What it’s really like to compete in an Iron Man as a woman

On August 3^rd, the coastal city of Manta in Ecuador celebrated its second edition of the Iron Man competition. This year was very emotional after the Ecuadorian coast suffered an earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale in April. The results were devastating, affecting thousands of families. The competition dedicated a lot of their efforts to bring back tourism to this area and help with some reconstruction projects.

“The day after the competition we organized a voluntary event to reconstruct the community center in Manta; it’s a project that the Iron Man Foundation has been working on for a couple of months with Race2Rebuild and All Hands Volunteers,” said Isabel Samaniego who was part of the organization of this event.

She also mentioned that this year’s Iron Man had a lot more females participating. “It is important that more women enroll in these type of competitions to demonstrate to nobody but themselves that they can do it, and that there are no reasons to think otherwise. It is unfortunate that the number of men running is a lot higher than the number of women. However, there were a lot more women this year! It’s the second time the Iron Man takes place in Ecuador and I know there will be more and more women coming along.”

Maria Clara Salas (28) and Isabel Freile (27) are two women who dominated all their fears and finished strong. Both of them had a long and intense training season to get ready. They shared with me a Q&A session about this bucket list adventure.

Why did you decide to compete?

Maria Clara: “I was in Manta last year during the competition, and it was contagious. I loved watching the competition and decided to do it the following year”

Isabel: “I actually decided to compete a month before the Iron Man race. I was training hard for some adventure racing competitions this year, and they didn’t happen. I didn’t want to waste all those early morning training sessions, so I transitioned to triathlon training and decided to give it a shot.”

How was the experience of participating in your first Iron Man?

Maria Clara: “I was super nervous, especially about the running piece. To be honest, running was the hardest part for me and I had never covered that distance (half a marathon), so I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. In the end, I finished strong and thought it was an amazing experience; I enjoyed every second of it. I conquered all my fears and doubts. Your body can resist so much, we just have to learn to control our mind.”

Isabel: “My goal was to make it to the finish line. As I said, I didn’t have the time to train specifically for this type of competition so all I wanted to do was to finish. The day of the competition I was really nervous. I hadn’t really swam that much, but that was the discipline I did the best in. The running part was the hardest, but I dominated my knee pain and pushed through!”

What would you recommend other women thinking about doing an Iron Man?

Maria Clara: “Just go for it! You won’t regret it! And make exercise part of your daily routine, part of your life. Practicing a sport is very gratifying.”

Isabel: “I recommend to just go for it! For your first time, your goal should be to cross the finish line. We women when we commit to something, we get it done. There’s no room for fear. Crossing the finish line is one of the best feelings in the world!”

Both Maria Clara and Isabel had a great time at the race. There were some highs and lows but in the end, it was all worth it. Both of them are already thinking about their next competitions in mountain biking and trail running. They are a great example of powerful Iron Women.