Seven New Iron Girl Triathletes

First a little coaching: You are likely to start feeling sore. If it doesn’t happen tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if you woke up in the morning feeling aches and soreness in many places. An easy walk to get the legs moving and the muscles working will help flush out the waste products that accumulate in muscles that have been stressed the way you stressed them. 20 minutes, more or less, would be beneficial. If you’re sore, start slowly and gradually go faster as you loosen up. But it’s not time to speed walk. Easy swimming for 10 or 20 minutes is also good though less convenient AND less desirable for most of you. (If you like to soak in a spa or hot tub, keep it short. During or afterward take that opportunity to do some light, gentle stretching.) 2 or 3 days of walking and/or swimming should have you as good as new! Oh, and keep drinking water.

I want to congratulate you! Completing this Iron Girl “sprint” triathlon is quite an accomplishment that you should be proud of. It turned out to be a tough triathlon (especially when it came to the bike segment) for your first time ever. Linda is so glad you helped her mark this new beginning with her and I am extremely proud of your achievement.

Taking on this challenge and sticking with it to the end is something you will always remember. No matter how hard the race was, or how afraid you were of some part of this, you stuck with it. Not only did you stuck with it but you did it on your own. No one did it for you. You can do more than you think you can; not only in an athletic event but in other parts of your life. You proved to yourself by doing this triathlon that you are capable of doing things you may never have imagined. And as a group I think it shows that the more you prepare for something new the better off you are!

It was my pleasure to be there to support you as much as I could. It was challenging to try to coach you “from a distance” mostly by email and I learned a lot, too. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this and to help you.

Whether or not you ever do one of these again, you can count yourself as a triathlete. I hope that you’ll continue to exercise and realize how important it is to have it as part of your routine. If, in the process of training for triathlon, you found something new that you enjoy, all the better!

Remember what it took to earn your medal. Be Proud!