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 Swim
Comments: Haven't had a beach start in a while and the waves kicked up, so the start was fun. Actually weren't too many people in the middle so I start middle and a few rows back. Start was fairly contact free, but I immediately drifted thru the traffic to the right and then lost touch with the folks in the white caps. So I added a ton drift out then cutting back, a repeating. Got on the turn buoy and in the traffic lane, but drift wide again. Got stopped by the kayaks twice to direct me back on course. Added a ton of distance, but was relaxed and smooth, just not straight. Just to top it off my swim cap fell off at the end (I caught it, but wasn't going to put it back on cause I was almost at the beach. What would you do differently?: Swim straight.  Transition 1
Comments: They had wetsuit strippers which made life easy, but you had to keep everthing in you bag and the pack and tie your swim pack before going. Took my time towelled my feet load up my Gu and went. What would you do differently?: Not much  Bike
Comments: After a poor swim, I was ready to road test my aerobars. Got into a nice rhythm and started moving. Ripped thru the first 25 miles well over a 20 mph average and passing a lot of folks (certainly one of the advantages of being in wave #9). Then hit the rollers and it was slow then fast, then slow and fast. If I selected the right gear at the bottom I rocked the hill, if not I struggled. But my speedometer hit a max speed of 41.6 mph on one of the hills. The 45 mile hill I had to drop to the small ring but I made up a good deal of ground. The last 10 miles coming into the city the roads became pothole central. My bike survived but my left aerobar pad rotated after a monster section, so the last few miles were rough, but I hammered on any way. At the dismount line they tell you the porta potties you are passing are the only ones in T2, so i had to stash my bike wait and go just a few feet from the timing mat. So i adjsted the time by 2 min (did see the clock) putting that stop in T2 where it belongs. What would you do differently?: Not much given the course that was a very strong ride. Got beaten by a few hills where I started in too high a gear and lost momentum but overall I was really pleased with the ride. Transition 2
Comments: Already mentioned the porta potty, then got to my rack and the dude next to me racked on the wrong side so I had to duck under to rack. Then took my time had my endrolyte tablets and washed it down with some gatorade, dumped out the trash and tied up the bag and was off What would you do differently?: No hurry.  Run
Comments: By the time the run started it was 86 and humid and I knew this wouldn't be a PR split. I was right. The big steep hill in the first half mile was evil. You legs haven't come in yet and this was a very steep hill. I was one of the few people who didn't walk it, but it certainly wasn't fast. After shuffling up the hill, it took even longer to get my legs in. About 4 miles in I started feeling OK, and eased up the pace but it still wasn't fast. The long hill on the backside of the street luge course was rough and going down that hil was tretourous with the potholes and of course that is where they set up the camera. The second loop was actually easier. After making it to the top of the street luge hill again without walking, I actually got into a slow rhythm and worked my way home. Was surprised with the ranking and I actually gained about 18 spots in my age group to hit the top 100 in my age group (99th). What would you do differently?: Fight through it and gather myself after that first hill sooner and push it about a min/mile faster. Post race
Warm down: Got 2 things of cold water and a gatorade and m medal and gave back my chip, then wandered over to the food and found pizza just didn't sound too good. So I plopped down and layed back for 10 min then stretched a bit and felt better. Got my bags, got changed, got my bike and headed to the hotel to load up and hit the road for my 6 hour drive. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat, hills, humidity, and rotten navigation. Event comments: First year race so you have to expect some glitches, but the logistics of a point to point 70.3 makes at least 112 miles of driving the day before and sort of ruins any advantage for staying at the host hotel. But the 90 min check in, the directions to the beach, and the crappy road conditions were pretty bad. The hill was evil but does give charater to the course. But they were on time and race morning went pretty smooth. Should improve with age, but I probably won't do it again for a few year at least. Profile Album Last updated: 2008-02-15 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
86F / 30C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 563/1227
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 99/256
Had hoped to get out of work early and drive up to Providence at a decent hour. So of course, life got in the way and I pulled into the hotel at 12:30 am. Slept in till 10:00am the next morning then got a shower and headed to the Rhode Island Civic center to check in. Now I have participated in many large events including 26,000 people at Boston and, 12,000+ at the Philly distance run several times to name a few, and I have never had to stand in line over 90 minutes in order to check in. I was in line so long I missed the last scheduled pre race brief scheduled for 1:00pm and the open swim at the beach which ended at 2:00pm. Considering I walked in the door at 11:30, I was pissed. They scheduled two additional pre race briefs so I sat in on the two oclock aftergoing around the expo, buying some body glide and endrolytes and test riding a Computrainer with video of the IMCD, very cool.
After the meeting, I swang by the hotel and packed my run bag and bike bag and headed out to find Roger Wheeler State Beach and drop off my bike at T1. Left at about 3:15pm and then due to some really poor directions missed the turn and ended up in Conn. Stopped tried to get directions at a tourist info, who never heard of the beach. Got a map and made it to the beach at 6;00pm. Then back to Providence and walked to T2 and dropped my run bag off 90 minutes after they closed up (but the security guard let me in). Then it was back to the hotel ordered some room service, watched some NASCAR and felt asleep.
Woke up at 3:15am got my bottles and swim stuff, and headed over to the shuttle busses. Waited in line for about 20 minutes then got on the bus and got some sleep.
Got to the beach, pumped up my tires, put on sunscreen,hit the potta potties, and put on my wetsuit and took a short swim and watched the first few waves head out and tried to learn something.