Timberman 08 Race Report

Timberman is a tough race to get into. It's known for having a very scenic course and usually sells out in just a few days after opening for registration--in early January. I was on the waiting list and eventually got in.

I was able to find someone to carpool up with, a run/ski shop owner who's been doing ironman & triathlon since the early 80's. She's a pretty wild lady, so we had pretty cool conversation. We got rain the night before, and I had the best $6 all-you-can-eat pasta buffett in recent memory. I got to the hotel, got my race gear, and had a decent night of sleep.

The official water temperature was a cool 62F, but I found a pretty wide variety of temperature. There were bone chilling cold spots and a couple pretty temperate spots near the shore. It might be worth noting that the lake is pretty shallow in most places, and the places you might find yourself walking/ running have big rocks. Great to bash your toes on. At least they're smooth.

Swim: 20:27 (Not a full 1.5km) Whitecap waves almost as big as those at Waconia, but coming from a diagonal as opposed to head on. I took plenty of mouthfuls of water into the waves, and the swim back tossed me into the middle of the course. I later found out that a few of the top swimmers swam through the middle of the course on the wave-sheltered side of the boats on the course. Something to consider during the next wavy swim.

T1: 1:44 Smooth, no problems.

Bike: 21.4mph A course known for being hilly, we got a complement of wind in our face for what seemed like every direction. The inclines never semed to let up, but we did get to take one very long bomber of a downhill on both laps. Fun!!!! One section of the bike course had big bumps about every 20 feet, which made it really difficult to focus. Other than that, the road was very smoothe. Strangely enough, there was plenty of flats.

T2: 1:27 Slow dismount, I ran my bike down the wrong row, and since there was no spaces in between racks, I had to run all the way to the other end of transition and backtrack. Again, I struggled with my socks, and ran off. When I clipped my race number belt on, it fell off. I turned around to grab it, and the belt had pulled out of the clasp. So I tied it into a square knot.

Run: 7:14/mile The run was a 6 mile out&back half paved/half dirt, very little flat, but nothing too traumatic. I'm a little surprised by how quickly my legs are adapting to running after the bike--I was striding well within a quarter mile. Around mile 2, I was pretty sure an aid station was up ahead of me, so I had a gel, only to see spectators around the corner instead of a water, so I gagged for a half mile with goo in the back of my throat. A bottle of gatorade at the turn around was a little piece of heaven; I carried it for nearly a mile. About a 1.5 miles out, it started to get pretty painful, but strangely enough, I only saw my heart at 162. I picked up the pace despite feeling the ominous "wall" setting in. This was my best run pace ever.

Noteworthy Observation: For Olympic races, I generally keep a bottle of HEED, a bottle of concentrated Gatorade (from powder), and gels. I forgot to bring my powder along to the race, and there really wasn't an opportunity to get any gatorade, so I ended up just going with water on the bike. Along with my gels and a couple enduralytes, I raced pretty well going into the run. Who knows if I coulda went faster given my sweet, sweet gatorade.

Best story of the day: On the first lap of the bike, I was rounding the top of a hill to see one of the fast guys walking his bike. I asked him if he needed anything-- he was flatted, and had tubulars, so I really couldn't help him. That sucks-- but really, if you're gonna race, you ought to be able to handle a mechanical, no? Later on, I was about 3/4 through the run, I passed the guy going the other direction, and he was cheered me on and said something about relaxing my shoulders.

I thought, "surely he didn't walk his bike 15+miles....did someone help him?"

Apparently, some local guy was out for a leisurely bike ride, and the guy walking his bike talked him into swapping bikes. So he finished his bike leg on a mountain bike and clip-in sandals. What the local guy did with a tri bike+flat race wheels remains a mystery.