Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island

My first half of the year was focused on this race, but as described in my earlier race reports running injuries had really hurt my preparation.  I knew I had to take it easy on the run.  My plan going in was to try for a good swim-bike and then try to make it through the run with a run/walk strategy.  Although the race has been around for a few years, this was the first year the race used this course.  The race used two transitions; one a few minutes outside Providence for T1 and downtown Providence for T2.  The swim course was in a very warm lake that is well known for closing for bacteria several times each summer.  The bike course was a single counterclockwise loop through most of northern Rhode Island.  The run course was two laps through downtown with a trip up and down College Hill to Brown University each lap, and then a flat section for the second half of the lap.

 

With the two transition setup I arrived the day before the race and took care of the packet pickup and prerace meeting then headed over to the swim venue to drop off my bike and get in a short ride.  It was then back to T2 to drop off my run bag before finally settling into the hotel for the night.

 

We used a race organized shuttle bus from downtown to get to the race site in the morning, bright and early at 4:15 am.  This race started at 6am and my wave was one of the first to go off.  The bus worked ok on the way to the race, but my support crew had a miserable time trying to get back to downtown.  Also we had to walk a ways to T1 from the bus drop off.

 

Here is a pic of the sunrise during that walk:

After all the preparations were complete it was a nice short wait for my wave to start.  Getting ready to go:

It was a warm day and the water was well over 80 degrees, so clearly not wetsuit legal.  The swim course was a long, skinny rectangle – about 100 yards across and 1000 yards long.  On the way out it was straight into the sun, but with so many people around it wasn’t a problem to keep on course.  I lined up to the left on the outside as I expected a turn buoy only 100 yards into the race to be pretty aggressive.  So I am somewhere on the left side of the below:

As you can see a lot more real estate on the left side.

Once around the first buoy I settled in and felt like I was swimming at a good pace.  I started picking off a few slower guys from earlier waves and had a quite a few people from my wave near me.  However, as I got to the turnaround it was clear I was swimming slower than I thought or the course was a bit long.  I tried to pick it up a bit on the way back but my time was not what I was hoping for.  I think I need to get more aggressive with the drafting rather than swimming a little bit offline and in clean water.  I finished the swim in 41:37 which was 72/154 in my age group and 546/1334 overall.

 

Exiting the water at T1:

T1 was pretty slow for me, as it was a clean transition meaning I needed to repack my transition bag as the race brings it back to Providence.  I also put on socks as usual and had to put on a shirt which is always slow when wet.  I lost a few spots in T1 and exited in 79/154 age group and 592/1334 overall, losing 7 spots in my age group and 46 overall.

 

Exiting T1 through the park roads:

This map shows the route and my speed through each section.  There is a lot of variation as the course is very rolling.  Also of note is that the first 45 miles are on good quality pavement but the last 10 miles had some truly awful roads.  Once mile long section was so bad it required the race to establish a no passing zone so you could navigate the potholes at 5-10 mph.  This is not an exaggeration.  A race of this caliber should never have used that road.  Once through that section there were many turns, railroad tracks and narrow sections of road that were coned off from car traffic; effectively limiting passing during these sections as well.  The course finished with a loop around the state house with T2 at Station Park.  The wind was very light and if anything was coming from the northwest which would be helping during the long southern leg from Nasonville to Scituate.

Here is a map of the elevation.  The two big hills are right out of T1 and then the steep one at the 29 mile mark, everything else felt mostly like rollers.  The aforementioned urban sections limited the any ability to make up time on the downhill section at the end.

Here is a pic of me crossing the dam over Scituate Reservoir:

I was happy with my bike ride but starting in an early wave and having an average swim there were not a lot of people to try to use as carrots.  Instead I focused on keeping my heart rate around 160 and taking advantage of any downhills for a little recovery.  Here is my HR graph (the brown line is elevation); I averaged 155bpm for the bike.

The only issue I had on the bike was a little bit of a quad cramp on the right side that I got on the last hill before T2.  Luckily it didn’t seem to return.  My 2:55:17 was good for 66/154 age group and 412/1334 overall, picking up 14 spots in my age group and 164 overall from T1.

 

T2 was my fastest portion of the race with a top 15% time both in age group and overall, even though I again tied my laces to keep my shoes loose on my foot.  I picked up 1 spot in my age group and 21 overall.

 

Exiting T2, running down Francis St.

Here is a map with some run course detail.  This time the color is indicating elevation with purples the highest and greens the lowest.  The course was a 2 loop double out and back, first going up to Brown University, then coming down and before heading around the Point St bridge.  While the section to Brown had lots of fans, the section to Point St was desolate with no one around.  There were also a lot of people on the final section on Francis St.  Overall the crowd support on the run was fantastic.

There aren’t many positive things I can say about my running performance.  I knew it was going to be ugly and it was in so many ways.  I felt fine for the first mile before hitting the hill for the first time.  I walked the hill.  Overall though the first lap wasn’t too bad with my run/walk strategy – walking after 9 min of running and on any uphill,  downhill or aid station.  It was also blazing hot and I walked every aid station grabbing water and sponges which I would squeeze over me and then put under my hat until the next aid station. I also munched on some gels and grabbed Gatorade at every other station.  My lack of run fitness and the conditions hit me hard on the second lap.

 

Here is run/walk chart.  Look at all the walking in the second half:

This is basically 55% running, 18% jogging, 27% walking.  That compares against 64% running, 22% jogging, 14% walking in Miami. 

 

Here is a nice illustration of the degradation of “running” during the day:

I was really hoping to still go under 6 hours, but once I got to the 9 mile mark I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I couldn’t sustain my running and it got a little frustrating knowing I wasn’t going to hit 6 hours.

 

Here are my splits (garmin had the course a little short, but with 5 u-turns it might have been a garmin calculation issue):

I even had to walk the final little hill on Francis St, but I managed to shuffle across the line.

My run time of 2:21:06 was over 7 minutes slower than Miami on a pretty comparable course.  The run was the worst performance of the day, good for only 123/154 age group and 970/1334 overall.  I lost 31 spots in my age group and 260 overall.

Right after finishing I was feeling a little out of it; I didn’t even notice the support crew standing 3 feet away from me.

But after sitting in the shade for a little bit and inhaling a few slices of pizza while overlooking the city I was feeling a lot better.

Final stats:

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				154		1334
Swim	41:37	1.2 miles	1:58/100Y	72	47%	546	41%
T1	4:32			114	74%	869	65%
Bike	2:55:17	56 miles	19.17 mph	66	43%	412	31%
T2	1:35			32	14%	180	13%
Run	2:21:06	13.1 miles	10:46/mile	123	80%	970	73%
Total	6:04:05			95	62%	664	50%

 

While the race was far from a success I was happy to make it through the day.  I’m not sure I would do this race again as the two transition setup is really annoying from a logistical standpoint.  However, the crowd support and running through a downtown city was definitely a highlight of this race.