Timberman - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started in the back of the pack as I did last year. I hate begin kicked and beat up so I'd rather just run my own race than worry about other people. This plan worked OK - not as well as last year but I was comfortable so that was good. For the rest of the swim: Holy chop batman! I have not done any swimming in choppy water. It was pretty interesting for sure. I didn't realize how choppy the water was until after we rounded the first buoy. I just tried to keep my strokes long and relaxed. Other than a couple of mouthfuls of water and some sighting issues it was a good swim. I got some good drafting in along the back stretch of the swim - very helpful since it was difficult to sight while paralleling the shore. Clearly the guy I was following was pretty comfortable in the chop and he kept a good line. Sadly someone who was zig-zagging cut me off and I lost him. On the final stretch into shore I was having a good run of it because I breathe on my right side and I was able to not get huge mouthfuls of water. I passed a couple of the white capped racers on the way in and only saw a handful of pink caps. That made me happy. Of course, I am not sure if I was off course or if everyone else went wide on the way back to shore - I felt like I was tight against the buoys and was going as straight as possible but its hard to tell without looking back. All in all the swim for me was very good - I didn't get tired, paced very well and came out in an excellent time. Glad to see all the swimming I have done has paid off!

I guess I ought to spend some time in choppy water practicing that. I caught myself pulling my stroke up short while in the waves - thankfully I recognized it and calmed down and kept moving in a relaxed pace.

Not smoking fast but not completely leisurely pace. My jog on the sand was better than last year and I kept moving. I saw my family + some other friends and it was fantastic to hear them all cheering! That motivated me for sure!

Remember to put my race # on - I had missed the prerace meeting and thankfully my transition neighbor reminded me to wear my race # on the bike (you know for penalties). I was smart to bring a milk crate to transition - it helped a LOT for putting socks and shoes on.

It had sopped raining by the beginning of the bike. I spun out of transition and up the first hill in a pretty easy gear and tried to get water into my system. My mistake of the day was that I forgot to take my aerobottle out on a ride since changing my front-end up on the bike - turns out that my straw was a *tad* too short (as in WAY too short). Good thing I have been using bottles all summer - the only bummer is that because of the rain they would be all gritty. Oh well. The first 11 miles were the standard take-it-easy and just working the hills. Ryan Patterson (matt's friend) passed me at about mile 5 throwing down a kick-butt pace. It was inspiring to see him sprint by but I stuck to my gameplan of keeping in my endurance zone. A couple of the corners were still pretty wet - I came in too fast at the left turn into the Industrial park but got it under control and was cheered on my Tim and company frmo GSTC. I gave a yell and kept on moving! At Marsh hill - mile 10 - I could feel the presence of the officials in the motorcycle behind me. Why is it that the officials always seem to get to me as I am climbing a big hill? The same thing happened at Mooseman to me. It was frustrating as I had to ensure that I had 4 bike lengths from the guy infront of me since he was pacing me up the hill. Finally he moved on and it looked like he was handing out a couple of penalties up the hill a bit but I couldn't tell. I did somehow manage to pass a couple of people on the hill which made me feel pretty dang good! After March hill it was a pretty hairy descent down to 106 since a van decided that he just had to pass me and the roads were very wet - I know that the turns at the bottom of the hill can be a tad dangerous so I took it easy and kept feathering the brakes to keep it in check. Once onto 106 I got into my groove and just stayed there. Other than some saddle soreness / numbness the ride was smoooth. I kept my drinking on target and I didn't have any stomach issues on the bike this year. I hit the turn at 1:26 - I was excited because I knew that I had a shot at completing the bike under 3 hours. However, that hope was diminshed when I hit the headwind waiting for me on the way back. I just kept focused on managing my HR and kept a good pace. Nothing exciting until after descending Marsh hill - it started to pour rain for the last 8 miles - the hill on Country Club drive was very dangerous and a tad scary. The headwind had picked up on and the last couple of miles I was excited to get off the bike. Come into T2 at 1:37 for the second half and I was happy that I was only a couple of mins off the 3 hour mark. Nod bad considering the conditions and that I held to my race plan of managing my HR.

Continue to work on hills - On the last climbs I was passed by a bunch of people. Ensure that my aerobottle straw is the right length! Thankfully this didn't impact my performance.

Happy to be done riding. A pretty quick transition - Glad to have dry shoes and socks on for a couple of seconds.

Ahh the run. I focus on keeping my HR in the 150s - last year I melted down and hit a super high HR never to recover. This year I was comfortable the whole way - despite the fact that I didn't really make up much time from last year. I did strap on the fuel belt - a very wise lesson learned from last year. I did my LSD shuffle and kept a consistent pace. Matt passed me at about mile 1.5, gave me a pat on the back told me to keep steady and just kept motoring along. I ran the first loop with only walking the last 1/3 of the hill at mile 5 and kept my pace steady for the into the second loop. At mile 7 I had to stop to get a rock out of my shoe that had been there since the beginning of the run - it finally got to me. I walked only a couple of times on the hills and for only up to 30 seconds at a time. My HR on the run never got above 165 which was good for me, but its amazing how hard it can be to run even when your HR is in your zone - I was running on no energy and had to keep menrally focused to keep moving. I ended up pullinga couple of cups of coke and 2 cookies from an aid station on the second loop. I walked up the hill at mile 11.25 and finished the last 1.5 miles strong with a good pace to the line. That last stretch down the finish line was simply amazing! My family was there cheering me on - I took it easy and enjoyed the last couple of minutes of the race. I managed to work the crowd into my trademark frenzy at the finish and had a big smile for the cameras. I finished and felt fantastic - a much better race than my previous half distance races.

Work on running. I have the endurance just not the speed. I know what I need to do :-)

Met my family (Wife, Mother, Parents in Law and both brothers). Drank water and stood there in that daze we like to enjoy. Gota slice of pizza and some Jordan's ice cream. Hit up the GSTC tent to say hi to the team, packed it up and headed to the car. I thanked Keith Jordan (the RD) and Audra the volunteer coordinator and met Jordan Rapp on the way to the car.


The focus of this winter season is running and leg strength!


A PR by less than a minute :-)!

Additionally over the weekend I got to meet Sarah Reinertsen and Kate Major - Sarah being one of my real-life heroines and Kate....well who doesn't love Kate? It was one of the highlights of the weekend to get to spend a while with the two of them talking about triathlons and everything else. All of the big names who came to town were eager to talk and meet the age groupers - this is what makes Triathlon so great - you can meet the pros and its no big deal.

Again, the Timberman sets the bar by which all races ought to be measured. Despite the difficult weather at the beginning of the race everything went as smoothly as possible. All of the volunteers who worked the race were fantastic as well as the police support. Endorfun has hit another home run and I am willing to bet that 2007 Timberman is sold out in under 60 days this year. A top-notch race. I'll see you here next year!