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Firm Man Half Iron Triathlon
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Firm Man Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman
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 Swim
Comments: This is the first time I've raced in the ocean so I was a little nervous about it. However, I have spent a lot of time in my life swimming in the ocean - body surfing and general frolicking in the water. I have no fear of waves and learned at an early age how to deal with them so really there was nothing I needed to be afraid of... It just such a big body of water! In any case, the swim was actually a lot of fun! It took a lot of energy to get out to that first buoy as the surf was up and the tide was out. So, it was kinda shallow and there was a lot of surf. Difficult to get started swimming with any kind of rhythm. It took a while to get my breathing under control and relaxed and I took a couple of mouthfuls of salt water, but I eventually got into groove. What would you do differently?: I think I did pretty well given I haven't actually been in the ocean in a couple of years. The water was beautiful but a little choppy. I think I actually sighted pretty well except for at the end when I rounded the last big buoy and found myself getting out of the water a little too far down the beach.  Transition 1
Comments: They had wetsuit strippers which I hadn't expected but was awesome! What would you do differently?: Nothing. I think I was pretty quick with it.  Bike
Comments: I was nervous about this bike course just based on all that I'd heard and read about it. There were some parts of it that were a little crazy and maybe unsafe. It wasn't THAT bad though. The place where I really felt like it was really a bad scene was on 1 where you had to cross over the Narragansett/Point Judith exit. There were no volunteers or cops there and I felt like a sitting duck out on a very busy highway. I had hoped for a 3 hour bike split but with the hilly sections on the back roads and the chewed up pavement in some places, I'm pretty happy with being a little bit over. There was a bit a headwind heading back to Narragansett on 1 that made the going tough too. What would you do differently?: Wouldn't do anything differently. Just ride a little harder. My legs were a little fried coming out of the swim so took a while to get them going hard. Transition 2
Comments: Pretty speedy transition. The bike in was at the opposite end to where my rack was so a little jaunt across the t-area. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: I felt a little toasted getting started on the run but was committed to running - not walking - the entire distance. I knew that the sub 6 I came here for was well within reach if I just ran steady. So I started out just easy and letting my body find the happy place. I stopped to use the porto at the mile 1 aid station - what a relief! The first couple of miles felt difficult but after a while i started to feel better and just settled into a nice steady effort. The first dog ear I felt like I was out there by myself. But when I got to the second loop I had more company and started catching up to people that were ahead of me. Started to push a little harder at mile 8 knowing that the last turnaround was coming up and then I'd be headed to the finish. Kept an eye on my watch to make sure I was keeping a good enough pace for the sub 6. That's what I came here for! I ran really strong the last 4 miles and even maintained on the big hill. I wanted a little cushion in there as I knew the beach part was coming and would take some edge off my speed and my time. Finally hit the beach and it sucked even more than I remembered or imagined. I probably would have been just under 2 hours had the race ended on hard surface. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I had an excellent run. Post race
Warm down: Took a few minutes to not feel like I might die after crossing the finish line. The long run in the sand was exhausting. Drank some water and headed for the showers outside the beach pavillion to let some fresh water run over my body. Water was freezing, but felt sooooo good. Got some food and hung out for little bit. Chatted with people i knew and watched a few of the last racers come in. The day had turned out beautiful and there were lots of people on the beach. But, around 2PM, the dark clouds rolled in and dropped a little more rain. No worries - the race was dry! What limited your ability to perform faster: No limitations. I did the best I could and wrapped up my tri season on a very high note. No complaints here! Event comments: This a good race. I would do it again. The bike course is a bit dicey, but the swim is fun and different and the run course is pretty nice. There were a lot of volunteers out on the bike course with the exception of a couple of spots where I thought there should have been more, but its a lot of miles to cover and I would guess it is quite the task to cover it all. Tons of volunteers on the run course. The race is a little ghetto but the price is reasonable and the venue is pretty darned nice too. Last updated: 2009-09-01 12:00 AM
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 2009-09-13 8:12 PM |
Master  1265    CT |  Subject: Firm Man Half Iron Triathlon |
| 2009-09-13 9:36 PM in reply to: #2403958 |
Champion 8903   | Subject: RE: Firm Man Half Iron Triathlon Great job Pam! Especially on the swim. I've always had a hard time with salt water, since the one race I did and swallowed enough of it that it bothered me a lot on the bike, upsetting my stomach. Seems like you avoided that problem. Transition times were nice and speedy. And just short of 18 mph on the bike is awesome. I don't know how hilly that course is, but hills sure do slow down the pace a lot. But running a 2 hour half mary after all that? Incredible...I can't even do that on just a run by itself! Sounds like you had a lot of support and good to see you ended the season on such a positive effort.  |
| 2009-09-15 4:18 PM in reply to: #2403958 |
Expert 1160 Avon, CT | Subject: RE: Firm Man Half Iron Triathlon See? I told you the swim wasn't that bad! Congrats on the sub-6. You've had quite a season!  |
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United States
FIRM Racing
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 201/316
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 5/12
My goal/desire for this race was to finally break 6 hours in an HIM.
We spent the night at my SIL's mother's beach house in Charlestown. Had a nice walk on the beach on Saturday afternoon after packet pick up. First time being at the ocean all summer... Must not let a whole summer go by without some ocean time...
Set the alarm for 4:30. Slept pretty well as I was feeling a little under it on Saturday... girl stuff... :O. Kind of dragged it out of bed when the alarm went off. Ate oatmeal with yogurt and banana. Realized the night before that I had forgotten to get some Boost which is usually part of my pre-race meal. Dave went out to get us coffee.
Loaded up the car and headed for the race site around 5:30. It was dark! Unloading the bike and the gear in the dark was a little unsettling. Additionally, you could hear the surf and it sounded rough... It wasnt really too bad, just not used to hearing the sound.
Sun came up as I got into transition after getting body marked. I was in the second to last rack and the last rack was a shorter one, so it would be easy to find my bike. There was plenty of room on the rack too which was nice. Chatted with some women around me and talked about the swim. A couple of them had done the race several times before and reported that the swim was awesome and nothing to worry about :)
Warm up was the walk down the beach to the swim start. It was overcast and grey, but the light misting we'd had on the trip to the race sight had let up so that was encouraging. I didn't want to do this race in the rain based on what I knew about the bike course...