Block Island Tri report 8/5/06

This is a race report for the BI tri that I just completed. For those who don;t know, my sister Belinda is a closet jock who recently caught the tri bug and persuaded me to join her for the second time at this event. We both spent a good portion of our childhood on Block Island (off the coast of RI) so it was special to compete there. The race is a modified sprint with a 400m ocean swim, 14 mile bike and 4 mile beach run. There were only 300 or so participants.
Elissa and I got to the Island on Wednesday and spent a few days at the beach and generally tooling around (BI is only 13 or so miles long).

We stayed at a cool little B&B and I did little training. I decided to give the legs a rest week because I know how much of a pounding they will take this fall. Conditions were very hot and humid for most of the trip, but i was used to it so it worked to my advantage in the race I think. The water was comparable in temperature to Barton Springs but was obviously salty and very clear.
Because of the 1 hour ferry ride from the mainland, the tri didn't start until noon. On race day morning i was able to get up late, eat a good breakfast, delete the previous nights dinner and slowly mosey over to the starting area at the main beach pavillion. I was using my bro-in-laws bike (specialized sequoia) which is set up more for touring and event rides, so i was not thinking heavily about competing, but more about enjoying the event and getting a good workout. I got to the bike racks at 10am and set up fairly quickly. I racked my bike, arranged my shoes, helmet, gels, etc on the ground and got my swim cap and number. There were a fair number of very nice tri bikes (guru's , kestrels, Q Roos etc) and people were milling around and bragging about their times etc. I Found Belinda and her South African friends who had come over to race and we chatted for a while and paced around in the shade of the bathhouse. It was getting quite warm (Upper 80's) and the beach sand burned the soles of my feet. despite the heat and fancy tri outfits out in the racking area, I still felt no real anxiety (This is a bad sign for me because I need a little nervous juice usually to get focused). We got the basic pre-race instructions about 15 minutes prior to the start, and were split into 5 year age brackets, each to start at 1 minute intervals from the first group. No marshalls on the course, no road closures, Saturday at the height of the summer season running on the most popular beach on the island. This is a grass roots race and includes jumping over kids building sandcastles, avoiding tourists from NJ driving on the one country road like its the turnpike, and hopped up roadies who forgot to read about the no drafting rules for tri events. Elissa was set up down the beach just a little ways so we took a few pics.

The start involved a 50 yard dash parallel to the water through the sand and then a perpendicular 100 meter leg, buoy, 200 meter leg parallel to shore, buoy, and final 100m leg perpendicular to shore and up to the bike transition through deep hot sand and fist sized rocks.
As the 40-45 group lined up, i noticed that these boys looked kind of serious about all this. We got the word to go and we all made a mad sprint down the beach to the water entrance. I must say i was shocked at how fast a bunch of the people were in my group as they bolted ahead of me. I dove in and promptly knocked my goggles off with the force of the water, re-adjusted and started swimming. I was wearing my sleeveless wetsuit (only about 30% had wetsuits on)
and was able to pass a number of swimmers who were from the earlier waves and who were doing the side paddle or the breast stroke. I never really got into a rhythm while swimming and noticed that i was working fairly hard to maintain my path. However, I passed a lot of people and snuck around the buoys on the inside corners without having to stop and sight too much. I finished and staggered up to the bike, realising that i had not set the stopwatch correctly on my watch so i had no idea how long it took me to swim and transition. No chips or anything like that at this one, so I really don't know what any of my splits are. I got off to a good start on the bike, charged the hills and was passed by maybe 10-15 guys who were aero and hammering. I did slow down a little and decided to save some energy for the beach run. Finished the bike, changed shoes, grabbed goo and visor and set off down the beach. It was complete mayhem. There were people walking, dogs running, kids body surfing, babies making mud pies and 300 geeks in tights jumping and dodging them on a beach with a serious camber. I at first tried to keep the shoes dry and ran around each incoming wave, while attempting to stay on the firm wet sand, but soon got one foot soaked so changed the strategy to my advantage. I began to reel in the impetuous fellows who passed me on the bike segment, and slowly moved up in the general scheme of things. I was really hot and Elissa said i looked horrible as I passed, She was going to suggest I stop and take a break. Sensible for 99% of the population. Silly for those of us out there purposefuly parbroiling ourselves. I soldiered on and realised that the guy who i was chasing was really trying hard to avoid wet sneakers. I surged on him just as a wave came in and I bolted through it and hammered for about 100m while he had to avoid a large hole being excavated by some kids and the water from the wave. I got past him and did the same thing to about 4 others on the way back. I would charge just as the wave came in and run through the water while they avoided it.
Anyway, I made it to the finishing gate just as Belinda was coming by on her run so we were able to high 5 each other as we went by. Afterwards as I waited for her to finish, I saw at least 4 people vomiting as soon as they came over the finish line. Apparently this was a tougher race than i thought. I felt horrible on the run, so so on the bike and OK for the swim.
Results:
2006 1:16:23 15OA, 5th in Age group (40-45)
2004 1:17: 45 13OA 5th in Age group (35-40)

Belinda captured 2nd in her age group.

I was quite pleased with my time because i have been much more systematic and restrained in my training this summer and haven't done too much tri specific work. I am glad that the monday pop gun runs are paying off and the gazelles runs are progressing well.

After the tri, My old high school/college friends Eric and Michelle showed up from Connecticut and we hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Michelle is short in stature but stands tall as a mom of 3 awesome kids.


Overall, we had a great trip to the beach and really nice visit with family and friends.