Groton's Iron Woman

Barbara Goodrich said it was her dream to finish a full Ironman Triathlon.

“I just decided that I wasn’t getting any younger,” said the Groton City planner, 57. “It was now or never.”

On Sept. 11, Goodrich not only finished the 140.6-mile Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon, but placed third in her age group and qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, next October.

“That was totally unexpected. I didn’t even know until long after I finished,” she said.  “Really, the Ironman is a race against yourself rather than other people. It’s ‘Can you do it?’ And that’s how I treat it.”

Athletes in the Wisconsin triathlon started at 7 a.m. with a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run.

Goodrich finished in 13 hours, 31 minutes. Her 28-year-old daughter, Molly and her boyfriend traveled from Baltimore, Md., to compete in the event with her.

City Councilor and Deputy Mayor Celeste Duffy said Goodrich runs in many local races, so she's not surprised she would train for something. But Duffy said a triathlon is still incredible; she said her husband trained for one 20 years ago.

"It's grueling. So good for her," she said.

Goodrich, of New London, has been Groton City Planner for about five years and said she’s always been a runner.

She ran in junior high and high school, but not in college. She said she started triathlons in 1983 after Molly was born, and her husband finished one.

“I watched him and said if he can do it, I can do it,” she said.

She’s swum, biked and run more than 20 since, including the New York City Triathlon in 2008 and 2009. Last year, the family planned its vacation around a half-ironman distance race in Sonoma County, Calif.

Goodrich said she chose Wisconsin because it was in early fall, so she’d have lots of daylight to train. She kept up a good athletic base after California, and developed her own training plan.
She swam five days a week at the East Lyme pool and then the beach, and ran an average of 20 miles a week. She biked, sometimes to East Haddam and back to New London.

As city planner, Goodrich works 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so she planned her training around her work schedule. On days when she saw, she’d wake at 5 a.m., get to the pool by 6, swim until 7:45 a.m. or so, then go to work.

When she trained after work, she’d be out on the bike by 5:15 p.m. sometimes for three hours.  Then she’d run.

 “I love it, I absolutely love it,” she said. “I really enjoy the three different sports. I have kind of a (type) ‘A’ personality so the training and organization fills that need. I’ve always been athletic.

“I can swim OK, I can bike OK and I can run OK. And when I put them all together, I really have a great time.”