AFLAC Iron Girl Lake Tahoe September 19, 2010

#2 (55-59) Deb Melnikoff | #1 (55-59) Melanie Mociun

400 Meter Swim | 24k Bike | 5k Run - 1:26:07


This was my first AFLAC Iron Girl event, when I signed up for it, I expected that the weather would be warm.. Indian Summer in Lake Tahoe, which wasn't exactly the case. At the start of the race, the lake was warmer than the air. I stood in the water to keep my feet "warm" while we waited for the race to begin. The water was about 61 degrees, air and sand, much cooler than that!

There was a mandatory bike drop off the day before the race. I bought a cheapo plastic tarp and some masking tape on the way up to So Lake Tahoe to wrap up my bike... I wanted to protect it from the elements as it sat outside in the Harvey's Casino parking lot all night. I arrived to the race by about 6:00am, took the plastic off of my bike, set up my things and headed down to the lake at 6:45am when transition was cleared. I took 3 Race Caps Supreme and 3 Endurolytes at about 6:30am, an hour before race start. At breakfast, I had my usual, oatmeal, banana, apple cinnamon hammer gel, all of the vitamins and supplements including Premium Insurance Caps, Super Antioxidant, Mito Caps, Tissue Rejuvenator, Race Caps Supreme and Zobaline.

I felt too cold to get in the water for a warm up swim, even though I had my full Xterra suit on. It was CHILLY! The swim was a rectangle, I think it was a little bit longer than 400 meters, but it was well marked with large yellow buoys and sighting was fine until we turned back into the sun rising in the East. I was blinded, couldn't see anything at all, I just followed the splashed of the two swimmers in front of me. The altitude started to get to me bay the end of the swim and I was glad to get out of the water.



What class! Every swimmer was handed an AFLAC hand towel as we ran up to the transition area. I sat on the pavement and took off my wetsuit and then ran some more up to my bike. UGH.. it was tough and I was doing some heavy breathing.

I got to my bike, had a sip of water and had a hard time putting on my bike shoes and helmet because I was still so cold. I couldn't feel my feet at all. I had a Hammer Jersey ready to pull on over my singlet, but it didn't seem that cold, so I just went sleeveless and wet.. Ouch! There were some cold spots on the bike ride, but it turned out to be okay. It was a quick out and back to Cave Rock in the two middle lanes of the highway - it was a partially closed course. I had a few swigs of Chocolate Hammer Gel and a few sips of Melon Heed during the ride. I missed the turn into the end of the bike course and had to cross in front of traffic to get to the correct turn.. I don't know how I missed it, but I did.

Bike In and Run Out was a smooth transition, I grabbed an Espresso Hammer Gel as I headed out on the run. The run turns were a little bit unclear in the beginning, but then we climbed up and around the casinos to head back to the finish.. I walked a little as I was feeling the altitude lots, but when I saw Hwy 50, I knew the end was near. I hung on and gave it a big effort to run in to the finish. All in all the race was well organized and inspirational - many people were doing the race in memory of people who had passed.

I would definitely do another AFLAC Iron Girl event. And I was thrilled to win my age group as I knew there were at least a few tough competitors in the group. The awards were efficient and on time, the post race breakfast was awesome.

Malibu Nautica Triathlon Sept 12, 2010

#2-melanie mociun, #1-tove shere, #3-jeanne davis thompson


Classic Distance Malibu Nautica Triathlon
1:53:18 #2(F55-59) | #35/587 F | #261/1501 overall



This is one of my favorite triathlons... I love the ocean swim, I love being at the beach in the early morning fog and the race organization is top notch!

Details: To bed at 9:30pm.. up at 2:00am, 3:30am, 4:00am and then 4:40am... ugh. I set my watch alarm for pm instead of am.. luckily my phone alarm did go off, but so did the low battery alarm, at least a few times in the night. This is a new phone, I didn't recognize the sound of the alarm, so in my dream state, I thought that maybe there were raccoons outside. I was staying on an estate one mile inland with lots of horses, a dog and many, many green parrots... there could have been a raccoon too.

Okay.. getting to the race. There were 3000 race participants, many parking in the lots at Zuma Beach, many parking on the side streets, in other words.. crowded chaos. I prefer to ride my bike to race starts if I'm staying close enough. I was definitely close enough, but the problem was.. it was DARK!!! I left the cottage at 5:45am, headlamp on the front and flasher on my back pack... I crossed Pacific Coast Highway at a crosswalk and headed down to the transition area - a 2.5 mile flat ride in the dark.

I held my yellow wrist band high while passing through the entrance and prepared myself for a long walk, searching for my race number on the bike racks. To my complete surprise and delight, I saw my number on the third rack in.. three racks from the bike out... sweet! Now I didn't need to worry about running to the bike out in my bike shoes on wet pavement. Two years ago, I carried my shoes and socks and ran barefoot to the bike out after the swim -- I'm not sure that I saved any time.. but my feet were dry for the ride and the run.

The transition area was cleared at 6:55am for the mandatory pre race meeting on the beach. Everyone filed out and hung out in the cold fog until their wave (one of fourteen) gathered in the corral and dashed to the waves to start the race. My wave went off at 8:20am. For us, the blue caps, there was a slight current moving towards the race finish. The water was 58 degrees, I was happy to have two caps and my full wetsuit.. the wetsuit I use in San Francisco!!! My swim felt great, I passed the buoys closely and got to the finish within 15 or 16 minutes. I took off the top of my wet suit while running out the the water, then took off the rest of it before running down the parking lot to my bike.

As I ran out to start the bike, a volunteer yelled "where's your chip?". I stopped and said, "right here on my leg". I used my own chip strap instead of the orange plastic band.. he didn't see it because my strap is black... oh well...on to the bike.
The bike felt great, I passed lots of people and near the end some 45+ year old women passed me, but I hadn't seen anyone in my age group yet. The Bike In was at the far end of the transition area, so there was another long run up to my running shoes.

I changed shoes, grabbed my number belt and an espresso hammer gel and took off. It wasn't long before a 58 year old woman passed me.. I simply couldn't keep up with her.. I just hoped that there were no other 55+ women close to me. The run felt good, I was just kind of slow, I averaged 8:45 minute miles, which felt good, considering I really do not run much anymore. The finish was fantastic, except that I went the wrong way just before coming in to the shute -- one of the volunteers had yelled "stay right".. they were talking to people running the opposite direction from me. Over all, I had a blast and will definitely plan to come back to this race!