Timberman - Half Iron : Official Thread

I had EXACTLY the same experience.  It was an exercise in brutality, but I'm going back for more--I think I need an intervention...

I'm gettin' old right along with ya sister.  Let's definitely meet up this time.  Heaven help us:  those 40-44 chicks are going to HURT us.

Let's sacrifice something to the swim wave gods, because that last wave start was mentally brutal.  But, on the upside we definitely survived that worst-case scenario.  Onward & upward (or at least upright this time).

OK, I am going to sign up tomorrow.  Everyone encourage me...I have to travel far and no one I know wants to come with me!! I figure I will meet a bunch of cool BTers and all will be awesome

This is my first half iron.  Planning to do IM Lake Placid next year and thought this would be a good test! I have done short course races for a long time and hope going longer agrees with me

I'm all signed up!! Now to find a place to stay...

How far away is that from the race site? I might check it out too. 

Hey everyone! 

Second HIM for me--I did Timberman last year--though it'll be my third as I'm most likely going to do either REV3 Quassy or Mooseman in June.  Great to see some first timers in the mix, you guys are in for such an experience!  The race was alot of pain and 6 months of training for one day is no joke, but man, you just can't replace that feeling crossing the finish line (hopefully with Chrissie there handing out medals again!). 

Someone asked about the course...I dug up what I wrote last year about the course (I have the luxury of training on the course all summer as my parents have a place up in Laconia):

Here's the course profile, click the 'Show elevation' on the right to see how it breaks down.  As you'll see, there are a few early rollers, then a pretty big climb once you turn onto Rt. 107 at mile 10.  Next is a big drop off the top of the hill, followed by a 'flat' decent, followed by a false flat (i.e. it looks flat but you're actually on a slight uphill grade), then the climb again, then the rollers again.  So the middle 25-30 miles are quite flat, it's the start and finish that hurts.  The climb itself is approximately 6% over 1 mile; reasonably steep but not overly long. 

As far as training for hills in Florida--two things: 1) if there's a steady wind then do some 10-20 minute intervals in the wind, make sure to really lean into it and also ride a bigger gear than normal, ride between 60-70rpm.  Also, bridges, I've heard alot of people do intervals over bridges to simulate hills in FL.

Anyway, psyched for this thread again, I just spent a few hours going through last years' and remembering all the fun we had talking about training and racing, can't wait for it again this year!

Ray