Timberman 70.3 (First HIM!) Race Report
Went into the race feeling pretty concerned about making the cut-offs but when I learned I had almost an hour buffer from those cut-offs which started at the last swim wave, I was able to relax and not do anything stupid in the race.
Day before race- Drove to NH to do check-ins, etc. Met fellow East Coast EN'rs Kevin & Scott for dinner. (Pizza) Drove the course after dinner and felt a little better about the bike after that. (I had the hills much bigger in my mind!) Asleep before 10 (wow, can't usually sleep great before a race.)
Sunday- Up at 3:15. B-fast of 2 Nutrigrain waffles w/ PB & honey and 2 HoneyMilks. (Forgot my banana, oops) Out the door around 4. Got to lot early as they suggested so I sat in the car and listened to some tunes til about 5. Got transition set, met some other EN'rs (good thing they had gear on as I did not) and made 3 porta-potty visits (TMI? 
Decided the day before to forgo the wetsuit, as I really hate how I feel like I can't breathe in them but second guessed that as 98% of the racers had them on. Stuck with my decision. Drank another Honey Milk in transition, then a Red Bull then down to the water at 6;45, freezing. But decided to do a practice swim anyway. Water was fine. GU waiting for my swim wave. Swam well, smooth & calm (more than I can say for my efforts when wearing a wetsuit) but not fast. (I had expected about 50mins, did it in 56) Tough to have the 4 swim waves after you passing you but I felt good, not panicked so big improvement mentally and form wise for me. I imagine as I get more comfortable in open water, speed (as much as I have) will come. Did pee 2x during swim (TMI again?)
Jogged to transition (I usually walk, exhausted from the swim w/ wetsuit) and felt great and ready to ride! On the bike, I stuck like glue to my nutrition (2 bottle of Accelerade and 3 GUs total, plus a little Gatorade from aid station) with the exception of no extra water from aid stations. Since I peed a lot, and needed a stop on the bike, I thought I was OK fluid wise. TOok the hills easy and avg. BPM was 154 for bike (high Z3 for me) but I think the avg. was inflated a bit as my HRM was doing funky things and giving me readings of 230 every now and then!) Finished bike in about 3:46 (I was worried about 4.5 hrs!) so I was pleased. Def. NOT a hard course compared to Quassy Oly. I'm not a hill girl so that's saying a lot. Felt pretty good off the bike, but still not looking forward to the run...
Run is my weakest, but also the area that I have made the most improvement on during the OS and training. My plan was to walk the hills/aid stations which I did. Only problem is there were a lot of hills. Not big ones, but enough that I needed to walk them. It was a 2 loop run and it was tough to go through transition as other people were finishing and I had 6.5 more miles. 1 porta potty stop. We almost got pulled off the run course at around 2:30pm with about 3 miles to go because of a storm coming in. They said if a bus came by, to stop running and get on it and we'd get our medals anyway I was like "Hell no, I'm finishing this friggin thing" so I hauled whatever ass I had left and got to finish before the bus scooped me up so that made it even more exciting at the end. There weren't many people left at the finish because the thunder, etc had started but was just happy they left the finish line up for the last few. I ended up finishing the run in 3:02, which was about 11 mins slower than my stand alone 1/2 marathon back in Oct. so I would say for me, it wasn't a bad run. (I kept remembering during the race that there shouldn't be a good bike followed by a bad run) Plus, the last run split was the fastest. (Nothing like trying to outrun a bus to give ou motivation!) The run was just hard for me.
I ended up finishing in 7:56, which I was very happy with since 8:29 was my goal! Last in the age group, but not last overall. (I may have beat a few 60+ age groupers LOL)
What I learned:
I think I may have over-hydrated prior to the race based on the number of stops to pee. That made me drink less on the bike (no water from aid stations) Rethink the one-piece tri suit....
Bring gel w/ 2X caffeine on run... I relied only on aid stations for run but could have used more calories and caffeine than what I was getting from Gatorade, water and Coke.
Run more hills in training. I am lucky enough to have a beautiful rail trail near my house to run on but it is darn near perfectly flat. I do have hills in the 'hood so I need to use 'em.
Think about getting a new wetsuit that I can breathe in....
Take some swim lessons or clinic to see if there is anything I'm doing majorly wrong, or if I just need to work more on speed. (Took a clinic over a year ago but may be time for a refresher)
Run through the true off-season and keep momentum going on run improvement.
Any thing I should have learned or missed, let me know!
Comments
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Great Job out there, I cannot believe you did not wear a wetsuit! Any way to follow the plan.
And don't feel bad. I volunteered at the sprint and saw a guy in a wetsuit watching the bike mount line. I asked him (jokingly) if he had quit. Turns out he had never worn a wetsuit OR completed an OWS, he couldn't get it done and learned a tough lesson (for a lot of $$$- IMHO).
You didn't quit and you executed well. Sweet! It only gets better.
That is too funny! Thanks!