Block Island

Block Island Triathlon
August 1, 2015
Results


This would be my third "go around" with the Block Island Triathlon.  My history with this race goes back to August 2012 when I was hanging out on The Block with the cousin for his bachelor party and ran into Jeff Walker and Steve Schonning right after they finished the race.  I told myself that day, "Next year, I want to do this thing."  Having never done a triathlon before, I thought it would be a cool event to try.  Fast forward three years, I'm now consistently doing TRIs and love the training for the sport.  Up until a few weeks before the 2015 installment of the race, it didn't look like this race was going to happen for me.  After a final convincing email thread from Jeff and Chris Garwin, I talked Shara into signing up for the thing on our plane ride home from our honeymoon.


Pre-Race
We took the 6 am ferry over with the WTAC crew.  We had plenty of time to set up in transition and check out conditions.  While the weather may have been hot, conditions were nearly perfect for a triathlon.  Warming up for the race with a jog, I needed to determine how I would run the race due to high tide.  Options included running on thick sand or on a pitched drop.  Talked things over with Shara, Jeff, and Matthew and figured I'd base it off conditions during the run portion.


Swim-7:37, 8th
After a disappointing swim last week, it was my hope that I'd have a strong swim today.  As my wave went off, I worked to get a clean jump into the water so I could get good positioning.   A minute or two of the swim passed and I was feeling smooth.  There was only one guy in my wave ahead of me and I tried to stay as close to him as possible.  Before I knew it, I was almost out of the water and still feeling good. 


T1:1:31, 14th not bad for me!


Bike-38:19, 34th
 I was somewhat nervous about the bike portion of this race.  Knowing the course is hilly, I feared a really poor ride that would greatly impact my overall standing in the race.  Shortly after I was out on the bike, the eventual race winner, John Hirsch, went cruising by me.  I didn't make much of him passing me since I knew he was a far superior cyclist.  I continued to ride on and had a feeling in the back of my mind that my friend and teammate, Chris, would be next to blow by me on the bike.  Sure enough, Chris came.  We offered one another quick words of encouragement and he was off.  In the back of mind, it was highly unlikely that I'd see Chris again in the race.  I continued to ride the rolling course and put my best effort forward.  At various parts of the ride, I became frustrated with traffic out on the course.  A series of slow downs and hairy situations came about and I wanted to focus on the race.  Oh well, it's Block Island. 


T2: hadn't taken water or any nutrition at this point and needed to drink some Gatorade.  I was parched.  Threw on my race belt and off to the most dreaded part of this race--a high tide beach run.


Run-25:13-4th
Going into the run, my biggest concern was my knee.  My running volume has been really low and I knew I needed to gauge my expectations.  One of my main goals going into the race was to remain unscathed on a difficult beach run.  It took me a few minutes to get acclimated to running on a slanted surface.  I started to settle into a groove and was passing a few of the guys who ripped past me on the last portion of the bike.  It's always a confidence booster to catch these guys since it really stinks not to be able to respond to them on the bike.  As I worked to get to the half way point of the run, Shara came blazing by and I knew she was the 1st women.  Awesome!  Keeping on, I felt over heated and slow.  On the upside, I knew the only competitors I needed to worry about on the run were my teammates and one of them was already in front of me.  After turning the flag, I worked my way back to the Benson Beach and wanted to finish strong.  I crossed the finish line and couldn't wait to get water.  I immediately drank 3 or 4 cups of water and someone told me they thought I was 3 or 4th.  At that point, I wasn't sure what to make of the finish due to the staggered start.


Post race
I finished 3rd overall, my highest placing in a TRI ever.  Shara won* the women's race, which was really cool.  Chris landed himself a strong 2nd place overall and was only beat by a professional athlete and 7X race winner.  Jeff finished 7th overall and had the #2 run on the day.  Jeff, I dream of landing a 7th place finish in a TRI in my 50s.  Matthew landed a strong 30th place overall and rocked the run.  Polly finished 112th and had a strong finish in her division.  After awards and shower, the WTAC Crew grabbed lunch and enjoyed a few more hours on the island before heading home on the 3:30 fast ferry.


Thoughts
-Pumped for Shara with her overall win in the race. *Initially Shara was not interested in this race due to the beach run.  I'm hopeful her win and the allure of The Block will make her want to come back in future years.
-I was happy with my 3rd place overall finish, which was my highest ever in a TRI.  I'm not sure if I'll ever place higher so I better enjoy it.
-Had one of my best swims in a race to date
-Disappointed in my riding.  I can't blame my bike anymore.  This one is on me.  I need to keep working on the bike to get stronger and more efficient.  Looking for any tips insights to do so.
-Happy to report I did not have increased pain after the run.  Ice and ibuprofen help.  I wasn't especially impressed with my run.  However, with my current volume of running, I'm not sure how much better I could have done.  Running and competing pain free is more important at this point.
-In general, it was just an awesome day competing and hanging out my WTAC friends on the Block (Jeff, Steve, Chris, Katie, Matthew, Polly, Garv's kids, and Shara-she's my friend, right?).

Great people, great day!