IRONMAN 70.3 PROVIDENCE 2008
I thought I would write up something on this since it was the first year and, being in New England, there might be some interest in future years. Overall, it was a positive experience and what you would expect from an Ironman event, with some predictable problems due to a first year event that involves two separate transition areas. While I was somewhat disappointed with my performance, I have to say I had a great weekend, and thank Bill Terry again for my race support. The hands down, best thing about this club, is that it is full of great people always willing to help out a teammate. Bill crashed on his bike 10 days before the race, but still traveled down to RI to support myself and a friend of his up from Florida for the race. Since the race starts in Narragansett and ends in Providence, without a “designated driver” to drop you off and then move the car up to Providence, you would be required to take a 4am shuttle bus from downtown Providence and pay to park your car there for the day. Although, I do think Bill got just a little satisfaction from drinking beer while we suffered on the course.
REGISTRATION
We arrived in Providence the day before the race at about 1pm. We were finally back in our hotel at 8pm. At this point I thought that it was going to be an incredibly bad event. Registration at Providence had an extremely long line and took almost two hours (later we found out this was due to over 400 sign ups online the Friday before the race). After that we had to drive to T2 (only .5 mi. but directions would have been nice) and drop off a bike-run bag. If you haven’t figured out yet, a point-to-point race requires a little more pre-race thinking and some extra stress. Next, we drove 50 min. to Narragansett to drop off the bikes (once again, no directions provided). They had pretty strict rules about T1, mainly that only two things could be touching the ground: one bike wheel and the provided wetsuit bag. The last bag was a “morning clothes bag”. So, the theory is this: you show up at T1 on race morning, after any prep in T1 (OBTW we were not allowed to take our bike out for a warm up ride), you put shorts/keys/cell phone/flip flops, etc into the “morning clothes bag” and drop it off , then after the swim you put your wetsuit/goggles into another bag and leave it at your rack. After T1 is clear of all atheletes, volunteers grab all the bags and transport them to the finish in Providence. Sounded like a huge potential for mix ups, but in reality seemed to work pretty well. They provided stickers with name/race number for these bags. I’m sure there were problems, but we got all our stuff at the finish with no issues. After we finished dropping off our bikes, we now had to drive 40 min. back to Coventry where our hotel was. In hindsight, if I knew I was going to have a driver, it probably would have worked out better to stay closer to Narragansett. We finally got dinner, then in bed by 9pm. The good news is that after all that running around, you are definitely tired and able to fall asleep early.
RACE DAY
After all the difficulties with registration day, the good news is that the race logistics went off very well. We got up at 4am, hoping to get to T1 by 5. It was actually about 5:20. Average porta potty lines—probably 10-15 min. Announcements to close T1 at
5:45, but they didn’t kick anyone out. Pro race started at 6 and my wave didn’t start until 6:55 so I left T1 about 6:10, then went to the water, got a quick warm up and waited. Suprisingly, all waves went off exactly on time. Although the swim course is located within a mile of Firmman, instead of mainly running parallel to the beach (and with the longshore current), this course is mainly perpendicular to the beach, i.e. you go further out into the ocean. A little chop/surf, but not too bad. Overall, swim times were about average, not fast like Firmman. I had a little difficulty sighting a couple of buoys due to the waves. My time was a little slower than normal, but not too bad. Out of the water, 200 yd. sand run into transition. Wetsuit strippers and kiddy pools to rinse your feet in. Due to the weird rules, I decided to leave my shoes clipped on the pedals. Worked as advertised and I had a pretty fast T1. Out onto the bike course.
I did not due much research on the course and I paid for it. I thought “Rhode Island, gotta be flat and fast.” I knew there was a decent hill on the run and that was about it. The first 15 miles of the bike were fast. Somewhere before mile 20 though, you get into rollers and they continue to mile 50. Nothing really big, but a lot of little hills that slow you down and use up your legs. A couple of nice long downhills, but it felt like a rise in elevation up to mile 50. I wouldn’t call it an extremely slow course, but definitely not a pancake. I was hoping to average over 21.5 and I averaged 20.8, but probably worked harder than I should have to get that. Road condition was above average until Providence, but quite a bit of traffic at certain points—maybe due to first year and locals not knowing about the race. Police at all intersections, but I still saw two horrible crashes—one guy I think was taken out by a car. I guess I should also say how weird it was to do a race in New England and not see any yellow and black. You realize how great it is to have teammates encouraging you (Thank you Bill, again). The race support was outstanding. Three aid stations with Gatorade endurance, water, and gels. One station even had salt tabs. Lots of volunteers. Last 6 miles were mainly downhill, but once you got into Providence (last 2.5 miles) roads were crappy and we only had a sidelane (marked with cones) so it was very difficult to pass and slowed you down some. Bike dismount area kind of sneaks up on you but nothing terrible. I had a fast T2, decided not to take any fluids with me since there were aid stations every mile. My total time out of T2 wasn’t quite what I was shooting for, but not too far off. Then came the run.
I started the run about 10:20. Temps were around 80-82 and sunny. Some gusty winds but overall nothing to complain about. I had my worst half-iron run ever, though. Some due to training, but I would also call it a tougher than average run course. I felt good for the first half mile, then I hit “the hill.” This thing will have a name before next year’s race. I’m not sure what to compare it to, except to say it is steeper than anything on Hillside Dr. by Jim’s house. It’s only about a quarter mile long, though. If it were a couple of miles further in after you had regained your running legs it would have been easier, but it really zapped me—especially knowing I had to do it again at mile 7. Once you’re over that it is rolling, although some fairly long uphills and downhills. A good bit of shade. I held onto a sub 8 minute pace thru mile 5, then started to blow up. Aid stations were phenomenal—every mile with sponges, ice, water, Gatorade, gels, and cola. Police at every intersection. That’s about it. Post race spread was OK, nothing to write home about, but thank God for Bill who was at the finish with a cold beer! To sum it up, a solid course and a great weekend. I think next year they will improve some, but be
prepared for a long “day before the race”. If we didn’t have 25 people doing Placid, I’m sure we would have 10-15 folks doing this race and that would help with the logistics. I would definitely do it again.
Mike