elevation gain would be and how it would compare to Lake Placid.  Climbing for 10+ miles with really no breaks was really really hard, more so mentally than anything.

My plan for the day was to make it to my new school's main campus and turn around.  (This was around 35 miles from my house.)  I had every intention of taking a short break there and taking a picture.  Well, I didn't make it there.  This was very hard mentally as I looked at my average pace and saw 16.5 MPH.  This was really slow compared to what I have been riding lately.  In hindsight, I probably could have made it all the way there as I had to add on a lot of miles at the end due to my faster speed on the way back down the hills.  But, I stopped on a downhill as I wasn't ready to climb that hill on the way back.

The way back was much more eventful than the way out.  I FLEW down the hills.  I had one 5 mile stretch average over 24 MPH.  While riding downhill was physically easier, mentally I freak out.  One of my biggest fears for Lake Placid are the steep downhills, so I just got in aero and focused on being steady and calm.

After completing the downhills, I got back into the busier roads.  And this is when my day turned not so good.  I was riding along at around 19 MPH and I see a dog dart out from across the road into the street to run after me and hear its owner yell at it.  Immediately I heard a car hit the dog.  I turned around and saw the poor dog.  My heart dropped.  Why oh why wasn't that dog on a leash?  This was a very very busy road.  I spent the rest of the ride thinking about that poor dog.  I am not a dog person at all, but I love my pets.  The thought of losing one's pet hurts me so much.

When I first started running, I got chased by 3 dogs and was bitten by one of them.  The owner denied it was his dog that bit me so I had to get rabies shots just in case.

I was bitten at around 8am on a Sunday morning, but again on a busy road.  Why wasn't that dog fenced in or on a leash?  Why do owners think they can just yell at a dog and expect that it will listen.  I run on a quiet trail and often times someone's dog will chase me as I am running because the owner doesn't have it on its leash.  It drives me crazy because I am afraid of getting bitten again.  I know these owners feel comfortable with their dogs being off the leash, but I wish they would take into thought that some people may not be as comfortable.

My heart rate rose so quickly after this.  My adrenaline was flowing and I used that adrenaline to bring home my ride.  I picked up my pace and rode fast and actually enjoyed the end of my ride.  I had to add on extra miles as my average pace on the way back was so much faster.  (My overall pace for the day was 18 MPH, so I must have been well over 19.5 MPH on the way back.)

And 72 miles later, I made it home.  I was full of adrenaline and proud of my day.  I am ready for the next long ride and to see what challenges are ahead.