Firmman Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Why, oh why, does Firm use a RECORDING of the National Anthem? It's so cheesy... especially for their 'premiere' event. You can't help but feel a little bit like a hick standing on the beach, staring at the pickup truck that's blaring out "Oh say can you see..." This was just one of the many annoyances I experenced with Firm during (and before/after) the race.

When the gun went off, I shook my friend Mike's hand and started making my way through the waves. It didn't take long before I ramped off of one and got about two feet of air, crashing face first into the water and knocking my goggles slightly askew.

No matter how many times I tried to fix them, I couldn't get a good seal on over left eye again. I spent most of the swim with it full of salt water. I was concerned it would be irritated when I got out of the water, but it turned out to be pretty harmless. Though sighting was a little harder than usual.

When I rounded the first buoy, I got pummeled and wound up taking a big gulp of ocean. It took 15 seconds of so to fight back the vomit.

One we got past the breakers, made that first turn and started swimming parallel to shore, things got much smoother. I felt great. I found a person to draft off of and stuck there. While they were probably a tad slower than me, I was more interested in saving energy and coming out of the water feeling good than shaving a couple minutes off my time.

Sighting was terrible! The bouys were so far away that it was hard to see them without my glasses. Especially with the waves obstructing them most of the time. By the last turn, I was at least 200 yards past the bouy, out to sea. But with the current, I made it up pretty quick.

I put out of the same exact swim split that I did at Patriot - 33:26. But this time, I wasn't tired at all. I felt great after the swim. Getting thrown around in the waves was incredibly fun. It was like a half hour rollercoaster ride. I loved it.

I also learned that the 'saltwater in your mouth' taste takes at least a couple hours to go away. That stuff is nasty.

Get a better seal on my goggles. Practice peeing in my wetsuit while swimming.

Since I was doing both the swim and bike for the relay, we lost a couple minutes on the other teams here while I transitioned. But it was pretty quick. The wetsuit came off easy. Cleaned the sand off my feet with some water. Even kissed my mom & sister when I ran by. Good times!

When I started the bike, I said to myself, "Uh oh... this isn't going to be good." My legs were tired. They felt like lead. I was getting passed by a bunch of people, which is pretty unusual for me on the bike. A couple of the faster looking guys... sure. But not everyone. I told myself to keep my cadence up and just keep moving. I popped a gel and starting rehydrating. Around mile 10, I started to feel better and my mile 15 I was back in action. I started passing droves of people on every uphill. I saw a bunch of people with flats and kept thinking to myself, "Man, I'm glad I changed that tire out the other day."

Then, at mile 16, as I was overtaking someone just as we got off the highway, I heard a noise that haunted my most of my rides last year. "POP Pingggggggg.... ping ping ping ping ping ping..."

I stopped pedalling and looked at the guy I was passing. He looked back and said, "Well that doesn't sound good." To which I replied, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

I knew was it was because I had done the same thing 5 times last year with my old wheelset. I popped a spoke. A quick look back at my rear wheel verified this. It was completely out of true and rubbing the brakes on each revolution.

Immediately, I thought of my relay partner. It was her first triathlon. A $75 entry fee, a hotel, a 2 hour drive each way, waiting three and a half hours for me to finish. IT WAS HER FRICKING BIRTHDAY for crying out loud. "This can't be happening" I thought to myself. I pulled over to check out the damage. I snapped the broken spoke off my wheel and opened my brakes wide to see if it would stop rubbing. It didn't. So I got back on to see if it was at least rideable. It was.

So I threw my goal time out the window and told myself that I had to finish this thing, even if I was riding the brakes the whole way. This time, it wasn't about me. It was about the team. I spent the next 10 miles going very slowly... both on purpose (so I didn't die on the downhills or turns) and because I just couldn't go much faster.

Finally, like a mirage, the Narragansett Bikes support car appeared in the distance. I rode up, explained the problem and asked if they had any spare wheels, which they didn't. But the mechanic was able to open my brakes a little wider so they stopped rubbing. He quickly checked the rest of the wheel out and said "Good enough to roll!" With that, I was off.

Still cautious on the downhills and turns, I pushed hard where I could to make up the lost time.

I wanted to do 2:45 on the bike. I did 2:52. Not only am I incredibly happy with the time, considering what went wrong... I'm super grateful that I was able to get back to transition at all.

Check on my spokes more often!

I pulled up to our rack in T2 and Helen grabbed the timing chip off my ankle like a pro. Within seconds, she was gone.

Helen busted out a 1:43:40 run!!!

Food, water, friends and family. I dove back into the ocean to cool off and then waited to see everyone finish.


Mechanical difficulties, having to transition to the bike during a relay and losing some fitness after a long first triathlon season. :)


A fun race worth doing once. But Firm does some things that annoy me. The race has so much potential, but it's lacking in the simple perks offered by Sun Multisports and Endorfun. Especially for what they charge.