Swim Bike Run Live

Timberman 70.3 Race Report

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Leading up to the race, I was in a very strange zen calm.

I normally get jittery butterflies throughout the week leading up to race morning, but not this time. I was as cool as a cucumber. It was a little odd even. I knew I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to be. (I may never meet the standards I set for myself, but that is a different conversation. As long as I get closer and closer each time). I was totally at peace with it and had a great game plan to compensate and take everything in stride. I was happy. I was confident. I was ready to roll.

I woke up early on Saturday to watch the sprint and cheer on some other team mates. It was nuts watching people that normally crush 70.3′s and IMs to battle it out in sprints. A lot of the guys that first came in off the bike looked like they barely touched the brakes before they came flying in to T2, dismounted, and kept on sprinting. Wicked cool to watch.

Packet pickup, racked the bike, and did all the final preps. Still no butterflies. Just a happy calm. I couldn’t explain it, but I liked it. I want to figure out how to repeat that pre-race mood.

All day I focused on hydration and eating well. I think that was my major flaw in preparing for Rev3 earlier this year, so I wanted to knock that problem off right away. Nothing crazy to throw my stomach off, just gatorade, fruits, veggies, and a subway sandwich. I woke up at 3:30 on race morning to release some fluids, so I knew I was on the right track.

After finally getting to the race start, I could just feel the little flip-flap of a few mini butterflies. Nothing major, but enough to not make me want to eat. I knew that I would need some calories in me before the swim, so I sucked down a GU. I think GUs as pre-race nutrition are totally under rated. I can normally barely chew anything without feeling like I’m going to vomit on race day, but the GU slid right down the pipe into my belly. I was a happy camper.

Leading up to the race, I was able to keep my HR pretty low too. All under 80 (usually around 50 on a normal day, 90-100 on other pre-race days), so I was happy.

After waiting what seemed like forever for my wave to start, we got called up. This big beautiful blond was there in the water to greet us. (S)he even let me get a little squeeze of those honkers. I did ask first. I’m a gentleman after all.

The announcer counted down, called out GO GO GOGOGOGO and we were off on the swim. I kept waiting for the zen-calm to wash away, but it stuck with me. I drafted off of a lot of people’s feet and held a pretty tight line to the buoys. As I leapfrogged passed slower swimmers in earlier waves, I felt really good. Definitely not the fastest swim of my life, but best as far as pushing it just enough and staying mentally focused on the next 69.1 miles.

Time: 38:25 (~2:00 min/100m)

T1 was fine (once I found my bike). Even with lettered rows, the huge transition area was a little tough to navigate. Once I got there it was: sock, sock, shoe, shoe, glasses, food, helmet GO!

The bike course was beautiful and just as described. Hilly first and last 10 miles, but nice and smooth flat roads all the way through the middle. Beautiful scenery too. It was hard, but nowhere near as challenging as the Rev3 course. I felt strong all the way through and especially loved powering across the flat and freshly paved sections in the aero bars, which is still a really new feeling for me. Timberman is worth doing just for the bike course alone. It was a blast. I felt like I was playing a video game. I want to do it again right now!

Oh and yes, the new Cervelo is AWESOME to race on. Speedier. Smoother. And Sexier. (But I still love you Fuji. You will always hold a special place in my heart, especially when cyclocross season comes around.)

Time: 3:01:33 (18.5 mph)

I just missed breaking the 3 hour mark! Oh well. There is always next year.

Jumped off the bike and felt pretty good. The hips weren’t bothering me, and I just kept moving. It took me about a mile to really get my legs under me, but after that I felt pretty good.

I didn’t even realize how hot it had gotten until I pored some water on my head and realized how good it felt. I played it save and walked every aid station to grab a sponge and 2-3 cups of water. One for my head. One for my belly. And another to fill up any empty fuel belt bottles (just in case). I didn’t want to repeat any pounding dehydration headaches from Rev3, so went a little overkill on carrying the water. I would have rather finished with a completely full fuel belt than with I had something to drink between aid stations.

By the 6 mile mark my shoes were drenched. 10 pounds each and squishing with every step. It made me with I had those special tri shoes with the drainage holes in them. (As if I need another excuse to buy more gear…)

My pace was far from t anything spectacular, but I was able to keep running all the way between water stops, so that counted as a win for me. My run was definitely the weak point going in to the race, so I was just hoping for the best. I felt good after the first 10k, but then it started to hit me. The hockey team that was handing out snowballs from the pile of ice they had on the side of the road were my saviors. I was baking out there but dumping a hand full of ice down my top felt A-Mazing.

Time: 2:25:14 (11:06 min/mile)

My half marathon time alone was pretty sad, but considering everything, it wasn’t half bad. It even brought me to beat my old PR by 9 minutes! Still not quite at that sub-6 level, but I have it in my sights and hopefully will nail it next time around.

Overall Time: 6:11:24

And the best part is that (other than some more training) there probably isn’t too much I would change about the whole weekend. It was perfect and want to do it all over again!

Now I’ve had two easy days before coach starts busting my ass again. Tomorrow is tempo run time to get my butt in shape for my Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay! More news on that coming soon. Sit tight.

Category : Ironman, Race Reports, Triathlon

Tags: 70.3, half ironman, Race Reports, timberman

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