Timberman - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I lined up front and center. Wasn't really planning on anywhere in particular, just ended up there and it didn't seem like a bunch that was very anxious to push to the front. There were 162 in my wave so it was a pretty good sized group. At the start I got off to a good jump and settled into my groove immediately. There was surprisingly little contact and I had plenty of clear water at the start. My main goal for the swim was to get into a groove as fast as possible and to remain relaxed while still fast. I decided to stay just off the buoy line as I watched plenty of prior waves have some good traffic jams there. Found a nice set of feet for a while. It wasn't long before we hit some traffic before the first turn buoy and then I lost that draft. The rest of the way the waves/chop picked up and there was plenty of traffic to work through, but I held a pretty good line. I knew I was pulling someone along with me as he was tapping my toes pretty frequently. I got pissed about it for a split second, and then remembered that I had more important things to concern myself with (like the remaining 69.1 miles) and to stay calm about it. Several times during latter parts of the swim I could feel some crampy kind of twinges in my legs...i'm beginning to think this has something to do with how i position/flex my legs in a wetsuit. Got the beach stood up and some cramps shot up and down my legs...stumbled up the beach and ran into transition. Saw Slake on the way in and said I was 8-9th in my wave.

Not much. Try to find/stick with a drafter for a little longer but it was really crowded from previous waves so picking a smart line through that mess became more of a priority.

They had strippers (I love strippers). Flopped down and they did their thing really fast (I like it fast, especially with strippers). Got to my bike and reached down for my shoes and could feel some residual cramping. Decided to relax and get my stuff and get out of there without panicking. Was pretty efficient and there were no snags.
66/162 in AG.

So I got two flats on the bike. Both on the rear wheel. But more on that later. I got up to speed pretty well and got my breathing and HR in check pretty quickly. The first few climbs out of transition I think helped me actually. I was moving along fairly well and feeling good when making the turn onto Hounsell I felt the back get a bit squirrelly. Upon hitting the hill I could feel the bounce in the rear tire and immediately said to myself, 'oh shit'. Then i quickly realized that getting pissed wasn't gonna do me any good. Pulled over on a flatter part of the hill, got the tire off and the tube out of there. checked the tire quickly and couldn't find anything. By this point a tech support guy was already there and finished mounting the new tube for me and starting pumping it up. I realized that he had a pinch in the tube as I could see the bump in the tire and said that's not gonna do me any good. so we fixed that and got me on my way. Probably about 4 minutes on the side of the road. I was glad to be moving again and back in the race.

Made my way through the rest of the hills at a good clip and did a fair amount of passing. Out onto 106 where the flat sections are I started feeling really good and was taking good advantage of the tailwinds. About 5 miles down the road I got swallowed up by a big pack. I tried for a bit to get off the front but I wasn't gonna burn many matches doing that so I tried to make some space as best I could but that didn't last long. Talked to another guy about it and he was really frustrated, told me not to let it bother him. After a few miles it began to break up and things got a little more reasonable (although a big bunch of them were still stacked up a ways ahead of me).

At the turnaround point you head off on a short loop and back there I felt the rear tire get squishy again (Mile 28). This time I said "WTF"! and almost started laughing, til I realized that I didn't have a spare and just a couple of patches and some glue. Pulled over at the aid station and asked the guys if they knew the number/could call tech support. They were pretty useless in that regard. So I went to work trying to locate this small hole in the tube. I checked the tire really carefully looking for anything that might have caused it as I didn't want to burn up C02 trying to find it blindly. After a few minutes tech support showed up and got me a new tube. He checked the tire after I told him it was my 2nd flat and after pumping it up he walked away from the road about 50yds (they were playing music at the aid station) so that he could listen to the tire to see if he could hear a leak. Didn't find anything and got me on way again. I did ask if he had any spare tubes I might be able to get off of him in case this happened again but he only had a few left.

After the 2nd flat I was kind of at a low spot in terms of my race. For a few miles I just felt like riding as I realized that my initial ideas on how fast I might be able to complete the race were out the window (I wasn't gonna make up the 15 minutes I spent on the side of the road). It took probably 5 or so miles before I got back into a groove and started caring about going fast again. Probably not the best mentality for a race situation but I think I had just gone from thoughts that my race was totally over to, ok, let's make the best of what's left of the day and try to lay down the run that you were planning on all along (which was really my only true goal for the day). Each bump I hit on the way back I was paranoid about that back wheel going again.

At about mile 40 I had to take a piss so when no one was behind me I pissed on myself. Had extra water that I poured on my crotch. Peeing on myself was surprisingly easy and my first attempt at this (while not in a drunken stupor).

There was a fair headwind on the way back on 106 and some really good climbing in the last 10 miles. Really had to measure out my effort here and stay within myself. I was passing a lot of people and feeling pretty good again, but most of these riders weren't really helping me in terms of pace (the groups between the first and second flat were right up my alley in terms of pace).

My nutrition was 2 bottles of Infinit and 3 GUS (840 cal). Water as needed from the rest stops. This worked well and besides the occasional burp I had no issues.

Besides the flats not very much at all. I decided to ride strong but conservatively.

This was very smooth. I had a really fast dismount and no problems whatsoever. Stuffed 2 gels in my pocket and turned around my race number, although that wasn't really necessary as it didn't stay there.

36/162 in AG.

Nothing.

In all of my training leading up to this race, my only real goal was to get myself to the run with the idea of running the whole 13.1. I trained at a run pace that I thought I could sustain after a 56 mile ride and I rode a lot of my rides at a pace that I thought would leave me something left in the tank at the end in order to run for quite a long ways.

I started off the run and had the usual mile or 2 of settling into a groove. First 2 miles were in the 7:30s and I felt ok. By the turn around I was on cruise control. I had doubts creep into my mind when I thought about how much more I had to go and the fact that my hamstrings and occasionally my quads would get the idea that they wanted to start cramping. I would quickly shuffle my thoughts to just getting to the next aid station or next mile marker. I didn't walk any of the aid stations, just grabbed gatorade or water, salt pills, sponges, and or ice, depending on what I felt I wanted. I was popping salt pills like candy in the middle miles. The only calories I took in were from Gatorade Endurance, but I never felt low on energy and I probably was getting 150-200 calories of that per hour. The last 5 miles or so I could feel some blisters forming and they began to hurt. In some ways it took my mind off of the cramping and gave me something else to think about. Made the final turn around and knew that if I could make it up the last hill that I would be home free. Got there, made my way up the hill and then just headed for home. At the finish I was happy to be done and glad that I ran the race that I wanted to and trained for.

Saw Shelly and Slake a few times on the course and some friends who were spectating. I did a lot of passing on this run. There was a steady stream of athletes ahead and I kept on going by them regularly. I was running my own pace but it felt good knowing that I was moving up in the field with every step I took.



Not a damn thing.

Just walked around the parking area and did some light stretching. Drank some fluids and just chilled out.


Flat tires. Nothing else. I executed the race basically as well I had planned on it. I think I did a fairly good job of remaining calm and getting back on the road. I did have a low spot on the bike that I wish didn't happen but I was able to get back into a groove and continue on.

I know that the bike is my limiter (top quarter of the field on the run, top 10% on the swim), and spending 15 minutes on the side of the road didn't help matters in that regard. Interval sessions on the trainer will be my friend this winter.


There were some issues with the food line, but I wasn't that hungry right after the race so standing around for an hour or more didn't really bother me much.

Otherwise, this race is A+. It's well organized and a lot of fun. I hope to be back again.