TimberMan 70.3 Race Report....Return to Racing, Finding the Passion Again

TimberMan 70.3 (Gilford, New Hampshire)

4:38:40, 13th M30-34, 69th Overall 

(Got a roll down to 2016 70.3 WC)

Pre-Race

Ironman Texas crushed me in a way I have never experienced in any of my previous 6 Ironman races.  I was broken and battered physically and emotionally.  I put all my eggs in the Texas Kona basket and trained harder than ever only to come up short again.  It was particularly frustrating to spend so much time and effort on my run preparation only to run my worst Ironman marathon (even slower than my first).   I went deeper into the pain cave than I ever have and took my body beyond its limits.  The true measure of damage didn't reveal itself until several weeks after the race.  I was depressed, exhausted, unmotivated and broken.  

Going into the summer I had grand plans to use my early season Texas fitness to race my butt off before the birth of my first daughter.  Unfortunately for me, my body had different plans and I spent the whole summer in a weird funk of aches, pains and depression.  I have always had some form of post Ironman depression but this bout was the worst I've experienced.  It's atypical for me to spend the summer in a funk (I have some form of seasonal affective disorder and get pretty glum during the winter).  As someone who loves the summer, it was a major downer to struggle mentally during the months I am usually happiest.  June and July passed in the blink of an eye and though I trained consistently my body was just not right.  I signed up for Challenge Williamsburg 70.3 and a local race called I Love the Tavern.  I was in no shape to do either race and ended up pulling the plug on both.

It wasn't until mid July when my body started to come around and I started to feel like I could race again.  I signed up for Timberman and thought I could put together enough good weeks of training to take a run at a 70.3 Worlds qualification.  I hit a few weeks of great workouts and was feeling excited and strong going into the race for the first time since May.  Timberman would also be perfect in that I would have the opportunity to spend time before and after the race at my aunt and uncle's house in Maine.  I have never been that far Northeast and it is spectacular in August!!!! Timberman is sure to be on my short list of late season races from here on out.  

Timberman was also ideal in that a large contingent of folks from Richmond were racing.  Having a large number of familiar faces on the course is always helpful to have a good day.  I also had great family support.  Mom and dad made the trip with my sister Jackie and her fiancé Bobby.  I also had great support from my Uncle Pete and Aunt Jodi who made our stay in Maine spectacular.  My buddy Trey McFerren also dropped everything last minute to make the trip!!!!  Lake Winnipesaukee is breathtaking.  The water is clear and cool and the lake is spectacularly large.  Words do not do this area of the country justice.  I enjoyed every minute of my time there and can't wait to go back.

Race Morning

70.3's are a little different in that there is typically a wave start for the swim.  Unfortunately for me, my wave is typically near the end which means a long wait between setting up transition and go time.  Transition opened before 6:00 am, the first amateur wave was around 7:00 am, and my wave was not scheduled to go off until nearly 8:30.  This meant a 5:00 am wake up call and a lot of waiting around.  I got to transition before 6 and got everything set up.  I caught up with a few friends and then went back to relax in the car and eat breakfast.  At about 7:30 I headed down to the swim start to watch some of the earlier waves and meet my family.  It was nice to hang on the beach with my family and feel the pre-race excitement of the earlier waves.  I never get tired of pre-race anticipation.  There is nothing better than being surround by 2500 peers all tense with nervous energy and excitement.  I love the mood, the atmosphere and the blaring music.  There is nothing like it.  As the time for my wave approached I suited up with my hammer tri kit, my LG M2 Skinsuit for the bike, and my blue seventy helix wetsuit for the swim.  Because I wasn't anticipating a particularly hot day I opted to wear everything from the beginning of the race and I would strip off a layer in each transition.  This plan ended up working nicely.

Swim- 25:58, 1:20/100m

My plan was to swim comfortable and strong.  I knew there would be some congestion as I would have to swim through an hour of earlier waves.  I figured it wouldn't get bad until the turn buoy, but the truth was that it never got bad.  It was actually easy to keep clean water by swimming just wide of the buoy line.  I have been doing a ton of open water swimming lately and I expected a fast swim.  I have been in a good zone with swimming and have really enjoyed some quality time in the James River.  I am going to keep up with the swimming as much and often as I can because I have come into a nice groove and may even do the Peluso Bridge and Back 5 miler.

The water temperature was perfect and it was unfortunate that this was a wetsuit swim.  I swam in the lake several times before the race in a speedo and it felt perfect.  It would have been really nice to avoid the wetsuit but those are the breaks.  When the gun went off there was one guy who broke clear in our wave and I was in second position.  I figured I would slowly eat away at his lead and hopefully be leading as I got to the swim finish.  I lost sight of him until about 300 yards from shore when I realized we were swimming stroke for stroke.  I put in a surge to get out of the water first but he snaked me to the line.  My goal was a 25 minute swim and as I glanced down at my watch I realized I was right on the money.  I ran straight to the wetsuit strippers and I was on my way to hit the bike hard.

Bike- 2:26:22, 22.9 mph

Avg Power- 273, Norm Power- 280, VI- 1.03

Avg HR- 151, Avg Cadence- 86

The bike course was challenging but not overly hard.  I drove the course the day before and knew that

there would be plenty of hills.  I also knew that the back half of the course was going to be harder than the front and my goal was to manage my effort accordingly.  I had been doing plenty of hill work prior to the race and had no concerns that I could manage my power on both the ups and downs.  The course was exactly as I expected and there were a couple of short steep climbs but it was mostly rolling terrain.  The first and last ten miles of the bike course are pretty chewed up but the middle portion of the course had excellent pavement.

My goal was to ride about 280 watts and have plenty of juice left for the run.  I felt great on the bike. The power came easily and I could have ridden harder.  I played it smart and I think I probably had the "stuff" to ride 10-15 watts higher.  The course is super fun and there were long sections where you could absolutely fly.  In fact, there was a 10 mile section where I averaged 25.5 mph...really fun stuff.  There was also a descent on the back half of the course that was insanely fast.  I hit 50 mph going down and even started getting a few speed wobbles.  It was the fastest I have been on a bike since the Keene descent at Lake Placid and I am not ashamed to say it was a bit scary but

exhilarating.  (check my Placid race report if you want to know what happened the last time I got going that fast)

I have been working on my aero position lately and made some changes after Texas with fit guru Dave Luscan.  Best Bike Split estimated a bike split of 2:28 at 280 watts.  I was thrilled to find out that I rode 2:25 off less wattage.  I think that means that Dave is getting me dialed in and we have made some nice aero gains since May.  I switched to ski bend extensions and I think I am close to my ideal fit.  However I think I need more length so I just ordered the speed concept plug in aerobar and I will be able to squeeze out a bit more length with ski bend extensions of my choosing.  I also need to work on my hand position as I have been told that it is not very aerodynamic.  I rolled into transition right on target feeling fresh with the knowledge that a solid run would put me well within WC slot contention.

Run- 1:42:36, 7:49/mile

The plan on the run was 7:00/mile pace.  Nothing complicated just hit the paces.  I felt good running out of transition and the first mile clicked off at 7:15.  It was a little slow but I wasn't concerned.  Unfortunately I slipped up to 7:30 on the second mile and I continued to hover there.  This was a challenging run course with lots of ups and downs.   The difficulty is roughly comparable to the Kinetic Half.  I knew about the difficulty going into the race and having run 1:32 at Kinetic I figured that was a reasonable goal.  Unfortunately for me it was not to be.  It got pretty warm during the run but it was nothing unmanageable compared to the 7th circle of hell at Ironman Texas.  I have got to thank Dan Szajta for literally stopping to cheer for me everytime we passed each other on the run course.  I can't wait to cheer him on at Kona.

It was a weird run for me. I never felt bad or fell apart I just ran slow.  The first half of the run stayed at 7:30 pace and loop 2 climbed to 8:00/mile.  I never blew up or crumbled, I just ran slow.  I biked well within my limits and don't think that was the culprit for the slow running.  I don't really know what the issue is with my running lately.  I feel like I have taken a few steps backwards after a really great spring preparing for Texas.  I had my best 10K at Monument and three of my best 20 mile runs prior to Texas.  I felt my efficiency had improved and I was finally making great strides toward being able to run 3:30 off the bike.  Since Texas, I can probably count the number of good runs on one hand and feel like I need to go back to the drawing board this fall and winter to make some strides.

My pedestrian run took me out of the running for a guaranteed slot but after the race we hung around for roll down with the hopes that I might get lucky with a 70.3 World Championship Slot.  I figured I would have a reasonable chance since the race is in Australia next year and many people would take a pass.  Sticking around paid off and I was the last person to snag a roll down slot.  It was exciting to get called out and sign the paperwork.  It gave me a jolt of energy and fired me up to start planning next years races.  

Post-Mortem
It is an exciting time for Britt and I.  Our daughter Sloane is due at the end of September and I am feeling excited and anxious about it.  I am at the point where I just want her to be here.  I know Britt is ready to be done being pregnant.  The ladies sure get a raw deal with this whole pregnancy thing and I always joke with her that if men had to have babies humanity would go extinct.  I sure as shit couldn't do it.   Ironman is a joke compared pregnancy!  I am getting excited to see this face in person.  I may be biased but she looks like she is gonna be pretty damn cute!

In terms of triathlon and racing, I am going to spend the winter focusing on my run and do a single sport block when the baby gets here.  I figure it will be much more reasonable to train for one sport rather than three during those first few months of adjusting to life as a parent.  I will spend a bit of time on the bike and keep the mojo going with my swimming.  I'd like to keep swimming open water as long as the weather will allow.  In terms of racing the only races I might do are the Richmond Marathon and the Peluso Bridge and Back 5 miler.

I am leaning heavily toward returning to Ironman Texas next year.  Despite the hellish conditions I feel like I have a better day there.  I think I can conquer the heat now that I know how truly oppressive it can be.  With my aero improvements on the bike, I don't think there is any reason why I can't swim :52 and follow it up with a 4:50 on the bike.  Unfortunately, I age up to the hardest age group next year (35-39) and I will have to get better at running to make it to Kona.  30-34 was hard but it will only be harder for the next few years.  I am certainly up for the challenge....plus now I will have dad strength!  As always thanks for reading and congratulations to all the Richmond's that kicked ass up at Timberman.  This is truly an amazing community and we are fortunate to live in such an awesome place.