Well, just recently Patrik, David and myself just completed PVD IM 70.3. Of course, the other two finished way before me but my race at this distance was a PR for me and that was the only positive I took out of this race. Pat and family and Heather left on Saturday en route to Providence. I had to stop off at SPARK BRS, to get some yanks for my Newtons, as they were going to be the running shoes of choice for me. I picked those up, and then grabbed 24 south, to 79 to get to 195. I was still ahead of Pat, but we were communicating via Cell. I pulled over on Rt 195, and Pat caught up. We both arrived in PVD at 11:25, and headed to registration. We get to the convention center greated by a volunteer who told us that the water temp was to high and that Wetsuits weren’t allowed, at first I thought it was a joke, but after a few mins I suddendly realized I’m in deep trouble. I have never swam that distance OWS before and I started to worry. We finished checking in, got our grab bag and we head towards the athlete briefing. Here, it came official that the wetsuits if the race was today were not allowed and the head race official said ” You have a better chance to win the lottery than to wear a wetsuit tomorrow. I knew I should have played the numbers! Well, we left to head to T2 dropped our bags off and looked around transition. This looked cool, couldn’t believe how big it was. We all went to Panera and had lunch. We had one of the best Mac and Cheese I’ve ever ha, besides Heather’s homemade Mac and Cheese. I was hydrating all day and we decided to get to T1 to drop off our bikes. We had to be there before 3:30, so we left, Heather knew how to get there so off we went. We got there and it was a cluster. Car’s everywhere. We were lucky enough to get close and park close to the entrance. We showed them our wrist bands, found our rack number and dropped off the bike. It started getting hot out so we didn’t stay long. We then road some of the bike course which was enroute to our hotel. This was the first time, I’ve seen the hills. I couldn’t believe tomorrow I’ll be doing these. We check in the hotel bring our stuff to the room and cranked the AC. I staged my Infinit in the fridge alone side my Applesauce. Pat and Heather, heard that fresh cookiers were put out for us, so they both went to grab some. They basically depleted the stash. However, when I went down the hotel attendent just finished making the sugar cookies which Heahter loves, so I asked for a few of those. Went back to the room relaxed for a bit and decided to go get dinner. We ended up at Effin’s pub where my friends wife is one of the owners there. The pasta didn’t look that good but the pizza looked delicisous so had that 
. I had two slices of pizza and headed back to the hotel. The time was fast approaching 8 so I wound down a bit and started falling asleep.
Archive for July, 2011
Race Report PVD 70.3
July 22nd, 2011Race Report – 2011 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island
July 18th, 2011Patrik, Scott, and I competed the 2011 Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island on July 10th. This was my first attempt at the 70.3 distance. It was quite an experience full of surprises. Looking back on it now, I feel fortunate to work with a coach who helped me prepare for the challenge both physically and mentally. Here is my version of how the weekend went.
It started with the drive from the Boston area to to my mom’s house as she kindly watched our son for the weekend. After dropping of our son, my wife and I headed back out for the 30 minute ride to Providence Rhode Island. The drive was uneventful, but my brain was going a mile a minute anticipating I forgot something. We arrived at the Westin Hotel around 11am. This hotel was a great choice as it was connected to the Convention Center(where check in was located) and connected to Providence Place Mall, both of which where right near T2 and the finish line. After lugging our stuff to the hotel room, I got a pleasant surprise when looking out the window….it overlooked T2 and the finish shoot to the State House! Score! My wife could see I was itching to check-in and see all the festivities at the Convention Center, so off we went. Check-in was easy, even with all the waiver forms. I picked my T1 bike drop off slot(T1 and T2 in different locations and had mandatory Saturday drops) and decided to hit the next Athlete Briefing. While waiting, I see Patrik and Scott show up.
It was about this time that the “big news” started to circulate around. The water temperature was 84 degrees in the swim venue! No wetsuits allowed. This wasn’t official yet, but the race director basically said you have a better chance of winning the lottery than using a wetsuit tomorrow. OK, not a big deal, I can do this. It will be slower, but no worries. Oh, and this comes one day after the lake reopens due to high bacteria counts:)
Cohasset Triathlon – Race Report
July 1st, 2011The family and I headed to Cohasset MA this past weekend for my first triathlon of the 2011 season. The race was fittingly named, the Cohasset Triathlon. We had a great weekend staying at the Nantasket Beach Resort, just 4 miles from the race venue in Cohasset. We arrived Saturday morning, settled in, then checked out the race location. Race check in was interesting in that Streamline Events, who put on the race, decided to go with tattoo race numbers this year. So I took advantage of the assisted “tattooing” before heading out. Check out my guns:) Yeah, I’m a weakling….
Anyhow, after lunch I did an easy 1 hour spin, which included the bike course. Realized the course was much easier than I had remembered from last year, so that was good. Now back to the family for a nice relaxing evening.
Race Day: Got up at 6am after a decent nights sleep. Had the family and gear ready to roll by 6:30. Dropped of the Family and drove to the parking area which was about 1.5 miles from transition. With my gear bag on my shoulders, I biked to transition while chatting with other racers along the way. » Read more: Cohasset Triathlon – Race Report
