FirmMan Rhode Island - Triathlon

Just a slow swimmer. Nothing more to be said. Swimming has always been my weakest sport and while I've improved, I still seem to be coming out of the water at the back of the pack in these longer races. I definitely didn't help myself today because my sighting in the second half of the course was terrible. There are two big buoys at the end of the race, one you need to go round and head back to shore and one half way to the shore. I'll leave it to you to guess which one I was sighting on. Eventually I realized there was no other swimmers for miles around and then had to swim back out to go round the correct buoy.

Sight more often - it's pretty simple, but in the heat of the race, I still just put my head down and go for it. I need to look up and figure out what's going on as soon as I don't see other swimmers around me any more, instead of carrying on swimming toward Ireland hoping I'll bump into them again some time...

At least I felt fresh coming out of the water after my relaxing swim... Figuring that this was the one and only time I would ever have the luxury of wetsuit strippers, I took advantage. However, I must have strange ankles or something, because 2 grown men took what seemed like 5 minutes struggling to get the wetsuit off me, while I lay there doing a very poor mermaid impression. Apart from that, I took the transistion easy but still managed to get out on the bike in a reasonable time.

Struggle with my wetsuit in the privacy of my own transition area spot

My plan was to be very deliberate about taking the bike easy, knowing that in my first HIM the run was where it was going to go bad if anywhere. So I was aiming to average 17mph, to hold back rather than chase anybody passing me and to concentrate on fueling and drinking properly. The plan seemed to work pretty well - in the end I was slightly faster, but with no major impact on the run. I liked the course although the outward leg on Rte 1 seemed like uphill almost all the way, and the promised tailwind didn't really materialize on the return. The lollipop section up into the country is really nice, with some bends and quite hilly (similar terrain to Dover/Sherborn area for any Boston riders). This section made a good break from being in the aero bars. Riders got spaced out on the way back, but I was never completely on my own. My family came to watch and with some planning saw me go by four times without movng round too much.

I was definitely tired towards the end and there's a small hill as you come off Rte 1 which was a little tough. So I was glad when the ride was over, just to get off the bike and do something different, but overall the ride was good - I worked hard but not too painful

Not much - not super-fast but followed my race plan and kept something in reserve for the run.

Easy transition - took it slow because my big priority was avoiding cramping up in the first part of the run (a recurring issue for me). Waved for the camera and off I went.

I knew the run was going to be hard for me, and it was. But looking at my AG and overall rankings, this was the part of the race where I performed best, so I felt pretty good about it. I took the first mile or so very gently - I could feel my legs just getting ready to cramp, but they never did, so I was super-happy about that. Walked every aid station and drank and ate lots. About 2 miles in, I started noticing a lot of fresh-looking people coming in the opposite direction. I couldn't believe how good they were looking only 2 miles from the end, but then realized that we did an out-and-back for miles 2-5 and they were on their way back from that, which made me feel a bit better. Then you cross the river at about mile 6 and do another long out -and-back, turning round close to mile 9. That part of the race was tough because until the turnaround you feel that you are just getting further away from the finish. By now I was running at maybe 9.30 pace but taking walk-breaks between aid stations occasionally. But at this stage I knew that I was definitely going to finish, so I was feeling okay about just getting it done and not worrying too much about my pace. Saw my family at the bridge at mile 10, and then just sucked it up, with a few walk-breaks for the last 3 miles. I had read about the finishing section on the beach, but it looks like they shortened it, because it was only about 100 yards of sand this year.

Coming across the finish line, I was looking expectantly for the glowing faces of my wife and kids, but nope - nowhere to be seen. So I did a little "I finished" dance all by myself instead. Just then, they came running round the corner - apparently "they went back to the car to get the food..." They were dismayed to have missed the finish, but I actually thought it was pretty funny - "So you missed one of the proudest moments of my life to retrieve a warm ham sandwich? I see..." And as I told them later, they were there out on the run when I really needed them. Also we recreated the "finishing photo" a few minutes later, so we still have the right digital memories at least, which is all that counts, right?

Not much. The last few miles really hurt, so to have gone faster would have been risky. For my fitness level and my first HIM, I think it would have been tough to have run much faster

Dipped my feet in the sea - felt so good


For my first race at this distance, I felt pretty good with my time. With no prior experience, my public goal was just to finish, but I had a personal target of around 6:30 (the one you hope for but don't tell people about). So I felt reallly good finishing at 6:17. The weather was also perfect, so that had a lot to do with it - I don't enjoy the heat, which is why I picked a late season race


I have mixed feelings about this race. The volunteers are awesome - lots of them, taking a lot of time out of their day and super-encouraging - THANK YOU. For the organizers, they've been doing this for close to 20 years and maybe it shows - in good and not-so-good ways. The race is well-organized and the important things are in place including volunteers, road-marking and police. But there's little excitement or enthusiasm coming from the organizers and it seems maybe there are costs cut in a few areas. Some examples - communications before the race are minimal, with curt one-sentence replies to any inquiries; post-race food was plentiful but so-so in quality; security in transition is minimal; only 5 or 6 portapotties; and the finishers medals were not available on the day. So the race was well-run, but with more efficiency than enjoyment or enthusiasm. Maybe because this was my first HIM and a big deal for me personallly, I just found the ho-hum atmosphere to be a bit of a downer. But again, if you just want to do a well-organized race then maybe that aspect may not bother you and this race would fit the bill well.