Timberman Triathlon Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt pretty solid for the first third or so of the swim, then started slowing down. About 1/2 way through, the next wave caught up with me and I was awash in a sea of pink caps. I had to have been one of the last ones in my age group to finish. I saw maybe two or three other dark green caps behind me as I came out of the water. I was a little disappointed in my "mental toughness" during some parts of the swim, as I kept breaking my rhythm and lifting my face out of the water. I know that I could have kept going more strongly, because when I got to the last buoy I swam much more consistently and solidly the rest of the way in.

I need to increase my swimming endurance.

Time is an estimate, since they have not posted the transition splits yet. No problems here, maybe a little slower than usual since my helmet and other gear was wrapped up in plastic bags to keep them dry.

Very hilly for the first ten miles. I was shooting for ~18.5 mph overall, and after the first 10 miles my average was 15.5. The course became much more flat for a while after that. Bit of a headwind on the way out, felt nice to have it on my back after the turnaround. The nasty hills on the way out were a blast on the way back - hit 45.2 mph going down one. Lost about a minute at one point when I dropped my chain starting to climb a steep hill.

I had been concerned about the tube in my back tire all week - seemed to be losing some pressure between rides, and I think it may have lost some before the race began. Anyway, it held up through the whole ride, but when I went to get my bike after the race, it was flat. Dodged a bullet on that one, I guess.

More time on the bike in training. My longest ride was one 56 miler (which included a food break), and I think this really hurt my running.

Legs were really wobbly coming off the bike. Got to see my "cheering sections" (Jen and the girls, my mom and her husband, Darryl, Sarah, and Tanya) which was really nice and very encouraging. Darryl ran alongside the transition area with me down to my rack, and was yelling at me to stay focused and get moving, which was helpful.

Saw the third place overall finisher (Michael Lovato) finishing as I was starting my run.

UGGGGHHHHHH. Here's where the wheels came off. I was expecting to be able to run sub-8 minute miles, since I've had no problem doing so at olympic distance races. I vastly underestimated my ability to run after a three hour bike. I took off onto the run course, and knew I was moving slower than usual, but when I hit the first mile at over 9 minutes I knew this was going to be rough. I was getting some pretty bad cramping in my left quad, so that was not helping. From then on I just tried to make it from aid station to aid station. It was getting very hot, and I'm not sure about my fluid/fuel intake on this race. I thought I had enough, but maybe I underestimated what I needed.

Finished the first loop in about an hour - ran past my cheering sections again, which again was really awesome. The announcer even made some comment about "the popular Robert Riley from Chelsea Maine".

The second loop was still very tough, but knowing that I was over half way there was very encouraging. It was getting hotter and hotter, so I took advantage of every sprinkler, hose, wet sponge or whatever that was offered along the way. I was trying to maintain under 10 minutes a mile, with the new goal being to finish under 6 hours. Hit mile 12 at 5:50:00, so I guess I did the last 1.1 miles in 8:43. Pushed it down the finishing chute, high fived a big hairy guy wearing a bright red dress, and passed 3 or 4 people down the final stretch before coming to the finish. Again, having so many friends and lots of random people cheering for me and hearing my daughters yelling "go daddy!" was just awesome.

Again, more time on the bike, and better awareness of hydration/nutrition needs on such a hot day.

Walked around, jumped in the lake, ate pizza and ice cream.


I learned a lot from this race. Experienced a lot of highs as well as some lows, and got a good hard look at my current level of ability and endurance. I know what I want to work on as I look ahead to the Mooseman 1/2 and IMLP next year.