The Beach to Battleship Ironman distance race

WW2 Documentary The Beach to Battleship Ironman distance race was a fantastic race with wonderful scenery, great volunteers, excellent aid stations, and overall a lot of support. One of the biggest challenges with this particular race is the logistics because this is a point to point race and not a race where you return to your transition area in between each discipline in the race. In addition the swim start was reached only by bus from the swim/bike transition.

The overall setup was that you had to turn in your Run Transition bag to the transition area at the Wilmington Convention Center on Friday before the race on Saturday. You could bring your swim to bike transition bag and your special needs bags for the bike and run on Saturday morning. I was a nervous wreck because typically I check and double check and triple check my transition area on race morning to make sure that everything is in proper order. In this race, I would not be able to even touch my run transition bag on the morning of the race. This bring about a special set of issues in that you pack your bags correctly so you don't have your bike shoes where your run shoes should be.

This is how I packed my bags specifically:

On Friday, I turned in my run transition bag along with my special needs bags. In my run transition bag I had my running shoes, my run nutrition items along with a mixed water bottle with Accelerade. I had forgotten to put my race belt with my race number in the transition bag and had to make a last minute drive to the convention center before it closed for the evening. I also turned in my run and bike special needs bags that included some various items. Also, my swim/bike transition bag.

Bike Special Needs Bag Included:

• A spare bicycle tire
• Spare Gels
• Spare Endurolyte Pills
• A Water Bottle Mixed with Accelerade
• Fresh Socks (Never used these)

Run Special Needs Bag Included:

• Extra Gels
• Extra Endurolyte PIlls
• A Water Bottle Mixed with Accelerade
• Fresh Socks (Never used these)

Swim/Bike Transition Bag:

• Race Socks (stayed in these all day)
• Bike Nutrition Gels
• Bike Nutrition Endurolytes
• Heart rate Monitor
• Sunglasses
• Arm Warmers
• Bike Gloves

On race morning, I took a taxi from my hotel room in my race gear, flip flops, and carrying my wetsuit, bike shoes, and helmet. I left all my other items in the hotel room for my wife to return later in the day to pick up. I also carried my swim goggles, my first gel, and my first round of Endurolyte pills. Finally, I had my pre-race bagel to eat at the race site. I arrived at the race site and it was cold. I wished I had a sweatshirt or some of the item to keep warm. I went ahead and put on my wetsuit earlier than I had planned to stay warm. I made sure I had my bike shoes at the bike along my helmet to stout on the bike leg.

Having turned in all my bags on Friday, I did not have a bag to pack or turn in. I would do this again this way instead of trying to turn in swim/bike transition or special needs on Saturday morning which is an option. The only thing I would change is to have some of my items for my bike transition in a bag that I could leave at the transition area and have my family pick it up.

Overall, the logistics were nerve wracking, but I think I will be much better off next year having completed the logistical challenge this year. I had to make a note in Evernote with the overall packing list for when I left home and then I made the list for each of the 4 bags I used. (Swim/Bike Transition, Bike/Run Transition, Bike Special Needs, Run Special Needs) This seem to help me keep things organized.