Timberman 70.3 Race Report - Aug 18

Sorry guys, I know 2 months late!

My bike rack -Can you see the bike in/out sign? ...me neither.

I arrived in Ashland NH where I would be staying for the weekend with my parents late Friday night.  While it was nice to see them, immediately upon arriving I was met with non-stop complaints about the place we were staying in…they thought it smelled like mold but it was fine, I mean really, we were in the woods.  Guess who got to pack up the car to move to a different building .1 mile away?  Yep.  They also decided to do athlete packet-pickup/check in with me on Saturday, the day before the race.   Race site was about 50 minutes to an hour away from the condo we were staying in.  Due to road closure, we drove around a bit extra to get to Gunstock Mountain Resort for packet pickup but everything after that went pretty smoothly.  Transition area/bike drop off was super busy.  I found my spot wayyyy in the back far from bike in/bike out.  On the positive, I had an easy place to spot at the end of a rack.  It was also a toss-up for me about a full wetsuit or sleeveless, but after feeling the lake temp night before, full suit was definitely an appropriate choice.  On our way home we went to mass and picked up what we would make for dinner:  chicken and rice. 
 That night I packed everything I would need in my car and prepped my bike bottles – one bottle with a scoop of unflavored perpetuem and Gu Roctane Grape Flavor mixed with water and a second with just water.  I was in bed by about 9:45pm with an alarm set for 3:47am (yes, I’m the weirdo who sets my alarm to end in only a 3 or 7…I swear I’m not OCD).

Race morning went well since everything was set up the night before.  Coffee was brewing as I hit the kitchen.  I had a single cup with a scrambled egg, a slice of toast, and two scoops of plain oatmeal.  Shortly after 4am I grabbed my bike bottles, a Gatorade, and a container with an English Muffin with Nutella spread and hit the road.

While they warned that race site parking would be full by 5am, I showed up around 5:15 and there was plenty of parking.  Before I left my car I put down the rest of my coffee and the English Muffin and made my way to transition.  Security was tight race morning and they checked numbers on everything.  When I got to my bike, I used electrical tape to attach two Clif Shot Blocks to the frame, clipped in and rubber banded my bike shoes on the bike, and set out everything else I would need for the race…except I left my bottles in the car.  Luckily, the swim entrance was right behind my bike and my car was just a short walk through the woods.  On the way back, there was an awesome sunrise over the lake.  Made me glad that I forgot my bottles after all….that and the fact that I found a bunch of unused, lineless Porta Johns!  Just after 6 I had checked and double checked that I had everything where I wanted.  Transition area closed at 6:45am and from there on it was just a waiting game.  The first swim wave of Male Pros went off at 7am and then I still had a bunch of time to kill until my Wave 18 start at 8:01am – thankfully during which I didn’t decide to get in the water until 10 minutes before my start.   Everyone else that had jumped in to warm up earlier looked like they were freezing.

The lake swim was awesome - clean and clear.  The choice of a full suit was perfect as well.  (Thanks again for letting me borrow it Mo, so far I’ve had some of my best swims in your suit!)  One thing that stinks about starting in such a late wave is that you end up catching so many racers from the heats in front of you.  By no means am I a fast swimmer, but within 10 minutes I was having to maneuver over and around a lot other racers.  For the most part I felt like I was really moving during the swim with the exception of the final stretch to the beach.  I swear I was looking at the same rock below my fact for what seemed like 30 seconds before I looked up around me and saw a ton of other people in the same boat who seemed to be swimming for their lives yet going nowhere.  

Eventually I hit shore with my fastest swim at this distance: 33:07. As I was running to transition, I totally forgot that Ironman races had wetsuit strippers!!! Oh the convenience, these guys are awesome!  Many shorter races I will actually opt out of wearing a wetsuit if I don’t have to just because I struggle longer getting the dang thing off than I actually save time in the water.  But really, I felt so spoiled.  It was great!   I got to my bike fairly quickly, strapped on my helmet and sunglasses, and was headed to the bike out. 

I mounted pretty smoothly with my shoes clipped onto my bike and was ready to ride.  The 1^st 12 miles of the bike were pretty brutal…3 big hills, the 3^rd of which was not enjoyable by any means.  I just took my time and span up them, not trying to burn myself for the remainder of the race – of which there was still a lot left.  While climbing the 3^rd hill, the lead male ripped down the other side in his aeros.  Seriously, holy crap.  It looked like a death wish.  The rest of the 1^st half of the bike was a slight downhill, which we got the privilege of climbing back up, including the backside of those 3 hills on our return trip to transition area. After getting through 12 miles I ate my 1^st Packet of Cliff Shots and was still only taking in my bottle with Perpetuem and Roctane.  By mile 20 I was having sharp stomach pain similar to what I experienced at Woodstock and switched up my nutrition bottle for my water only bottle for the remainder of my ride – needless to say by mile 35,no more stomach pain.   I also passed my parents who were camped out on some business’s front lawn waiting to see me for 5 seconds.  It really is awesome to have friends or family at events, even if you only see them once or twice.  During the second half of the bike on the stretch of hills, there a female in my age group that really was blowing herself up to try and stay with me.  I let her lead the 3^rd hill and then just as we were hitting the top I thought of Joe from the peddler… and dropped her.  He would have been proud.  My bike split was much better than I had hoped for with the course profile - 2:57:58.

I dismounted my bike leaving the shoes clipped in with no problem and hustled back to where my run gear was set up.  T2 was quick.  Socks and shoes on, GU's in my back pocket, and on my way.  On the run I opened the 1^st 6 miles around a 7:50-8ish pace and felt pretty good even though the hills on the run were tough as well. The 1^st Roctane Island Nectar GU went in at mile 1.5 and the second at mile 6.  Ironman had such great (and plentiful) volunteers on their course… same goes for Porta Johns thankfully, since by mile 7 I felt my stomach rumbling and prepping to go for the kill.  At mile 8 I knew I needed an open Porta  ASAP and got very lucky.  I was in and out in less than :45 but during that time I got passed by a female in my age group.  I saw her pass as I exited but didn’t have the legs to stay with her.  By mile 9 I was starting to tank.  The hills on the return portion of the run were brutal during the second go-round.  Up to this point I was only taking in water, but I switched and took a cup of Gatorade at mile 10 and this is the last thing that I consumed prior to finishing.  I gutted out the last 3 miles and finished with a 1:46:54 run.  Slightly slower than I had hoped, but keeping in perspective my bike split, I couldn’t be disappointed in the least.


 My final race time was 5:21:49 (a PR of over 30minutes) which wound up being  12^th in AG.  On my back to transition, I met up with fellow devils Kelly and Michelle, took a few photos, and then headed over to grab a recovery drink and some food.  While I had no interest in the hot food or pasta salad, the fruit and homemade ice cream hit the spot.  I packed up all of my gear and headed out to meet my parents. 

The next day, as you would expect, I was pretty beat up and sore.  My mother had this great idea to hike…oh you know, as recovery.  Needless to say, the trails were a little aggressive on the legs, but we made it through okay.  The weather was perfect for it and waterfalls were freezing but felt great on the lower body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this race and weekend on the whole.  It was definitely challenging, good weather, and I was really happy with my performance.  I would highly recommend this race to anyone looking for a tough course.