Quote Originally Posted by MDHillSlug View Post
I registered for it to be my first triathlon but then got psyched out and did a shorter sprint triathlon first. It's a great event, and there will be lots of beginners and first-timers, but I wouldn't recommend it as a first triathlon.

Do you live near enough to practice on the course?

PM me if you want to talk.

Nicole
I work in Columbia, so getting to the course is no problem. I know a lot of people who participate in this event, and they've been trying to talk me into signing up for the last two years (of course, I think they try to get everyone to sign up: "you have two legs? Great! You should do the Iron Girl!"). The original plan was that I would do the CAN triathlon in Bethesda first with my son's teacher--it's a pool swim and much shorter distances than a sprint triathlon, but it looks like they've stopped doing that one. But my son's teacher convinced me to try the Iron Girl; she's not a super-athletic competitive type--she has a form of lupus and various health problems related to that, and she was so enthusiastic about her experiences that I figured if she could do it, I could too. She's offered to help me with training. Right now I'm at the point where I can do any of the parts of the triathlon on its own without too much problem--I just need to put them all together without actually dying of a heart attack!

The thing that has me wondering if I've made a huge mistake is that I've never been able to sustain regular workouts over long periods of time--something always gets in the way so I stop working out for four or five weeks, and at this point in my life when that happens I start back at square one. With ten months until this event, I don't want that to happen, so I'm looking at the next ten months and thinking geez, when do I get to be lazy?

Sarah