IronGirl #2!

A chilly race morning with my fellow Wonder Women, Christin and Linda! 

About 3 weeks ago, I crossed the finish line at IronGirl Columbia thinking "Whew, I made it!" My next thought? "And I'm doing it again in less than a month!" 

This year's IronGirl Columbia sold out so fast that it actually crashed the race organizer's website for 3 days. Given this "unprecedented popularity," the organizers decided to sponsor a second race: the inaugural IronGirl Rocky Gap at Rocky Gap state park in Western Maryland. They billed it as a "girl's getaway" weekend and warned that it would sell out quickly. It sounded like a nice weekend away, so I signed up the day registration opened. 

As it turns out, the organizers were correct about the nice weekend, but way off-base regarding the potential for a sell-out. For whatever reason, women were not scrambling to sign up for this race and it wound up being pretty small: 425 finishers. Columbia had over 1600. Given the low turn-out and the fact that this was an inaugural event, I had concerns. Would it be a disorganized, never-to-be-repeated mess? 

I should have trusted the very experienced people at the Columbia Triathlon Association. This was a great race! Here's the rundown: 

The Location

The race took place at Rocky Gap Lodge and Resort, which is located inside Rocky Gap state park in the mountains of western MD. Despite the low turn-out, the Resort sold out months before the race and long before I had thought about my own arrangements. Fortunately, one of my Wonder Women training buddies came to the rescue! She had experience in the hotel industry and knew just what to say on the phone to get myself and another WW friend amazing rooms at a great discount. 

Andrew and I arrived Saturday afternoon and we were thrilled with everything. The park was beautiful, the resort was fabulous, our room was HUGE and came with a late check-out for race day. And the best part? The transition and race start were basically on the lawn of the resort. No need to get up at 3AM on race day and take a shuttle or hunt for parking. We checked in at the tiny expo and WALKED to the bike racking. 

My equipment MAN-ager.

I got a few strange looks racking my bike in a fancy dress. It wasn't race day! 

After racking, we met up with my Wonder Women buddies Linda and Christin (the hotel fairy) and went out for dinner and some last-minute forgotten item shopping. We also picked up some sweatshirts because it was cold! Linda and Christin had attended the pre-race course talk and delivered some wonderful news to me: "The race director says that the bike course is easier than Columbia." 

The next morning, we got up at 5:30, which is amazingly late by triathlon standards, had some breakfast in the resort, and WALKED to the race start. The rest of the day could have been a disaster after that, and I still would have loved this race. 

The Swim

Morning fog over the lake. 

Race morning was very chilly (only in the 50's), but the announcer assured us that the water temperature was still in the 80's. So, for once, I was actually looking forward to getting in the water in order to warm up! With a smaller race, the swim waves went much faster and they re-arranged the order from Columbia so I was in wave #3. I was excited to start in an earlier wave, but worried that my earlier start would mean being swam over by faster racers behind me. 

I needn't have worried. Given that we were a small race in the middle of a big lake, it felt like everyone had plenty of room. My swim did not go quite as well as IronGirl Columbia, but it was pleasant enough and I finished the .5 mile course in 28:23 (ranking-wise, my weakest showing of the day). 

Transitions

For the first time in a tri, I really had to go to the bathroom between race legs. For reasons beyond my comprehension, race organizers never put port-a-potties anywhere near transition. So, I had to go out of my way and wound up with a 7-minute T1. T2 was better, at 2:54, but nowhere near as quick as the sub 2-minutes I have managed in the past. 

The Bike

Smiling because I have no idea what's coming. 

After the swim, I hopped on my bike and quickly realized that whomever gave the course talk was a big fat liar. No more than 5 minutes after mounting my bike, I was huffing and puffing up a huge hill... and then another... and another. Around minute 15, I started to worry that I might have to drop out of the race. So. Many. Hills. Naturally, as soon as I considered quitting, things got a little easier. The uphills continued, but they got a little less steep and there were more downhills for building up momentum. Still, I have no idea why someone would suggest the course was easier than Columbia. Maybe because it was 1.5 miles shorter?

 The bike course was an out-and-back, and the only real inaugural race hiccup happened at the turnaround. In IG Columbia, the turnaround happens in a nice, big middle school parking lot. There's an aid station, a bathroom, a bike repair crew, and plenty of room to stop if you need to. The Rocky Gap turnaround was literally in the middle of a narrow street at the bottom of a steep hill. As I approached, I saw flares and a line of volunteers yelling "Slow down and downshift!" The next thing I knew, I was riding into an absolute clusterf* of riders trying to navigate the sharp turn without falling and/or crashing into the people who had stopped to use the mid-road "aid station." 

I could have used a gel break, but I didn't even think about stopping. Instead, I eased my way through the turn and- with no momentum at all- started struggling through the steep climb ahead. Behind me, I heard several screams as someone wiped out. Later, I chatted with other racers and learned that "wipeout" was pretty much the theme for that turnaround. I hope they find a better place next year!

The return leg of the bike course was challenging, but felt more manageable simply because I knew what was coming. In the end, I covered 16 miles in 1:20. Ranking-wise, that's still a weak showing, but it was a slight improvement over my IG Columbia performance. 

The Run

I don't have any photos of the run (yet) because I over-estimated how long the bike course would take. This meant Andrew missed my bike in and run out, and didn't catch me again until after I finished. The run was by far my favorite leg of the race and my strongest showing of the day. Compared to IG Columbia, it felt SO EASY! It was only 3 miles, as opposed to 3.4, and the hills were minimal. In fact, it felt like the overall trend was flat-to-downhill. I still had to deal with the post-bike "jelly legs" feeling in mile 1, but I felt great in miles 2 and 3. I felt even better when I sprinted across the finish line having finished my first tri run with zero walk breaks! My time for the run was 33:24. Ranking-wise, that was a middle-of-the-pack finish and over 100 places better than my back-of-the-pack swim and bike times. My overall time was a much-better-than-expected 2:32:03. 

Finished! 

Post-Race

After the race, I really experienced the benefits of the small turnout. Rather than a zoo of people and long lines, the finish festival was basically a little picnic by the lake. I found my friends easily and had plenty of time to chat and grab whatever tasty food I wanted. After comparing races with Linda and Christin, Andrew and I headed back to the huge room where we took full advantage of the late check-out (read: long showers and ample time to sort gear and pack). As we were walking back to the hotel, we heard the race announcer give the date for next year's Rocky Gap and we both agreed that we will be back!