My First Taste of Ironman - Providence Race Report

As you may or may not know, I raced in Providence this past weekend at Ironman Providence 70.3. Just to clear it up, this was a HALF Ironman, which consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and then a half marathon run (13.1 miles). This and the full Ironman distance are considered "long course" triathlon. It was put on by the Ironman organization.

I arrived at my parents' beach house at about 10 AM Saturday morning and quickly left for Providence, where I had to check-in, get weighed in, pick up my race packet, and also drop off my run bag with all my run gear in it. The registration took a long time, as there were almost 2000 competitors so you can imagine the lines. Finally, after about two hours, I met with one of the officials, and he checked me in, gave me my race packet, put on my athlete wrist band, and then I had to go to medical to get weighed in. They do this because if you lose a certain amount of body weight by the end of the race, you are required to go to the medical tent for an IV drip following the race. When that was finished, I walked about a half mile to where transition two was to drop off my run gear. I did that, and then I was off to the swim start, which was in Narragannsett, about 50-60 miles southeast. I got to the swim start and checked my bike in at my designated spot in the transition area, and I was finally all set and ready for the following day. At that point, I headed back to the beach house and tested out a long sleeved wetsuit and went for a practice swim at the beach near my parents' house. At that point, it was time to start fueling up for the race, and I threw down about 3000 calories, mostly through pasta and pretzels (for sodium). And I should mention I was excitedly nervous, never have been in a race this long before.

I got up at 3:45 AM, and headed to Narragansett to where the swim start was. I got there, made last minute adjustments on my bike, made sure my tire pressure was perfect, and double checked all my nutrition. It's not an understatement to say if you mess up on your nutrition in long course, your race might as well be over by midway through the bike leg. At that point I checked when my swim wave would go out, and my start was at 7:05, more than hour after the first wave went out. This meant I had some time to really gather myself, listen to my music, and watch 40 minutes of the race before I became a part of it. Finally, 7:00 rolled around and I headed to the water. 3...2...1....and the cannon (yes, cannon) blew and I was off. It was underway, i was really doing this. Seeing how far 1.2 miles looks like in the open ocean is extremely intimidating, but I actually felt great. In the past, it's taken me a good quarter to half mile to get settled into my stroke, but this day, I just felt that I was doing everything I should be doing, all the while pretending nobody was around me (even though it was a human washing machine in there). About halfway through, I knew this swim was special. I exited the water, saw my mother, said 'How am I doing?" and she said "awesome, you're ahead of more than half of the wave." I checked my watch: 36 minutes. 1.2 miles in 36 minutes. To put this in perspective, at Griskus Olympic, I swam 1 mile in 37 minutes. It was great. So then I ditched the original plan of walking at the transition areas and I ran up the beach to the race officials that help you get your wetsuit off. If you've never put on a long sleeve wetsuit, it's not easy to get off by yourself. Found the biggest, strongest volunteer I could find. Ran up to him and he yelled "Down!" I sat down, and he literally peeled the wetsuit off of me in 3 seconds. They need that at all my races! Just like that I was running to my bike. Dumped my bike gear back out, threw on socks, my cycling shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I also packed three extra tubes and extra CO2 cartridges. Finally, put 3 PowerBars in my back pocket, a gel flask, and 25 electrolyte pills. And I was off on my 56 mile trek to Providence....

During the first 5 miles, it was pretty flat along the coast line and I'm thinking "do I push it now, or save a lot of gas for the run?" I decided on pushing it a bit, but not to overly extend myself. I started passing people in the waves that started before me, which meant I was making up a good amount of time, and I just felt on. I was down in my aero bars for 90% of the time, and the hills that were thrown at me were nothing I couldn't handle comfortably. Nutritionally, I tried to drink 3-4 ounces of Accelerade every 15 minutes, eat half a PowerBar every 30 minutes, and 3 electrolyte pills every half hour. I took gel sporadically and didn't seem to really need it since I was easily handling solid food. There were 3 aid stations on the course, and the volunteers were amazing. I guess that's part of the Ironman experience. I really thought that if I ran out of any nutrition that I brought myself, I could easily replace it at the next aid station. We finally rolled into Providence, and I was pretty ready to get off that bike. My lower back and hamstrings were feeling it a bit. I rolled into T2, dismounted the bike and ran with it to my transition spot to put on my run gear. It was seamless. All of a sudden, it hits me.....I have a 13.1 mile run ahead of me in this heat and humidity.

I was off on the run, and my legs were there. I did not feel like I rode 56 miles at all, maybe felt as if I rode 15. Then all of a sudden, I hit the first aid station. I felt good at that point and only took water, and three sponges soaked in ice water. That cooled my core right down. Then I turn a corner on the first mile and my god, I see a hill like i've never seen before. If you're from Southington, and you know Southington Mountain, or Winding Ridge, that area....this hill made Southington Mountain look like a bump. It was more like San Francisco. I had no idea how long it was, but I decided to run up it, while everyone else was walking. Finally after about a half mile, the hill leveled out, and then I saw the reality of this run. With so many waves going out before me, there was a ton of people already on the course. To put it lightly, it looked like hundreds of living dead people: people down on the ground puking, saw one lady crying, others just wanting to finish and choosing to walk. And I'm thinking at this point "wow, I still feel half way decent, I'm gonna pick as many people off as I can right now." So I pushed the pace. It was a two lap course, and running down that huge hill at mile 6 was rough on my knees and quads! Hurt like hell, but I pressed on. At that point, I had switched to gatorade for me, ice and water for throwing over my head, and sponges for inside my shirt. I circled at the turnaround, and I look up and there's my mother, my brother, Tyler and Melissa cheering me on, screaming like they were in the race themselves. Seeing them brightened my outlook like I never would have thought, all of a sudden I had some extra energy. About 100 yards later, I saw another guy in my age group, we chatted while we ran, and I told him this was my first half Ironman, and he said he couldnt' believe I was doing so well, and he told me to get right behind him to draft him, so that I could "hide" under him from any wind that would slow me down. I couldn't believe he did that; here's a guy that's competing against me in my age group, and he's telling me to draft him so that I could be faster and save more energy. I guess that just explains a lot of people in this sport. After about 3 miles of doing that, he told me to "just go" he couldn't hold my pace anymore, he wished me luck and I took off, probably going about 7:30 pace per mile at that point. Then I started to break down a little bit, and that's when I made the decision to switch from Gatorade to Coca-Cola. This is a big move and you're only supposed to do it when you're desparate for more energy because it's a huge sugar high and if you don't keep drinking it, you'll crash fast. But aid stations were every mile and I figured if i stuck with Coke, then I could just take more in at the next aid station. My god, I never tasted anything so good in my life. The elixir of the gods. About 30 seconds after my first Coke, I felt fresh again! Now....where can I get another Coke??? Next aid station I go! Then I saw mile 11 marker, and I knew I had to push it. I had enough energy to push it. Down the hill I went, bam, bam, bam....could feel every step in every bone in my body down that hill. Pain is not the right word for that. Finally got to the bottom, hit the final aid station, got two more cups of coke to fuel me for the last mile. At that point, i saw the state capitol building and I knew I was almost there. And then I heard the roar of the thousands of people at the finish line....I was so close, but my legs hurt like hell. At that point, I just talked to Jared out loud for about 15 seconds, just asked him to help me out for this last stretch if he could. I started down the finish line chute with people screaming....somehow saw my "fans," threw up a fist pump and headed for the finish! I didn't cross the finish line, I jumped up in the air and threw up a haymaker fist pump. I cannot describe that feeling. I had just crossed the finish line at a half Ironman in 5 hours and 9 minutes, 21 minutes faster than my goal. I then was still on cloud 9, and saw my buddy Rob. He's the guy that just did Ironman New Zealand in under 12 hours, and he's an absolute animal. He only beat me by 2 minutes. He was going crazier for me than I was, he was so glad for me. Huge hug from him and then I turn to my left, and I couldn't believe it, but it was Jon Blais' father. Jon Blais is a household name in triathlon. Sadly he passed away last May from ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. His final goal in life, after he was handed this death sentence, was to complete Ironman. He was featured on NBC during the Ironman Hawaii coverage, and if you ever get the chance, look up his story on YouTube, it's very sad, but very inspiring. I took that chance to introduce myself to Jon's dad and said "Your son is one of the most inspiring people ever" and he appreciated it and gave me a congrats high five. Then about 30 seconds later, who's there to meet me but one of my best friends Tyler. Seeing him was amazing, this was such a great day in my life and he was there to witness it. Then the pain kicked in and I considered heading to medical to get an IV, but thought maybe a massage would do ok instead. Stood in line to get a massage and it felt outstanding. Also gave me some time to reflect on what just transpired. Unbelievable. I later found out that I missed qualifying for the Half Ironman World Championships in Clearwater, FL by a bit more than 5 minutes, but I didn't care. Just to say that in my first Half Ironman, I did better than most guys that have been doing this distance for years. I came in #29 in my age group out of a field of about #200 and came in #250 overall out of almost 2000 competitors. Very respectable. I now have a few days off from training, and it's time to start thinking about the BIG ONE - Ironman Louisville, double the distance, double the pain, but double the glory - if and when I finish. Just 6 weeks away.......

Thank you all.