Timberman - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Gilford, New Hampshire
United States
EndorFun
Precipitation
Total Time = 5h 32m 24s
Overall Rank = 447/1368
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 53/82
Pre-race routine:

1. Kate Major is really tiny and super hot in person.

2. The other day I posted a little race plan and let a little info out on exactly why I was doint Timberman. So just to refresh, as I think it belongs in this race report, here it is:

Ok. This is what's going to happen on Sunday. I'm going to race this half ironman for Lindsey DeForrest. For this race I think I tried to work off the fitness I gained after all mt Eagleman training a little too much and I know there are points where I didn't work as hard as I should have. That being said, Lindsey is someone that I have grown to adore, take in as part of my own family as my little sister and love. She is also so much more than that. She's my best friend and someone I can confide in about issues deeply personal to me and know they will never leak out. I would trust her with my life. Eventhough she is just a young woman, in reference to her, age is only a number (she's 18). She's beautiful, intelligent and a gifted athlete. She leaves for Penn State, which makes me excrutiatingly nervous, and it will be a long time before I am able to see her again so that's why I race/dedicate Timberman to her. The strenght and happiness that I draw from her is indescribable, and that's what I am going to need. Here is the rundown:

A triathlon is a swim/bike/run. Sunday will be a Lindsey/Marie/DeForrest.

Lindsey, L for LONG - I'm going to get in that water, stay LONG and fast. Catch swimmers from two waves ahead of me and have a 27 minute swim split (if not faster).

Marie, M for MASH - I'll play it safe for the first ten to twelve miles, conquering the hills in the beginning and then proceed to MASH the rest of the bike course, doing what I can to come in at 2:40.

DeForrest, D for DECIDE/DESTROY - This is where I am going to need the strength and support that she's given me ever since we declared eachother brother and sister, best friends for life. She's always stuck by me and supported what I've set out to do and most of all she understands it. This is going to hurt because quite franky I haven't put as much work into running as I should have. However there will be a point where I will have to DECIDE that this run leg will become mine and dig deep to DESTROY the competition around me. This will be a different run with the hills, but I'll be happy with a 2 hour split.

When I get home one of the going away gifts I have for Lindsey will be my finishers medal.

Event warmup:

I got up to the condo I was staying at on Friday around 8pm and met Joel (TH3_FRB) and stared in awe of his bike. Joel is super cool and had a lot of great info to pass on. After a while a couple other people showed up and around 11-ish I went to bed. On Saturday I woke up around 9. Joel and I drove the bike course and at one point I said, "these hills don't seem too bad, but of course we're in a car." A car will make any hill seem easy. After driving the course we got on our bikes and headed out for about an hour, climbing some of the hills about 3 miles into the course. My my how different they were than in the car. It was good though because I knew what to expect the next morning, well, for at least some of the way. Once getting back to the condo I showered and headed over to Gunstock to pick up my packet. I didn't really spend any time at the expo as I went straight over to Ellacoya to rack my bike and get in the water for a quick swim. I stood on the beach for a while just looking out at the water and there was this dude behind me putting on his wetsuit. I walked out and for a second thought I was going to be cold (I didn't have my wetsuit on), but the water turned out to be pretty nice. That guy walked out into the water behind me and we exchanged pleasantries and decided to swim together for a little, maybe about 10 minutes. After swimming and walking back to shore I saw Joel racking his bike and said that I would wait if he wanted to get in the water. Once he was ready we went out and swam for about 20 minutes.I loved this water. I changed in the parking lot and headed over to B. mae's to try to find the BTers. I saw Joel get out of his car and walk somewhere but by the time I got through the light and parked he was gone and for the life of me I couldn't find anyone. After a little walking around I decided to go back to the condo and eat before heading over for the pre-reace meeting. Met up with John (kleinrider) and his g/f at the meeting, listened to the meeting then headed home, ate again and went to bed around 9. Waking up at midnight to pee I took a look outside and saw it was lightly raining but didn't think it was too bad. However, getting out of bed at 4:30 and walking out to my car turned out to be a different story. It was really raining and it just kept getting worse, especially after I had "set up" my transition (meaning I just put my bag down and sorta arranged my stuff in ti with some plastic bags on top). I hung out under a tree and bs'ed with some other people. I saw John and some other members of my tri club, then started to get cold so I put wy wetsuit on. That was nice but again I started to get cold and of course I had to pee.
Swim
  • 27m 19s
  • 1931 meters
  • 01m 25s / 100 meters
Comments:

The start was delayed a little and by the time the pro's went off the rain had blown over, thank God. I got in the water and took a few strokes. By this time I really had to go so I just let it out and it warmed me up a bit haha. I can't see far without my glasses so I asked someone in my wave how many buoys there were until the turn and proceeded to stike up a conversation. It turned out to be his first HIM. Waves went off and it was our turn to go. I positioned myself at the vrey front of the wave. GO! That's what I did.

Lindsey. L for LONG. I made sure I stayed long with my stroke, nice body roll and finish. I wore my clear goggles and I am very glad I did, there was no sun glare to worry about and seeing the buoys was easy. One dude took it out and I stayed on his feet. At one point I said to him (to myself), "Ok, you can take out hard but can you hold on?" Maybe, maybe not. I have no way of knowing if he was one of the 3 people in my wave to beat me. All of a sudden I found myself in a sea of yellow caps from the wave before me. I looked up and there wat the triangle buoy already signalling the turn. I made the turn with relative ease and there I was in a mix of yellow and pink caps, pink caps being from two waves before me. Ok I thought, you wanted to catch some pink caps, here they are. I saw no gree ahead of me. I thought I was winning, but in the end I got touched out by only three others in my wave. I sighted well and came to the turn where I was in noting but pink caps and the occasional white, the first wave after the pro's. Made a beeline to the finish, checked my watch and saw 27 minutes. Ok Lindsey, I made goods on my first promise to you, let's see what happens next.
What would you do differently?:

Eventhough this was good enough for 18th overall, I still have to do it faster.
Transition 1
  • 03m 12s
Comments:

Before the race began I decided not to make any big expectations because of the conditions. I was going to play it safe and avoid any trouble spots/injury potential. I took my time getting my shoes on and out of T1.
What would you do differently?:

Again, do it faster.
Bike
  • 2h 52m 44s
  • 56 miles
  • 19.45 mile/hr
Comments:

Marie. M for MASH. I played it safe the first 12 miles getting through the hills. I did my best to at least stay seated on every hill, trying to stay aero on most of them and not giving up any power. This worked most of the time but on a few instances I had to stand up. The rain had passed by this time but it was still overcast. I had both my regular and sunglasses with me. I went with my sunglasses after a while just for the protection (plus they are perscription) which I think was the right choice (plus they look cooler). On one hill I wasn't moving fast enough and they began to fog a little but I crested the hill and that was taken care of. I did some passing and got passed, especially playing a little cat and mouse with number 620. We went back and forth for a while and then we didn't see eachother. After the hills were done I laid the hammer down. If conditions were better I think I could have hammered even harder but at points it was a little sketchy so I had to scrub a little speed, especially on descents. My max speed reached 40 I think and the whole way out I averaged 20 at the least. Saw the por's coming back and I just couldn't believe it, they were going so fast. Made the turn around and the way back was more of an incline but I still held about 20 until getting back to the hills. Some of these long steady climbs were brutal but I did my best to keep spinning. Coming back into town where you start descending down the hills, it started raining again and it was right in my face. My glasses were gogging big time and it wasn't getting better so I took them off and rode almost blind. Well ,not so much blind, I just can't see far, so things close to me were fine. The rain in my face wasn't helping though. There were a couple descents where the road wasn't in the best condition and with the second round of rain I didn't feel comfortable going down in aero so I rode the horns in a tuck position, slightly tapping the brakes. With 1.5 miles left I met up with number 620 again and said, "well hey there!" All of a sudden she dropped the F bomb and asked if she had a flat. Sure enough she did. So close to the end, I felt bad, but kept hammering home. I looked at my watch but at that point I was in no condition to start doing math so I didn't even try to calculate my time and I had mileage and speed displayed on my computer. Turns out I have almost the exact same split I did at Eagleman. It makes me think what I might be able to do on a flat course now, maybe running some HED3s or a disc. But it was nice passing soem Cervelo P3C's running HEDs/Zipp's/disc's while on my stock Felt S32 running less than aero wheels. I need to hit the lottery and buy some wheels.

Granted, I missed my mark for Lindsey, but I'll take it, considering the course.
What would you do differently?:

Train more hills.
Transition 2
  • 03m 27s
Comments:

Coming in there was someone at the rack as well but he was gracious enough to move over so I could rack. Wiped my feet clean (mostly) and got my socks and shoes on and off I went. I hade to fix my left sock after I got it on because it didn't feel that comfortable. There was stuff all over so it was a little hader for this to go smoothly, but I got in and out without much hassle.
What would you do differently?:

FAAAAASTERRRR.
Run
  • 2h 05m 44s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 36s  min/mile
Comments:

Ok baby, this is where I'm gonna need you.

DeForrest. D for DECIDE nad DESTROY. Well, I don't know how much I destroyed and I really can't tell you exactly where I decided to make this mine. But I can tell you that it hurt. I neglected my running and it was evident, but somehow I came in with almost the exact same split as Eagleman, again. I know I can run a faster half-mary on a flat course. How I was able to run this the way I did with the hills is beyond me. Maybe it was Lindsey with me the whole time. I don't know, but they way I felt I was expecting something much slower. I imagined her being at each aid station, around each corner, along the finish chute, it's really the only thing that kept my feet moving one in front of the other. One thing I know, I don't like Carb-Boom. At one point I had a tiny verp and tasted Carb-Boom and I just wanted to throw up, but it wasn't coming. Another thing that saved me was the Endurolytes that came in the goodie bag. My left quad was starting to feel a little twingy in the beginning of the run. I popped 3 Endurolytes and it went away. I ate more gels and drank more that I did at Eagleman and I think that really helped, no matter how bloated I felt. At points I would try to take a deep breath and I had a little trouble breathing which made me panic a bit put I told my self to keep moving forward because if Lindsey saw you slow down you would never forgive yourself. I unzipped my tri top a bit and that seemed to help. I credit ths run not to anything I did, because to be honest I hardly did anything to prepare for the run, all I wanted to do between now and Eagleman was ride and swim. I credit the run to pure will and determination and who I was out there for. Coming into the turn around I heard a bellowing GO TEAM TRIUMPH!!! I had no idea who it was but I knew it was directed at me because I was wearing a Team TRIumph uniform. The only other Team TRIumph members I knew of being at the race were out on the course so it was encouraging to hear something familiar from the crowd that I didn't even know was there. It was great to be able to see some teammates so many times on the run, eventhough I am more of a fan of the out and back.

It's funny how something so little can turn on something so big inside a person. On my way back on the second loop I passed by an aid station on the other side and I heard a little girl cheering and one thing she said was, "We look up to you! We really do!" I swear to God I thought I was going to loose it. I started to feel like I was on fire inside. I think that's when I decided it was time to go, and I went with what I had left. I kept looking at my watch but it was no use because my mind was in a totally different place. I just kept saying to myself, "There is no way you I am going home without a PR for my baby." Alas, it was not to be. I looked at my watch and it read 5:27 so I had thought I PR'd by three minutes, however the results said 5:32. That being said, I did the best I could do on a more difficult course. She deserves to hold every once of work put into this finish as hers and I am proud to have dedicated it to someone who means so much to me, PR or not.


What would you do differently?:

I think it's obvious. Run more, even when I don't want to. I know I can be faster than this.
Post race
Warm down:

Crossed the line, drank the bottle of water they gave and wiped myself down with the little towel. I wish that towel was bigger, I was so cold and all my stuff was wet inside my bag. I wanted to call Lindsey and tell her how much I love her but my phone was in my car. I wandered around trying to keep standing up and I found the group of Team TRIumph supporters. I'm sorry but I can't remember who all it was that I met. I know I met Fran, but that's all I can remember. Got some pizza and ice cream, but forwent the free beer. I probably would have passed out.



What limited your ability to perform faster:

My run training and the wet/rainy conditions.

Event comments:

I understand now why Timberman is one of the "must do" races in the country. I think I might make this "A" race number two next season after IMAZ, unless Keith Jordan and EndorFun can get the Colonial Tri set for next year. Everything about this was great. I think this was a step in the right direction. Eagleman has the tough winds, but I think this course was a bit more difficult. Comparing the two side by side, with the proper training and execution I know I can be closer to 5 hours. Right now it's just a matter of time




Last updated: 2006-03-26 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:27:19 | 1931 meters | 01m 25s / 100meters
Age Group: 4/82
Overall: 18/1368
Performance: Good
Suit: Ironman Stealth full
Course: Clockwise 3/4 rectangle
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:12
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:52:44 | 56 miles | 19.45 mile/hr
Age Group: 47/82
Overall: 430/1368
Performance: Average
Wind:
Course: 56 mile out and back with some nice hills the first and last 12 miles or so.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 03:27
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
02:05:44 | 13.1 miles | 09m 36s  min/mile
Age Group: 65/82
Overall: 851/1368
Performance: Average
Course: 2-looper.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5