Look what I got!!!!

SHIMANO Bike shoes!!!! WooHoo!

I woke up Saturday morning for a 40 mile bike ride on the Silver Comet with a friend. I parked at the Silver Comet Depot and after the ride I decided to take "Sally" (my bike) in for some love and they were having a SALE. A BIG sale. These shoes were 100.00 with 75% off.
$25.60 with tax

I have never ridden with bike shoes so this will be an experience. I will keep you updated.

Peachtree Road Race

I really enjoyed this race.

I ran it for the first time last year, as a matter of fact it was my first 10K ever.
I wanted to finish strong this and I think that I did. As I was running I saw some patients for the spinal center in their wheelchairs and some Vietnam Vets so I ran over and gave them high-5's.
Seeing the swarms of people running and the great costume ideas was truly an awesome thing.

I cry at every race. The tears start to flow when I see the finish line. This race was no exception I was boo-whooing like a baby.


Time 67 min.

Run 30 min
Elliptical 35 min

The swim and bike portion of the race

The Swim

First, let me say before I competed in my first triathlon, I thought that I was a good swimmer. I swam in high school and competed in a couple of races at my local pool. I didn't realize how different it would be in the lake (where you can't see in front of you) as opposed to the pool.

Back to the race report

I really try to focus on the end of the swim. I have a hard time controlling my breath because I get so nervous at the start and then my heart rate goes too high and I am unproductive. This has happened the past two swims that I have had including IronGirl. After getting out of the water we had to run almost straight up a hill. I was completely out of breath. I started listening to the announcer talk about a competitor in the race and how her sister had breast cancer. He spoke about the money that she raised to help with the research, I was touched and thought about my sister losing her life to cancer and how that I needed to keep going. I refocused and grabbed my bike. Standing right outside T1 as I came out were my 7 year old and my husband. Loved seeing their smiling faces.

Since this is really my first season competing I am learning through trial, error and other bloggers the ins and outs of triathlon. It was very hard for me to train outside for the bike and run portion because of my work schedule, so I spent a lot of mornings in the gym doing Bricks, long bikes and long runs. Having said that, I didn't spent a whole lot of time on my road bike outside (this changed the minute I got home from the race).

The Bike

Well, you know what happened? I spent the first 7 miles in the same gear, because I thought I had broken the shifter-- OPERATOR ERROR!!!! I forgot how to shift. With those hills it was brutal. I even stopped a few times to see if my chain was broken, no it was the fact that I wasn't shifting. Finally at mile 14 I figured it out and laughed at myself.

I am not a great writer...

so when I sit down to write I know what I want to say I just don't know how to say it. It has taken me almost 2 weeks to complete a race report. Next time I am going to just post pictures.

The Iron Girl race report a day (or five days late) and a few pictures short...

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post about last weeks race. So much to do, so little time.
I have been working full-time this summer and I am not used to it. I know that women do it all the time and I salute you. Wow, it is hard-okay enough of the whining.

Race Report

I don't know about you, but I always get so nervous getting ready for a race.

IronGirl was no different

Saturday (before the race) my son, Trevor and I went to Lake Lanier to put my bike in transition and pick up the race packet. It was about an 1 1/2 to Lake Lanier so we made an afternoon out of it. I was so happy that we were able to put our bikes to rest the day before. No having to worry about setting it up the morning off.
I picked up my packet, along with the wonderful card from Aflac and a visor from Team Courage. All part of the awesome package that Aflac paid for.
Then it was off to the expo, Trevor and I sampled some products, talked to ladies and gents, signed up for chances to win prizes and stayed for the clinic at 3:00. After the clinic we headed to the van to put a bike computer on Sally (Trevor named my bike). Why I thought that it would be a good idea to mount a bike computer on my bike the day before the race is beyond me. Trevor was a good sport and sat in the back of the van with the hatch for an hour while I tried to get the stupid #$%&* bike computer to work. I gave up trying and we walked Sally to the bike transition.

As we were going into transition a very fit lady by the name of Amy caught my eye. She was wearing an Ironman visor. I immediately started asking her questions, picking her brain about what it took to complete an Ironman. She answered my questions so graciously and she also told me that she is a swim coach in Kennesaw. Jackpot! I asked her if I could call her for some coaching and she gave me her number. Look forward to see what happens with that. We then headed to a nearby pizza place to carb up.
I had a very restful evening with the family. My husband and I had established that we would ride together to the race on Sunday.

I don't like to ride with my family to a race, I like for them to meet me at the race.
For all kinds of reasons I won't go into I like to prepare for the race on the way to the race-Does that make sense? Well, the whole way there they got on my last nerves. They were not ready to go when I needed to go and I arrived at 6:40 am. My wave was starting at 7:00 am. Agghhhh!!!!
Needless to say I was able to get transition set up and make a beeline for the water. A little frustrated I got into the water to warm up. Within what seemed like seconds they call my age group together for the start.


More to come....