Timberman - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My race started going wrong here. About 200 yards into the swim I got kicked in the goggles hard enough to crack the goggle. It made me gasp and that was not air I took in but lake water. The coughing fit and subsequent swallowing of half the lake was not much fun. I got to draft through a good portion of the swim but not the whole way this time. It's funny how 3 minutes makes a world of difference in the swim. Still and all, it wasn't that bad a swim. Swallowing that much lake water set me off and I felt slightly nauseous all day. That didn't help matters much.


Swim a bit more in training. Not even a whole lot more, just a bit.

I was trying not to throw up at this point. It was not shaping up to be a good day. I asked one of the volunteers if I had a black eye, apparently it didn't start swelling until the next day.

Whoever said/suggested that Timberman was not as hilly as Mooseman needs slapped. I train in a place where the biggest hill around here is probably a 50' climb over 1/4 mile.

I started on the bike and the first 15 or so miles was already kicking my butt. "Rolling hills" my butt. I had to walk up Marsh hill.

After the first 15ish miles it got better and I was actually able to enjoy the bike as I almost always enjoy riding. Then the sun came out and it got hot and wet. Yick. Sweating but it wasn't doing any good and I don't handle heat all that well. I started feeling mild muscle twinges around the 30 mile mark. That's normal and it tends to go away after a bit. Not this time. At the 40 mile marker aid station as I was reaching for a bottle both calves cramped up HARD. I fell over and had to ask someone to pick my bike up a bit so I could unclip. Turns out I scraped the snot out of my elbow and bruised exactly the spot where I put my arm down on the areopad. Wonderful. It took about 10-15 minutes to get my calves worked out enough to bend my feet without pain.

Heat, humidity. When I do 60 mile rides I take 3 bottles. HEED, Perpeteum, Gatoraid, Sports Beans any combo of these are fine with my tummy so I'm not trying anything new on a race day. That's all I use. It's worked rather well, even doing bricks. Well, by the time I had finished the bike in this race I finished my 2 bottles of Perpeteum, 1 bottle of HEED, all three of those with an extra 3 scoops of enduralites in them because that's what I used in training and it works, 4 bottles of Gatoraid and 2 bottles of water. I wasn't sloshing, I didn't feel bloated and it wasn't too much. Just a side note, I didn't pee until about 3 hours after the race. I was NOT overhydrating.

I must have looked like hell, I got asked if I was okay from the time I fell on the bike until the end of the race.


I don't know. I need to have another year of base before I start even thinking about using a speed training plan. Heat kills me, it always has.

I knew I was in for it when just about everyone asked me if I was okay and one of the officials asked me how many fingers he was holding up.

Yeah, right. Run. I started the thing power walking. I know how to do a force march and that sounded like just the thing to keep my within time. That lasted about 2-3 miles. My right calf started acting up and I was told my left calf already looked swollen and red even at this stage of the run.

After the first 10K both calves had locked up and medical students were asking me to use my legs to pass thier bio exams where they had to lable the different muscles. The medics followed me for a little bit and kept talking to me every time they passed. I must have presented a sight here too because I heard comments like "Holy COW look at that guy's calves" and then the person would tell me I was looking strong. I did appreciate it even knowing the person was lying :)

Up hill, down hill, didn't matter they all hurt worse than level ground but at least each made a different spot hurt so that worked. I took two Gatoraid cups at each aid station and that took the edge off of the cramps until just before the next aid station.

Turns out I was working on a blister on my left heel that is about 2" long and about 1/2-3/4" wide. That and the minor blisters under my calluses of the balls of my feet are the worst of it. These things I've had plenty of times before with road marches, they're more or less ignorable. I didn't ever realize I had a blister until I took my shoes off after the race.

Aquagirl came back down the race road to find me and I'm guessing I even made her nervous about my health and well being from the look on her face until she talked to me and figured out I actually was going to suffer through this and finish within time so she resigned herself to walk with me. Thank you!


I'm not sure what I COULD do differently. Have another year of base? Work on my ability to deal with heat? It's not worked for 43 years and I've been in all sorts of hot places so I don't know if that'll do any good.

-er- me.


Going into Mooseman I did a 20 week HIM training plan. That worked out okay. This one I did an OLY to HIM bridge plan. That did NOT work out well. I've got a HIM to IM bridge plan in my calendar this time to get me to B2B. I believe the training over distance is exactly what I need as this is getting back to doing physical stuff after 10 years of couch potatoing. We'll see how that one goes.