Timberman - Half Iron : Official Thread

I am doing Moose too - just the Oly - rode it last year and liked the course - though NH does have those big mother hills....

then 2 weeks after Moose is patriot - a nice flat HIM.....

Rob, I tried to do the course on the computrainer last weekend - got through about 5 minutes and was just not there - and had to stop....

 Will try it again in the next month but need to get a bit stronger and do some more intervals.

I HAVE to learn to climb hills - hill repeats here we come!!! and yes I see many weekends or day trip to NH!!!!

no Ali's classes are just trainer classes - but Karen Smyers and Dede Griesbauer are doing CT classes at fastsplits - pretty much every night - started this week.

Hi kids! Cat thanks for getting this thread up! I am going to come right out with it and say that I LOVE to bike in the hills and train almost always in them. BUT the run is another story altogether.......YIKES!! And did someone say wavy swim? WTF I thought it was a nice little lake...no?

 Have no fear...we"ll get her done!!

I’ve done Tman 3 years and even though the course change a bit it is not bad at all. The hills come on the first and last 11 miles of the course and the 34 miles in the middle are pretty flattish. The hills going out are steeper than when coming back. With an 11-23 you should be fine but if you are not too confident on your cycling skills a 12-25 might be a good idea. The portion in the middle going out is pretty flat and fast, when you turn and head back you get a false flat and usually a head wind and this can make the ride back tougher. If you pace smart you'll save your energy for this portion which also can be quite mentally challenging. Coming back there is a big descent after the few hills and that is fun (or scary if you don’t like descents). For most part the course is great, lost of room for riding and staying clean.

The run course is also tough, no one talks much about it but it has a few hills that while not steep you have to do twice and that make it tough especially on the 2^nd loop. The weather can also be an issue, the 1st year I raced it the weather was hot and humid on the 80s, the 2^nd year the weather cold and rainy all day.

YES, Mooseman is a harder course IMO.

BTW, you owe me chocolate cookies...

I'm the exact opposite!

Jorge, can you explain the 12/25 thing?  I have a 10 speed rear cassette and two front chainrings.  What does that mean for me?  Did I give you enough info and did I mess up the terms?!?  I obviously know nothing about bikes.

Btw, thanks for the bike challenge.  I'm getting stronger already!

I think he is referring to the rear cassette(correct me if I am wrong) - how many cogs on the smallest and biggest ring

So how about some King/Queen of the hill workouts - like up summit avenue in Brookline?

The hills I ride in are so steep most of us around here have a 12-27!!!

 A few of my cycling peeps have done TM before and assure me the hills we ride in here are harder...so I hope they are right!

 I originally started out with an 11-23 and while I could get up the hills it wasn't too pretty....mashing big time. Hard on the knees in the long run.

RI_Tri22 - 2008-12-10 8:55 PM Just checking in, Can't wait for this race! although I do have a lot of hill training to do too. Rode part of the course a couple of years ago and told myself there was no way I'd ever do this race, but that was my first year biking so I'm hoping it's not as bad as I remember

you will just have to make some of the trips up north with us to make it seem easy come race day....