Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island...another great race in Rhode Island.

A thunderstorm blew through the state the night before the event. The storm left behind quite a bit of wind, which did a good job rearranging the swim buoys that the race organizers placed the day before. As a result the race start was delayed 30 minutes, while boats tried to sort out the buoys.

As this was unfolding, the race announcer offered the opportunity to skip the swim to those athletes who felt the conditions were too challenging for their abilities. I don't know if anyone accepted this, but it speaks about how rough this swim will be in the supposedly protected waters of Roger Wheeler State Beach.

The pros got under way at 6:30 for the men and 6:32 for the women. Then at 6:35, the age group waves started. I was in wave 8, and departed at 7 AM.

The swim was rough. Once we got through the breaking waves, we were faced with constant rolling waves, wind and maybe some current. Swimming up the front side of a wave brought us crashing down the back side. The buoys were not visible when we were in between waves, making sighting a challenge and only possible at the wave crests. The buoy spacing varied due to the conditions. It might be 20 m followed by 100 m.

Other competitors struggled too. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the W35-39 competitor in the wave ahead of me with whom I clashed bodies. I caught up to you before the turn, and scared the heck out of you judging by your scream. I hope you made it through alright and had a great remainder of the race.

The first turn had us swim across the rolling seas, with the new twist of the waves attempting to roll us over in addition to crashing down on our bodies. Fortunately, that leg was short, and we turned back toward the beach with the surf pushing us along. Sighting was a bit of a challenge on the return leg, again to the seas and wind playing havoc with the buoy placement. When I emerged from the water, I was very satisfied to see 33 minutes on my watch. My day had started well.

I was not prepared for what happened next. It was a short run up the beach to the timing mat, and I am usually pretty quick running out of the water. But apparently the rough seas messed with my equilibrium a bit, so I staggered up the beach to the timing mat. Took me over two minutes to get there. I enlisted the services of the wet suit peelers and was out of that in a jiffy. I staggered on to my bike and felt like I was going to vomit. Very slowly I placed my wetsuit in its bag and then placed my head on the bike bar to allow this feeling in my stomach to pass. It felt like a really long time, but turned out to be about 20 seconds or so. I put on my helmet and glasses and slowly walked out of transition. Fortunately by the time I hit the street, all "ickiness" subsided and I set out on the bike.

The first 10 miles or so were amazing. Fast riding, smooth roads and great coastal scenery. Then the rolling hill started, which made it somewhat difficult to maintain any sort of rhythm. For a few minutes you are flying downhill, then grinding uphill. I had sufficient fuel with me so I did not need the aid stations. I did take a bottle of water at the mile 45 station to rinse my mouse, and cool down a bit.

When we hit the mean city streets of Providence, the bike course became very technical with a lot of hard turns, and three sets of train tracks to negotiate. The bike ride ended with a tough climb behind the state capital, and right hand turn toward the transition area. I dismounted and looked at my watch again. Very satisfied with a 2:45:00 bike ride, (officially 2:45:08).

Fortunately, I had tied some colored ribbons to my run bag to make it easier to find in the endless sea of run bags. I jogged over to it, racked the bike, and put on my cap and shoes and was off. My legs were feeling pretty Jell-O like at this moment, but I knew this course well after suffering so much last year. Already I knew what I was taking at the first aid station, and that I was going to walk "the hill". Sponges, gatorade and a banana and the brisk walk up "the hill". This worked well, and set me up nicely to get a groove going. Run between stations, and slow down and take gatorade at each station. I knew the climbs and the descents, and knew where I could push myself. The plan was working well as I completed the first loop in 57 min or so, right on pace for the 1:55 half I knew I was capable. But alas, this day would not end as planned. Mile 10 was the undoing, where the body wanted to quit. The mind said no, and I plodded on. The second loop took much longer and mostly due to those last three miles. Officially the half took 2:01:30 with a first lap of 57:26. 6 minutes more for the second lap.

As I descended "the hill" and rounded the last turn before the finishing chute, I saw the potential 5:20:00 had slipped away, but I would beat my goal of 5:30:00 by over three minutes. I found my wife, mother and daughter in the crowd and gave them a big smile. I crossed in 5:26:23, very satisfied with the effort, and unlike last year's finish, still coherent.

A great effort and another great memory. Thanks for reading.

Stats:

Date: 12 July 2009

Age Group:
M35-39

Official Splits

Swim: 35:07
T1: 3:14
Bike: 2:45:08
T2: 1:26
Run: 2:01:30
Total: 5:26:23

Conditions:

Cloudy at first, sunny and warm for the latter part of the run
Choppy and windy swim, race organizers gave competitor option to opt out and due a bike run.

Nutrition:

Night before...dinner at Joes American Grill...salad with chicken, walnuts, cranberries, and a sighting of Michellie Jones (2006 Ironman World Champion, Kona)
Breakfast...buttered bagel, dry Honey Nut Cheerios, sipped on Cytomax, maybe 8 oz total

During bike...3 bottles of cytomax peachy keep (about 48 oz)
Gu Roctane at mile 5, 25, and 52

Run...gu roctane after 30 mintues 1:15 and 1:45.
Gatorade and water at every station, and a banana at the first station