Providence Ironman 70.3

Finally - the race report.  Usually I get these written pretty quickly, but this was a big race for me, and a lot to think about, so it took me a while.  There's a lot here; if you only want to read the actual race, you can ctl+f to "Race Time".

Friday:

Took the day off from work on Friday, so I could have time to prep.  All of my equipment prep was done in the morning - bag packed, bike setup: swapped to latex tube on rear, switched tire.  Thoroughly cleaned chain, put cover on, re-mounted.  Also re-mounted front tire/tube: I got a new set of zipp valve extenders in shorter lengths, so I swapped to one that sticks out the right amount; the one that came with the wheel was excessive.  Now that it's set, that tube/tire won't be coming off for a while.  Put rubber bands on my pedals now so I wouldn't have to remember to bring them to T1.  Added a big band to my seat tube by the bottle cage to stop the rattling when I picked up a replacement bottle during the bike (those bottles are smaller than real bike bottles.  Added a band to my aerobar for the same reason.

My bar tape on my big ugly base bar was starting to rip, so I tore it all off and replaced it with electrical tape. Eventually I'll put a little hockey grip tape on there, but I see no reason to have the soft bar tape - I very rarely use the bar, and the electrical tape probably saves me a second every hour of riding (and I feel like a get a better grip on the thinner metal anyway).

Tried a new setup for my spares (which I really liked): spare tube, with valve extender, under seat with a tight rubber band.  Lever also under there, in the front.  Co2 inflater and a spare cartridge behind the seat tube, gives my round tube a pseudo-aero shape (I believe by bike is actually less drag with the spare stuff on).  In addition, it adds support to the bike number, making it flap less (more aero advantage).  All told, probably saved me about .5 watts, but when it's stuff you can do pre-race, I do it.  Mounted my shot bloks to the top tube with tape - tight enough that ripping them off also rips the packaging.

2:00, in the car for providence.  Should be a 3.5-4 hour ride, get there in a little more than 6.  Check in, grab dinner with the family at Ruth's Chris :-), and early bed.

Saturday:

I'm going to start this with a disclaimer.  I love my family.  It's amazing that they came up to watch me race, especially because it involved picking up my brother from school, which added 3+ hrs to the trip.  With that said, I would much rather go to a race alone, or with other people racing.  Having the family there meant that I had to keep them occupied, and do what they wanted to do.  This included a trolley tour of the city (nice, but not great for my neck - I felt it around mile 45.  Didn't have any real effect on the race).  Said tour cut my pre-race driving of the course from 56 miles to 15.  The knowledge was nice, even with that little bit, but oh well.

Going back a few hours, I was at check-in 20 minutes early, which meant I was able to sneak through and be the first person registered that day.  Went to the race briefing (waste of time), bought myself an IM 70.3 RI bike jersey (I don't have any, and I really like it), then headed out.  Number on bike and helmet, cleaned visor, finished packing for race.  Had to drop T2 stuff off today, but wasn't really a big deal.  Opted to not take my bike to T1 on Saturday, which was a good call.  I wouldn't have been able to do that without my family there to drive me to T1.  Dinner in the little Italy area of Providence (puts NY to shame - the line down the middle of the street is even red-white-green).  Bed by 10:30 ish.

Sunday:

Up at 3:30 - a little on the early end, but it gave the family plenty of time to get ready.  I had all my stuff in two bags, with my morning clothes on top, so there was no thought required for me.  Solid waste disposal trip #1 right before we left, and we were off.  No traffic 90% to T1 (obviously, it's 4-5 am), but the last bit to the beach was bumper to bumper.  We instead parked in a little parking lot about 1/3 mile away (marked for Ironman use) and walked to transition.  No big deal.  At T1 at 5:25, prepared for a 5:45 closing (pushed back to 6:00 due to buoys floating).  Pros go off at 6:15, thumb twiddling until 7:30, then I'm off.

For those of you that skipped the stuff above, here's that line I told you to ctl+f to: "Race Time".

Swim:

Surf was pretty choppy, but only 1-2 ft.  Straight out and back, 1.2 miles total.  Not ideal swimming conditions, but good enough for me.  I kept a nice easy pace - I had no interest in being tired out of the water, just to gain a minute.  Strangely, the swim seemed like it was never going to end.  Nothing like the mile swims I've done.  Maybe it's because I knew I had 4+ hours to go.  ~11th out of the water in my AG, past lots of people in the two groups ahead of me (it amazes me how bad most triathletes are at swimming).  Total time: 25:54.

T1:

Pretty flawless - wetsuit off, in bag.  Number on.  Helmet on.  Hit button on PowerTap to turn it on.  Grab bike and run to Bike Out.  Definitely passed a few people here.

Bike:

Hopped on my bike out of T1, got up to ~18 mph, then got my shoes on.  Somehow I always pass people here, even though theirs are already on, so they can pedal.  Oh well.  20 very nice miles, flat to rolling, mostly a light tailwind.  Power curve was pretty flat for this segment, average power around 204, normalized power around 209.  I don't get that much better, especially with other people on course.  The whole bike was mostly overcast, perfect weather.  Was about 2/3 through my first bottle at the first aid stop, so I skipped it.

2nd 20 miles: The route started getting hilly, much hillier than I'm used to.  I also had changed my position on my bike, giving me more power, and making me more aero.  Unfortunately, it also meant I was nose riding, so my perineum was starting to feel some discomfort.  These conditions together caused me to start to cruise more, and increase power when I was pedaling.  Normalized power jumped up a little, to 211, but average power dropped to low 190s.  Basically, very slightly more effort, for a little less power.  I need a more comfortable saddle, more on that next post.  Grabbed a gatorade at aid stop 2.

back 16: As the end gets closer, the race gets easier (if you paced it right).  Normalized power stayed the same, average creeped up into the high 190s.  A few really nice downhills in this section, all of which ended in a turn or a tight section, so wasted momentum.  Also one brutally steep hill (by my standards).  With my easiest gearing of 39x23, it was unpleasant.  I couldn't get a cadence over 72.  I was still spinning more than most, and passed most, without using too much power.  I'm definitely getting an easier cassette for CDA - probably a 12x27, maybe a 12x25.  Some funky turns through downtown Providence, and I'm at T2.

Bike: 2:42:56

T2.  Pretty smooth again.  Fortunately I had counted racks leading up to mine the day before, so I knew to run right to the 11th one, and found my stuff immediately.  People watching might have thought me crazy for counting out loud, but oh-well, we're all crazy.  Shoes on (no socks, stupid me), sunglasses on, no had (still pretty cool and overcast), and I was out.  Passed another few people here, but nothing significant.

Run:

The start of the run is nice, and lets you completely forget about tired legs.  Through a tunnel of spectators, past pros finishing, and down a gentle incline.  It was still a bit overcast, so I wasn't too hot.  Aid station right around mile 1, and WOW, that hill is big.  Easily the hardest hill I've ever run up.  I'm still not sure if I would've been better walking it - probably a close call.  Jogged up it, and more importantly, held pace for the first hundred or two yards after the top.  From there, relatively smooth (in comparison) until mile 5.5, where you go down the same hill.  Down is almost as bad as up.  Uneventful next half mile, then you turn a corner, and another gentle uphill.  Looking up the hill is a half mile straight that leads to the capitol building, and the same tunnel of cheering.  Very nice to run up that tunnel, turn around, and run back down it.  Now I'm on lap two, and I'm realizing that number two isn't going to comfortably stay in to the finish.  Quick porta-john stop at the bottom of the big hill, and I'm off for lap two of the hill.

Nearing the end of lap one, the sun started to come out, and I was feeling hot.  I was dumping lots of water on myself, which was quite nice.  Unfortunately, although I had practiced running plenty of mileage in my shoes without socks, and I had lots of baby powder in there, I never practiced it with dumping water on myself constantly.  By mile 8 or so, I had some very large blisters on my arches.  I knew that they had no real physiological effect on my performance, and tried to run through them, but I'm certain that they cost me at least a minute over those last 6 miles.  Most of my body hurt that last 6 miles, but not so bad that I was desperate to stop.  I kept up a decent pace for the whole lap, and the next thing I knew, it was a half mile to go, up that hill, with the capitol in the background, and a tunnel of screaming fans.  Suddenly the pain went away.  Smile on my face, I picked up my pace slightly and got across the line.

Run: lap 1- 49, lap 2- 54.  1:43:43, total time 4:55:35.  Probably could've paced it a little better, with socks to eliminate the blisters and not having to take a bathroom stop.

Summary:

Overall, I was a little disappointed with my performance.  I had thought that I had at least a 4:45 in me.  Both the bike and run have room for improvement, and improve I will next time.  It's easy to look back at my logs over the past 3+ months and see all the unnecessary days off due to laziness, and know that I could've done better.  Next year, I'll be much more consistent, and will dominate at Coeur D'Alene.  Until then, fun, short stuff.