Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island : Official Thread (Page 6)

Here's the thing, too: Those who are running it this year have the mental advantage of knowing the Hill is coming.

Yeah, we heard about Monster Hill last year and someone even posted a picture, but I think most of us didn't pay it to much mind.  Then on RACE DAY when we hit the hill we were like, "Who the heck put a mountain-side in the middle of Providence." 

Here's the best analogy I can give.  Picture a staircase.  Now picture it 1/3 of a mile long.  Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but it's pretty damn close.

AND I WILL RUN IT THIS YEAR!!  It might be a slow run/jog/shuffle but I won't be walking it.  Nope.  Not this year.

Interesting story about College Hill....

When they were putting down the roads in Providence and were setting up the streets that run up the hill toward Brown U. (Angell St, Benevolent St, Cushing St, Prospect St), they found early on that the horses used to pull could not make it up the hill very effectively. For the "benefit" of the horses, a longer road was laid down going the long way up the hill (south to north) giving them the ability to get where they were going. That street (we cross it a total of 4 times) is now known as Benefit St.

Of course there is no benefit to us as we still have to run up and down a hill that would be better served by a chair lift. I am running it this weekend. I will let you know how much it still sucks.

VM 

the cool thing is that with the hill being at the front of the run and me basically obsessing about it - once I get "over the hill" I will realize that I haven't even thought about the fear and pain of actually running the Half Mary...

:-)

As for training for next week - whatever my training plans calls for (click on my log link if you want) - I'm doing the 20 Week Half Mary plan from BT and after this fallback week, pick up to a nice few weeks of maintenance...  (just ignore the fact that I took the first half of this week off from training for various reasons excuses)

If anyone is planning on riding the course this weekend/week listen up...there is a VERY large oil slick at the bottom of the hill on the road that leads to T2 (last turn before you hit T2). Unfortunately it is very tough to miss and you dont see it until you are right on top of it. Everyone in the group that I rode with hit it (one went down...my poor wife).

Other than that, the course is in OK shape. The west end of Providence still sucks.

That is all.

So it sounds like the last five miles or so are still through streets that look like they were hit with mortar shells in west Lebanon?  sucks...  I was hoping they would've paved those roads by now.  It was like a freaking off-road X-terra last year.

I'll be "conserving energy" aka...plodding up it slowly. I'll have time for a quick hello

Is there a way to sign up for the shuttle to the swim start on race day?

There's a link somewhere on the Ironman website.  I'll look for it in a bit.  If I remember correctly, we were also able to buy them at the Expo... but I would buy them earlier. 

Ah, here is the link.  Now fork over your eight bucks!  http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=0&EVENT_ID=1716591

Cool, RI has its own website now: http://www.ironmanrhodeisland.com/#gpm1_1

I'm really surprised that this Race has not sold out this year, especially with the added Kona slots.

Pfffttt... you're in Maryland... just leave two days early and ride your bike up.  You'll probably get tailwinds the whole way and be there in no time.  Trust me, it'll be fine  

just worth mentioning - may want to shoot for your bike to be delivered in Narrangansett versus Providence - as not sure how you would get the bike to the bike starting corral.  Then again, would be a nice recon mission to reverse the bike course... 

NBX (LBS in Narragansett) has the affiliation with the race this year. They are located about 5 miles from the start of the race and are on-site on the bike drop off day and race morning. They were outstanding last year and are more than willing to lend a hand this year. I was in the shop last week and they are taking shipped bikes and putting them back together.

Good luck!

I just sent an e-mail to the Race Director.  I'll let you guys know when I get a response.