The swim was the best part of my day. Smooth and steady the entire time. I lined up towards the back and left on the clockwise swim but ended up near the buoys pretty quickly anyway. I drafted well for the first half of the race but then passed the guy whose feet I was on. After making the second turn and heading towards shore, the following waves caught up with me and it got a little rough. I passed a couple people from the waves that went off before me. That was pretty cool. I planned on a 45 minute swim and clocked in at 45:07. Not too shabby.

I tried to turn to shore a little early when the buoys changed from yellow to orange. Next time I'll make sure to know exactly where the turns are on the swim.

I discovered the best thing ever: wetsuit strippers! They were awesome. I was pretty dizzy coming out of the water, but I did jog in. Took my time but it all went smoothly.

Move faster.

At the first timer seminar the day before the race, Coach Snow said that he didn't think the course was hilly at all. After racing the course, I've decided that pro's definition of hilly isn't the same as mine. Most of the hills weren't actually too bad. Marsh Hill was a Monstah, and the hills on Brown Hill and Farrowville were short but steep. It was nice and cloudy for the first half then it warmed up. I lost a bottle and didn't stop to pick it up, so I was really thirsty between miles 35-45. The last 15 miles were pretty rough.

Eat more; drink more. Train more hills.

Got off the bike fine with my shoes and walked it to my spot only to find a bike on the ground on top of all my stuff. So I just racked my bike in the next stop. No big deal, but I'd rather take an extra couple seconds to make sure my bike is racked well than to find it on the ground at the end of the race. I exchanged the clif bars for gus in my pocket, put my toe socks on, and walked out.

Walking the run was a big part of my plan since I hadn't run in the three weeks prior to the race due to knee pain. I didn't have anything left after the bike anyway. Despite blisters forming within the first mile, I enjoyed the run course. As I walked out of transition by the announcer's tent, he announced my name and told me to pick it up and get moving. It was pretty cool. The aid stations were great and lots of people cheering us on. One aid station was handing out snowballs. There was a barbershop quartet singing near the turnaround. I was feeling better after a couple aid stations so I started running the downhills.

I drank lots on the way out trying to rehydrate

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my run/walk. The last six miles on the bike I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make the cutoffs, but I went a minute/mile faster than my goal pace. I would have finished the second lap in time even though I may have been dfl.

Run focused off season.

My wife had already got all my stuff out of transition due to the incoming storm, so I stretched well while waiting to get out of the park.

Unfortunately the massage tent was closing up as everyone was getting out ahead of the storm.


Low training volume, poorly executed nutrition plan, and not having my garmin.


Timberman was a great event. The course was challenging but fun. It was a great first 70.3 race for me.