Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I'm a better swimmer than last year by quite a bit. It didn't really show in the overall time, but placing shows a decent improvement from Timberman last year.

It was a battle the first few hundred yards for me. I was basically in the first couple rows of guys and in the middle. I was boxed in pretty good and sort of tarzan swimming for the first couple minutes after dolphin diving through the waves. A couple of guys kept bumping me and I'm not scared of a little bumping but eventually got annoyed enough to grab one by the shoulder and push him out of the way. He got the hint and didn't touch me again. I lost a couple minutes battling through and then started finding cleaner water and trying to draft. Didn't really find anyone that I could synch up with that well. Then, by the turn buoy I started catching the waves in front of us (w40+ and M50+). Tried not to clobber anyone and weaved my way through to the next turn buoy. Then on the way back in the fish from the wave behind me started coming by. I kept trying to get a quick tow from some of them. By this point the sun was up and sighting was a little harder coming in. I glanced at my watch and knew it was a slow swim. I was in my best form the last 800 or so yds of the swim. I remembered reading something how swimming was faster until you get really shallow so I kept swimming and passed a bunch of people who were wading in waist deep water.

From all comparisons the swim was almost 5 minutes slower than last year looking at guys in my AG and overall. Makes me feel better because I was 1:30 slower than I was at Timberman but am way faster this year.

Maybe line up to the outside. Even though it wasn't a huge wave, the swim start was pretty rough compared to Timberman last year. Not worry about others in the beginning. Put my head down and go.

Good transition. Kept it simple. Used wetsuit stripper, ran to bike where the gear bag was hanging and shoved everything in it quickly. Then shoes/helmet/glasses and go. Looking at my AG times, my transition was 31st out of 154 and 220th overall.

Could have ran a little faster maybe and just through my stuff on my bag and let the volunteers figure it out.

I had driven the course with Ken and Tyra the day before. I knew the beginning was flat so I go up to speed quickly before settling in and starting on my nutrition. I had geared up with 2 400+ calorie bottles of Sustained Energy and then a 1/2 mix of water and gatorade. I froze it the night before and it was perfect for the ride. Drank the first bottle within the first hour and the second I slowly sipped the rest of the way. I picked up two water bottles along the way as well and dumped them on my head and back and drank some.

Since I was in an early wave and only the pros and m50+ and W40+ started in front, I was able to pass most of the people in front of me within the first 30 minutes or so. There were a couple of FOP guys from the wave behind me that came up on me but for the most part I think maybe just 2 or 3 guys went by. After mile 20 or so the bike course was getting pretty empty. A couple times I was wondering if I went the right way.

I was also getting very annoyed with my speed. I had rented a disc and an 808. I kept looking down at my Garmin and wondering WTF was going on. Was it the wind or were my wheels not on right or something. The speed I was moving at for the effort I was giving just seemed way off. Luckily it wasn't just me and everyone was slow on the bike this year. I was solidly top 10% in my AG and overall on the bike and only the top few guys in my AG really smoked me and the rest I was within a minute of.

Besides the demoralizing feeling of going about 10 minutes slower than I had planned on the bike I got into T2 and there were hardly any bikes there at all besides all the pros. This made me feel a little better about my bike split and while I knew my goal of under 5hrs was crushed I knew I paced smartly and never tried to hammer over my planned effort. I stopped doing HR and don't train with power so it's all perceived effort now but I think I have a good gauge on it.

Note: The last few miles of this bike course is horrible. I'm sure it's hard to plan logistically but they'd be well served to make improvements. It's really too bad because other than that the course is decent. Rollers keep you honest. If there wasn't a headwind you could probably go pretty quick.

Nothing.

Pretty good T2. I had to kneel down to slip my shoes on but if I could have slipped them on while standing up I could have saved a little more time. 19th in AG, 117th overall.

This was a much tougher run course than Timberman was. I know they changed it but I think it was comparable to last year. A couple of people told me it was hotter.

I settled in nicely and took a Gu just before the first aid station about 3/4 mile in. Drank some water with it. Then I came up on the big hill. I started to run it and then I made the decision to just walk it and let the HR come down. It was calculated because I could tell my HR was running a little high as I was excited that first few minutes out of transition and starting the run. At the top I was feeling good and started back up. I was taking it kind of easy not wanting to blow up. I could feel the heat and knew if I pushed I could pay dearly for it. I had to stop to hit the portobody under the bridge. Felt much better after and continued onward. Walking the aid stations and running about 8min/mi in between. Second loop I walked a couple extra times including the big hill again. By the second loop I had big blisters and one of my toes is pretty bruised up. I just powered through it though. I felt like I could keep up the pace I was going for awhile. It was sort of my survival pace. I was a little disappointed with it and have been going back and forth on my head if I could have been mentally tougher and pushed harder. My HR never felt too high but it was just hot and my legs were a little tired. I didn't have that spring and was a few minutes slower than I had planned to run. Overall I was happy though and finished strong which was a much better feeling than Timberman where I was in suffer mode for quite awhile before finishing.

Note: It was pretty cool being towards the front and in an early wave. The course had not yet been messed up and soaking wet with wet sponges and stuff everywhere. By the second loop it was getting really crowded but at that point I knew I was almost done. I was lucky enough to have some of the pros passing me on their second lap. It was definitely cool to watch how fast they run off the bike. Kate major came flying by on here way to victory and then a couple of others. It's really what separates the pretenders (like me) from the contenders. Obviously the bike is the pre-requisite to even pretending though.

I think I did alright for my fitness level. I could lose some weight and be better on hills and that would probably be the best change.

I ran up the final stretch and saw Shelbie and Tyra cheering me on and the announcer calling my name and saying "wow, someone is really happy about him finishing". I talked to them for a bit and hit the massage tent because there was not really a line at this point. I have to say I felt pretty good after the race. I wasn't that sore or tired considering. I think my fitness is getting to the point where I'm not as beat up after bigger efforts and I'm able to recover faster than I had been last year.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I signed up for Lake Placid after the race :)


Background, experience, weight, need more training time in the bank. Will continue to improve year over year though. I did a quick comparison of last year vs this year for the race based on my rankings. Pretty interesting. Funny because the 2009 times were all my goals and projected paces basically:

Year 2009 2010 Variance
Swim place 378 378
Swim Time 31:53:00 37:56:00 0:06:03
Swim 100M Pace 1:40 1:58
Bike Overall Place 103 103
Bike Time 2:28:37 2:41:31 0:12:54
Bike Speed 22.6 20.8
Run Overall Place 316 316
Run Time 1:45:28 1:54:35 0:09:07
Run Pace 8:04 8:45
Total Variance 0:28:04

At the end of the day it doesn't really mean much but it is interesting how different things can be on any given day.



It's actually a good race except there are three drawbacks that would enter my decision making process.
1) Logistically a PITA. It's a fun point to point but you have to do some running around before and after the race.
2) Last few miles of the bike course really sucks.
3) The run has a couple spots that just aren't that great where your running through a tiny walkway ramp zig zagging. I just didn't like it that much.

Other than that, it was good.