Challenge Rimini - Race Report

The day before

In the previous days I was constantly checking the weather forecast ( http://yr.no , a pretty accurate one), hoping for a sunny warm Italian seaside day...but unfortunately the only thing the service was saying was: brace yourself, you'll have rain and wind!

Driving from Perugia to Rimini, Girgina and I had to face a lot of rain, and quite strong winds as well. This is nothing good for the mood!!!

I got to Rimini just in time for the briefing. The organizers told us that the bike course was generally in good conditions, with some pieces of uneven tarmac, and that the rain will make it slippery!

I dropped the bike at the transition area after a quick (free) mechanical check-up, protecting it with the "Challenge" branded plastic cover.

Race morning

6:22 am, the alarm of my neighbors goes off, 8 minutes before mine was scheduled to wake me up! Time to bite an energy bar before going to plunder the breakfast :)

There the other athletes were not exactly in the mood for a half ironman! One guy went like "I don't say 'buon giorno' because I know it's useless"...

After loading my stomach with all sort of carbs, I went back to my room just in time to see Girgina going to have breakfast. I packed my things, ready to get my spot in the transition area ready.

There...the first surprise of the day! One guy at the entrance of the transition area stops me and goes like "497, you've got a problem!". Well, apart from having to swim in choppy water and facing wind and rain all day long? Seems that my medical certificate got lost somewhere in the application forms! Luckily my girlfriend was right there with that piece of paper. 10 minutes after the issue was fixed!

I placed my bike/run stuff in plastic bags, planning a relaxed T1. I then stuffed the bike bag with carbo gels and other supplements, then grabbed the shot of carnitine and headed out of the transition area.

Going to the beach I heard the speakers announcing that the start of the swim was near the panoramic wheel, instead of the previously planned start. Near the water I could barely see the yellow buoys, and many other athletes too were a tad worried about the water conditions.

The pro start was scheduled to happen at 9am sharp...but it was delayed by exactly 30 minutes. A few minutes before the start of the pros, a race marshal was patrolling the beach asking athletes to get ready for the start, so I asked if he knew when the pros were to start: he said "probably 9:30, to make things easy".

Well...I had to respond to the call of mother nature, and get my feet wet to avoid the shock of entering the water while dry, so I took it easy! Once I tried to get into the "blue cap" area, the same marshal went like "hey, I told you to get ready earlier!!!" My moustache isn't helping me in keeping a low profile! Time for a clean shave!

start of the 3rd wave

Swim (24:59) and T1 (6:11)

Right before the start, I spotted my family a few meters to the left of the starting area. I had to wave for quite long time before even my mother could recognize me! Time for some pictures in the wind! Then the horn went off: time to fight the waves and conquer the first buoy!

It was a long walk to get to the knee high water, I feared that this would have been a 1.9km  wet run, but in the end it didn't take that long to start swimming almost properly! Despite what the videos show, the water was choppy, and more than one athlete after reported that waves were even 2 meters high, giving little hope to spot the buoys, or to have a peaceful swim. I found myself swimming "Tarzan style" for quite some time, before getting a proper stroke in place.

When I passed the first waypoint, I got my right foot trapped in the rope that was anchoring the buoy to the bottom of the sea. A split second later the others were already swimming on myself, pushing me underwater. Another split second later I was again above the surface screaming "mind the rope folks!" and swimming away! I also spotted a "white cap" clung to the ropes. Maybe I just imagined him!!!

The rest of the swim was much easier, even though it was more like a ride on a roller coaster. Navigation wasn't easy, and at some point I saw people swimming in too many wrong directions. I even thought that I was missing some buoy! Never follow the others: always navigate by yourself!

Once on the beach (I got there walking, taking it really easy) I realized that my time was not realistic! Less than 25 minutes for 1900 meters is not an output I can produce (actually, that's a "pro" time!).

My T1 was one of the worst of the race! I took it really easy, smiling at the photographers, slowly removing the wetsuit, unpacking the rest of the tri suit (I was wearing only the pants underneath the wetsuit), choosing which color of windstopper was more appropriate, chatting with other athletes, agreeing that the swim was much shorter than planned :)

A shot of BCAA later I was pushing my bike out of T1, ready to enjoy the awesome bike leg.

relaxed T1

Bike (3:01:40)

Right after T1 I realized that the weather was changing for the best! I decided to wear a windstopper to be sure I wouldn't get cold during the hilly bike course. The air wasn't hot, so the extra layers would have kept me at an ideal temperature, without making me sweat too much.

It wasn't long before I had to climb the first hill. This would have set the pace for the rest of the leg. About 1300m of vertical climb in total, with winds that were mainly against the athletes, shining sun, friendly supporters and staff, entirely closed bike course, and clean asphalt!

Spinning in easy gears was a must. I saw far too many people mashing long gears without producing any relevant speed! Being a former cyclist, I naturally spin > 90 rpm, and feel comfortable going uphill!

Even though drafting was not permitted, I saw small groups forming here and there. I don't know if they then started pushing the speed, for sure this could have been a big advantage for some.

The aid stations were well organized. I wanted to take a "Challenge Rimini" bottle home, but unfortunately I lost the one I had at the last station, and couldn't get another back ;( I got also some PowerGels, but I haven't had the guts to down a vanilla flavored gel! The organizers of Doksyman were offering the same gels, and I managed to swallow them only after the race!

I relaxed during the last 10km, being passed by a fair number of other competitors, getting ready for T2! During the bike leg I drunk 750ml of hypotonic drink, about one liter of plain water, 3 Multipower gels, 2 drops of Carbonex and another shot of BCAA at km 50. I dragged an energy bar all the way back to T2 without touching it!

1st lap,still looking fresh

T2 (3:47) and Run (1:36:06)

T2 went pretty well. My bike rack was very close to the entrance of the transition area. It took me a little while to remove the windstopper and the sleeves, unpack the shoes, reduce the space occupied by the rest of the gears...but in the end it didn't take that long.

My legs where responding pretty well from the very beginning, even though the Prague Marathon was only 2 weeks away. At a 4:30 m/km pace I had to hold back a bit. My plan was to get out of T2 at about 5 minutes per km, but it wasn't that easy to slow down with all those people cheering me up (one man from the side of the road screamed a "Bravo baffoneee", my moustache didn't pass unnoticed :D ).

Shortly after that I saw a kid running across the road, hitting an athlete on his bike who was on his way to T2! I hope everything got fixed quickly! (Parents, mind your kids!!! If you can't manage them, use a leash).

Even thought my pace was higher than expected, I felt like I was not covering any distance at all!!! And by the end of the 2nd lap I had the feeling that I could hit the wall any moment! My pace was getting worse and worse, clearly feeling dehydrated even though I was drinking at every station! Having my family cheering me up twice per lap helped. I also had to look good for the pictures and videos :D

At the last "sponge station" I thoroughly cleaned my face, my moustache, and somehow my hands (gels and drinks get sticky in matter of seconds!!!), ready for the finish line snapshots!

Reaching the Fellini park was a bit of a struggle, but once on the roundabout, I felt elated! I took off my sunglasses, and released all the joy that comes with such an accomplishment...just to realize that athlete #670 was catching up with me right under the finish line! I managed to keep my "lead" by 0.2 sec! :)

Sprinting at the end of a 5 hours race isn't exactly healthy!

During the run I used 2 Endurosnacks (in a handy flask), and drunk water at every station (twice per lap), having hypotonic drink and coke a couple of times.

Athlete's village, massage and pasta party

Recovery begins right after the finish line! Thanks Vilem for the "Super Mega Mass 2000" by Weider. That's a mass gainer for body builders...but it works perfectly as a recovery drink for long trainings and races! I had my shaker in the rucksack left at the baggage area. The lady who was there was the same who signed me up the day before and went like "Hey, we woke you up with that medical certificate issue, and now you're here and doing well :) ". The moustache is a really distinctive sign! You can't keep a low profile with it!

After saying hello to my supporters, I headed for the massage tent, where I shared some thoughts about the race with Andrea, another athlete who did well that day, and got my legs cured in not less than 20 minutes! After that I was back on my feet :)

That's when Girgina found me. We then eat something at the stands (some banana and crostatine). The organization also arranged showers at the tennis club! That made a massive difference for my day! After that...pasta party, then back to transition area (it was raining again by that time), and then the long walk back to the car, to then start the journey back to Perugia, via San Marino.

I look forward to race Challenge again, but in the meantime...Ironman Wales is coming closer!!!