Timberman -- and plans
Net: 7:34:21
So I headed off to Timberman early Saturday short of sleep but fundamentally ok, was well ahead of traffic as planned and arrived in Gilford mid-morning, found Gunstock and checked into the campsite. ... Got my stuff organized after thinking out the logistics of loaning the car to a teammate (surprisingly all this worked out without a hitch!).
Went down to the registration / expo area, hung out with Ulandt and picked up a couple of things I had missed in prep, then registered, grabbed a burger and hung out until the pre-race meeting, which coincided with a line of thunderstorms coming thru the area. Then it was down to the race site.
The haze of fatigue that was making organizing stuff hard but first priority was to get onto the bike and just ride a mile to verify that the adjusting I'd done on the shifting was all ok -- it was so onward, got everything packed, setup my transition area Oooops! forgot the floor-pump, so back one more time and then all was ready --
Just in time to jet back to hastily setup my campsite and go meet my teammate to give him the car. Then it was unimpressive pre-race pasta, hanging out a bit with the Cliff bar peeps and sacking out before dark, hoping to catch up on my sleep. That worked pretty well, I was out until midnight-ish when some bimbos across the way were making drunk girl-talk, I took the opportunity to down an energy bar and was back to sleep soon enough but I decided to set my alarm back to a leisurely 4:30, thinking I didn't really need to be up at 4.
Sunday dawned early enough, I broke down the campsite and headed down to the shuttle busses, downing my breakfast and some water. There'd been no rain, in fact hardly any dew, I finished mixing up my fluids for the day and packed up my new nutrition innovation, homemade bars of wild rice, eggs and ham into the bento-box. With some time to hang out I was absolutely glad I'd registered early 'cause it put me in a bike rack just across from Chrissie Wellington and I'd been wanting to see her, not expecting to be nearly rubbing elbows -- more on Chrissie later. As usual I waited for the last minute to head over to the swim area -- this is when I have to leave behind my glasses and I don't like not being able to see facial expressions etc. I did find some teammates after leaving transition but I was in the 2nd wave so had to scoot along.
Swim:
The swim start was in-water, about waist deep and was no more of a churn than any other race, I spent a good deal of time shoulder-shoulder with various people but never caught a decent draft. I worked fairly hard in the swim, and enjoyed the confidence in the water that is a new thing for me. ... It was uneventful and fun. I'm not much good at fast transitions in a long race, I wanted time to check and stretch the achilles, re-apply sunscreen, reach into the shorts and apply anti-chafing cream
Bike:
I have to say the Timberman bike is one hell of a course, I enjoyed every bit of it. There are some wicked-fast descents and most of them end with sharp turns, YIKES ... fortunately I love this kind of thing and if there's a clear line I will usually get an easy pass on 2-4, sometimes more riders. The corner volunteers probably don't appreciate this but bike handling is one place where I'm pretty solid and I'm damned if I'm gonna give away time on that :-)
The bike started right off with a moderate hill and then the first 20 miles unfolded with a lot of climbing and descending, both long/steep short, easy stuff. I allowed myself to work moderately hard and still came through this first 1/3 with only a 16 MPH average. Then came a 4 mile descent followed by 20 of fairly flat terrain. I dialed back the effort and focussed on taking in nutrition, just kept going easy at an HR where I know I can still digest, storing away energy for the climbs late in the bike course and the dreaded 1/2 marathon. At the turn-around I'd been averaging 17.3 mph, a speed I was happy enough with, I'd been targetting ~17 mph. I was at the start of the long flat middle section when the pros started to show up on their return, Chrissie was right up there among the men, wow.
The last third of the bike featured the expected rising temperatures, I kept hammering down the fluids and brought the intensity up just a bit, laying off the solid food. I was beginning to experience really weird cramping, anytime I would tigthen out my quads I'd feel a 'flash cramp' in several areas of the leg. That was disconcerting 'cause I had taken a LOT of electrolytes. Later I figured out that this was more heat related -- and the cramping felt different from what I've experienced from low-salt problems. Anyhow, I came in to the dismount line, executed a hard stop right on the line and was happy to hear the volunteer say "nice job". Again, I took my time in transition, I stretched out the quads and calves that I was worried about but everything felt fine so on with the runners, hat, grabbed sunscreen to apply along the way, drank off a bunch of cytomax and then off for the really painful part of the day
Run:
My original race day plan had called for PR-ing the 1/2, but having learned from NYCtri that strategy needs to bow to weather conditions I was pretty sure it was not going to happen. The first mile was iffy but I was glad to clock it and find that I was on an ok starting pace. The first loop wasn't too bad and while I never fell into that rythm that makes running a joy, I kept my splits fairly even. Mile 7 threw me for a loop and I think they must have been off because it was flat, I worked a little harder on that 'mile' but split it 3 minutes slower than the miles before and after .. humph.
What made this run bear-able was the people. There were enough of my teammates on the course that I saw lots of friends along the way and the course support, on both the run and bike was incredible. I think there were 6 bottle exchnages on the bike and every aid station on the run had sponges to help with the heat, at least psychologically it was a boost :-)
The second loop was pretty hard, cramping returned to the legs somewhere around mile 9, the heat increased, it wasn't extreme and I've trained in a fair amount of hot weather but still mid-80s clearly is not my best running environment. Still, I had something left for the last mile, picked up the pace just a tad and finally crossed the line. I had some slow splits in the second half and by mile 5 there was no question of trying to run any hills. It wasn't an easy run but I feel I did a good job on my pacing decisions this go.
Three of my teammates were right there at the finish, That was great, and I wish I'd felt up to sticking around for a while but one look at the food line clinched that as a non-starter. I was feeling too washed out to eat anyway and made my way to transition to collect gear and get on the road. That took a little while and I was a little concerned about finding the car but F's description, coupled with just a little direction from one of the race volunteers found it quick enough. I was on the road for home by 4pm and mercifully the warm weather seemed to keep people from leaving early, I only hit 2 slowdowns all the way to Boston.
Aftermath:
No sense in suger-coating. The moment I finished I decided I won't be doing another 1/2 IM next year. '10, maybe, a decision I'd already been pondering. In that moment I was beat down by extreme heat exhaustion and was just feeling lousy about having trained well but only beating last year's splits by a smidge. Yes, conditions, yes course. I continued to feel nauseous until well after midnight. I managed to get down a little food on the way home, and once there managed a light dinner. Now, feeling better in my body I've got a little more perspective, but I'm pretty sure what I want to do next year is continue training but do little or no racing, I think taking away the pressure of events will be the best way to build my running strength and honestly I'm tired of looking at 90 deg days as an opportunity to acclimate for worst-case race days. [SIGH]
I have to acknowledge that I've been lucky the prior 2 years to never actually have to race in heat and neither this nor NYC which was even hotter was a bad experience. This season I'm no longer dead last in my AG which is surely a nice change and I have a lot to be proud of in this season's work. Also it helps to know that if the winter's run plan had come together this race would in turn have been ... happier.
Next season I want to focus more on rock climbing and I will continue to work the base in all three sports, not quitting by any means, just a shift in focus. I'm not sure what '10 will bring but thinking along the lines of a stronger run in the 1/2 IM distance.
The bad:
Heat stress / nausea -- never fun, Losing 2 months of run focus last winter to illness/injuries, the pesky achilles.
The good:
Pacing, this is the best I've done with pacing in the 3 seasons I've been at this.
Plan, I had a solid plan and accomodated appropriately to the high temperatures
Nutrition, made some changes this year, they worked, more changes to come!
PR, even a small one, what's to complain, I've PR'd in Oly and half IM both in the heat
Equipment, my beloved bike performed like a champ
Chrissie, such an inspriation
Achilles, seems to be back to normal [knocking wood]
So I headed off to Timberman early Saturday short of sleep but fundamentally ok, was well ahead of traffic as planned and arrived in Gilford mid-morning, found Gunstock and checked into the campsite. ... Got my stuff organized after thinking out the logistics of loaning the car to a teammate (surprisingly all this worked out without a hitch!).
Went down to the registration / expo area, hung out with Ulandt and picked up a couple of things I had missed in prep, then registered, grabbed a burger and hung out until the pre-race meeting, which coincided with a line of thunderstorms coming thru the area. Then it was down to the race site.
The haze of fatigue that was making organizing stuff hard but first priority was to get onto the bike and just ride a mile to verify that the adjusting I'd done on the shifting was all ok -- it was so onward, got everything packed, setup my transition area Oooops! forgot the floor-pump, so back one more time and then all was ready --
Just in time to jet back to hastily setup my campsite and go meet my teammate to give him the car. Then it was unimpressive pre-race pasta, hanging out a bit with the Cliff bar peeps and sacking out before dark, hoping to catch up on my sleep. That worked pretty well, I was out until midnight-ish when some bimbos across the way were making drunk girl-talk, I took the opportunity to down an energy bar and was back to sleep soon enough but I decided to set my alarm back to a leisurely 4:30, thinking I didn't really need to be up at 4.
Sunday dawned early enough, I broke down the campsite and headed down to the shuttle busses, downing my breakfast and some water. There'd been no rain, in fact hardly any dew, I finished mixing up my fluids for the day and packed up my new nutrition innovation, homemade bars of wild rice, eggs and ham into the bento-box. With some time to hang out I was absolutely glad I'd registered early 'cause it put me in a bike rack just across from Chrissie Wellington and I'd been wanting to see her, not expecting to be nearly rubbing elbows -- more on Chrissie later. As usual I waited for the last minute to head over to the swim area -- this is when I have to leave behind my glasses and I don't like not being able to see facial expressions etc. I did find some teammates after leaving transition but I was in the 2nd wave so had to scoot along.
Swim:
The swim start was in-water, about waist deep and was no more of a churn than any other race, I spent a good deal of time shoulder-shoulder with various people but never caught a decent draft. I worked fairly hard in the swim, and enjoyed the confidence in the water that is a new thing for me. ... It was uneventful and fun. I'm not much good at fast transitions in a long race, I wanted time to check and stretch the achilles, re-apply sunscreen, reach into the shorts and apply anti-chafing cream
Bike:
I have to say the Timberman bike is one hell of a course, I enjoyed every bit of it. There are some wicked-fast descents and most of them end with sharp turns, YIKES ... fortunately I love this kind of thing and if there's a clear line I will usually get an easy pass on 2-4, sometimes more riders. The corner volunteers probably don't appreciate this but bike handling is one place where I'm pretty solid and I'm damned if I'm gonna give away time on that :-)
The bike started right off with a moderate hill and then the first 20 miles unfolded with a lot of climbing and descending, both long/steep short, easy stuff. I allowed myself to work moderately hard and still came through this first 1/3 with only a 16 MPH average. Then came a 4 mile descent followed by 20 of fairly flat terrain. I dialed back the effort and focussed on taking in nutrition, just kept going easy at an HR where I know I can still digest, storing away energy for the climbs late in the bike course and the dreaded 1/2 marathon. At the turn-around I'd been averaging 17.3 mph, a speed I was happy enough with, I'd been targetting ~17 mph. I was at the start of the long flat middle section when the pros started to show up on their return, Chrissie was right up there among the men, wow.
The last third of the bike featured the expected rising temperatures, I kept hammering down the fluids and brought the intensity up just a bit, laying off the solid food. I was beginning to experience really weird cramping, anytime I would tigthen out my quads I'd feel a 'flash cramp' in several areas of the leg. That was disconcerting 'cause I had taken a LOT of electrolytes. Later I figured out that this was more heat related -- and the cramping felt different from what I've experienced from low-salt problems. Anyhow, I came in to the dismount line, executed a hard stop right on the line and was happy to hear the volunteer say "nice job". Again, I took my time in transition, I stretched out the quads and calves that I was worried about but everything felt fine so on with the runners, hat, grabbed sunscreen to apply along the way, drank off a bunch of cytomax and then off for the really painful part of the day
Run:
My original race day plan had called for PR-ing the 1/2, but having learned from NYCtri that strategy needs to bow to weather conditions I was pretty sure it was not going to happen. The first mile was iffy but I was glad to clock it and find that I was on an ok starting pace. The first loop wasn't too bad and while I never fell into that rythm that makes running a joy, I kept my splits fairly even. Mile 7 threw me for a loop and I think they must have been off because it was flat, I worked a little harder on that 'mile' but split it 3 minutes slower than the miles before and after .. humph.
What made this run bear-able was the people. There were enough of my teammates on the course that I saw lots of friends along the way and the course support, on both the run and bike was incredible. I think there were 6 bottle exchnages on the bike and every aid station on the run had sponges to help with the heat, at least psychologically it was a boost :-)
The second loop was pretty hard, cramping returned to the legs somewhere around mile 9, the heat increased, it wasn't extreme and I've trained in a fair amount of hot weather but still mid-80s clearly is not my best running environment. Still, I had something left for the last mile, picked up the pace just a tad and finally crossed the line. I had some slow splits in the second half and by mile 5 there was no question of trying to run any hills. It wasn't an easy run but I feel I did a good job on my pacing decisions this go.
Three of my teammates were right there at the finish, That was great, and I wish I'd felt up to sticking around for a while but one look at the food line clinched that as a non-starter. I was feeling too washed out to eat anyway and made my way to transition to collect gear and get on the road. That took a little while and I was a little concerned about finding the car but F's description, coupled with just a little direction from one of the race volunteers found it quick enough. I was on the road for home by 4pm and mercifully the warm weather seemed to keep people from leaving early, I only hit 2 slowdowns all the way to Boston.
Aftermath:
No sense in suger-coating. The moment I finished I decided I won't be doing another 1/2 IM next year. '10, maybe, a decision I'd already been pondering. In that moment I was beat down by extreme heat exhaustion and was just feeling lousy about having trained well but only beating last year's splits by a smidge. Yes, conditions, yes course. I continued to feel nauseous until well after midnight. I managed to get down a little food on the way home, and once there managed a light dinner. Now, feeling better in my body I've got a little more perspective, but I'm pretty sure what I want to do next year is continue training but do little or no racing, I think taking away the pressure of events will be the best way to build my running strength and honestly I'm tired of looking at 90 deg days as an opportunity to acclimate for worst-case race days. [SIGH]
I have to acknowledge that I've been lucky the prior 2 years to never actually have to race in heat and neither this nor NYC which was even hotter was a bad experience. This season I'm no longer dead last in my AG which is surely a nice change and I have a lot to be proud of in this season's work. Also it helps to know that if the winter's run plan had come together this race would in turn have been ... happier.
Next season I want to focus more on rock climbing and I will continue to work the base in all three sports, not quitting by any means, just a shift in focus. I'm not sure what '10 will bring but thinking along the lines of a stronger run in the 1/2 IM distance.
The bad:
Heat stress / nausea -- never fun, Losing 2 months of run focus last winter to illness/injuries, the pesky achilles.
The good:
Pacing, this is the best I've done with pacing in the 3 seasons I've been at this.
Plan, I had a solid plan and accomodated appropriately to the high temperatures
Nutrition, made some changes this year, they worked, more changes to come!
PR, even a small one, what's to complain, I've PR'd in Oly and half IM both in the heat
Equipment, my beloved bike performed like a champ
Chrissie, such an inspriation
Achilles, seems to be back to normal [knocking wood]