Race Report: Timberman Half IM

Source: Joseph Vinciquerra

As you all know, there’s no such thing as a free lunch – and World Championship slots don’t come easy.

This past weekend was the pinnacle of my 2006 triathlon season when I raced the Timberman 70.3 World Championship qualifier in the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire. My legs were fresh and my mind was sharp as I made my way… As I fought my way through every inch of this very challenging course.

Pre-Race

The Thursday preceding the race was a relaxing one here in the Northeast as I meandered through my house in the early hours, sipping Sumatra and getting organized for the big trip to New Hampshire. My mom had driven over to join Liz and I on this adventure (the two founding members of my official fan club united) and after running around town together, picking up last minute items and needs, we all relaxed and prepared for our trip to begin the following day.

Friday was bright and sunny – a cool breeze blew through the air and the sky presented itself in all of its glorious shades of blue as we wound our way through the New England countryside, snaking our way to Laconia, NH. Arriving in great time, with plenty of fun stops along the way, we made our way to Gunstock for packet pickup and wrapped up the day relaxing in front of the television in our great suite.

The lucky weather streak continued on Saturday, albeit a bit warmer and touch more humid. The day started in its usual way with several lazy cups of coffee while watching the sprint race unfold outside our front window. Later in the afternoon, I spun the legs out for around about an hour with my great friends Bob and MJ, who happened to be in town for similar reasons. We followed this up with a 20–minute transition run before going our separate ways, at which point I met Liz for an additional 30 minutes of jogging to bring my total workout time to a touch under two hours. Being in peak condition and in a town with nothing more to do than simply eat, sleep and breath triathlon, this was a perfect way to spend the day.

At the pre-race meeting Saturday night, it was strongly suggested that all athletes arrive at the race site the next day as early as possible. We were informed the gates to the park would open at 4:30am, and we’d be silly to sleep in. As the race director wished us pleasant, but short, dreams for the evening, the first heavy drops of rain began to fall from the darkened pre-race day skies. The rain continued all evening – light at times, heavy at others – and was spitting furiously the morning of the race. Locked in auto-pilot and having my pre-race breakfast and coffee “on the go,” I drove myself to the race site at 4:30 in the eerily chilly August morning-chill. I, along with every other athlete, made our way through the virtual city that was the race-site and transition area, scratching our chins and shaking our heads as our gear lay in the cold, wet and muddy beach-side conditions. No one said a word in the pre-dawn light, but one thing was universally clear to us all: It was not going to be an easy day on the course.

The Swim

The start of the Timberman was delayed by about an hour this year on account of the grey skies and the foggy conditions. Lighted buoys were positioned at the corners of the swim course to aide athletes in their navigation, but they would hardly make a difference. My friend MJ had found me standing in transition – out of breath from having just pulled on the last bit of my wetsuit (easier said than done when you and it are soaking wet). We made our way to the water for a brief warm-up, and anxiously awaited our respective wave starts; I would be going off 28 minutes after the pro’s and she would be going off 5 minutes after me.

At the gun, the men in my wave churned up some water something awful. But I’ve been swimming a lot and making great strides in my pool, and for the first time in my triathlon career, I can say that I wasn’t just comfortable in the open-water, I was downright positive. I made my way inwards towards the buoys and kept myself in the relative middle of my pack. I focused simply on keeping myself aerobic, and taking long, smooth and powerful strokes – but at the 600 meter mark I suddenly began to feel a very strong and rhythmic upturn of water on either side of me. It was as though two swimmers were making a Joe-sandwich out of me in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee. As it turns out, it wasn’t two swimmers, but serious chop that had really begun to pick-up on account of the strong winds that were blowing far from shore. As we turned right at the first turn-buoy and onto the longest leg of the swim course, we were headed directly into the current, with such waves and turbulence that anyone could have easily mistaken the lake for an ocean (including seasoned pro and 2nd place finisher Michael Lovato). I continued to push through the heaving belly of the water, actually catching the back-of-packers from the wave that started five minutes in front of me, and a few stragglers from the wave that started five minutes in front of them. I was strong, focused and deliberate, and though my actual swim time was slower than my target, I hadn’t envisioned the Tsunami-like conditions when I set my goals and feel I managed a phenomenal effort under the circumstances. Pushing out of the water, I ran up the sandy beach and over the timing mat in 40:40.

Swim Target / Actual / Rank :: 38:00 / 40:40 / 736th fastest

The Bike

T1 seemed to take an abnormally long amount of time - around about 3 minutes, to be precise – on account of how wet and how muddy the entire area was. I kept my cool, however, and I made my way out of the long chute and onto the 56–mile bike leg. The bike course itself was fairly challenging… The first 12 miles or so were very hilly, with constant ups and downs – some long and shallow, some short and steep – culminating with the 9% stretch that has been notoriously dubbed “The Marsh Hill Monsteh”. My strategy was to keep it relatively easy during the first 12 miles until I was over the worst of the hills, and then gradually open things up to full-throttle for the middle 30 miles of the bike course. I was taking in my usual Accelerade every 15 minutes along with a PowerGel every 30 minutes. I would grab water at the aide-stations to dilute the contents of my stomach, but with the relatively low temperatures it wasn’t nearly as important to monitor my fluids to the same degree that I would in the blazing heat. Keeping my rhythm throughout the brisk conditions, I hit the turnaround at 1 hour and 14 minutes – naively thinking that I was on my way to a sub-2:30 bike. As it turns out, the return trip was nothing but a continuous struggle into an abominable headwind, combined with stinging rain. I managed to keep a solid power-output, but began feeling the suffer at the 40 mile mark as I began to roll away from the flattish-middle-30 of the course, and back onto the closing 16 miles of hills (the return stretch was not entirely the same as the route headed out). My legs were a bit weakened from the previous efforts on the early climbs, and the pouring rain left me virtually no other choice than to descend a bit more conservatively than I would otherwise have in the dry conditions. As we all know, triathlon is a game of give-and-take; give a little too much on the bike, and you take from the run. Keeping this at the forefront of my mind, I tried to ride as aggressively as the conditions would allow while not “burning my matches” and putting myself into a bad position going into the run.

Screaming back down into civilization, with countless volunteers giving the universal double-hands-waving-downward sign to slow down as I approached T2, I savored the cheers and the cow bells from the countless spectators and fans who’d braved the horrid weather to support us athletes as I entered transition with a bike time of 2:42:00.

Bike Target / Actual / Rank :: 2:35:00 / 2:42:00 / 193rd fastest

The Run

It’d paid off… I saved just enough energy from the bike to blow out of T2 with my guns blazing to start on a stellar half-Mary. The run was actually one of my biggest goals for this event, as so many times before I’ve approached the triathlon run as simply “surviving” whereas I’ve always known from training that I’m perfectly capable of approaching the run as it’s own race. The run course was a 6+ mile loop that went out and back through the race venue twice. At first I thought this would be a detriment from a mental standpoint – coming all the way back and virtually under the finishing banner only to go out and do it all over again – but it actually wound up working perfectly to my advantage. The out-and-back double-loop format was nice because it allowed me to learn the course and pace myself accordingly. Further fueling the potential for a good run, the weather had changed from a downpour to a light mist which, combined with the low temperatures, was perfect for running.

I opted to “run light” and not take any fuel with me on the run – because there were more aide stations on this course than there were miles, I figured I’d simply race the half-Marathon on the fuel I’d taken in during the bike, plus hydration offered at the stations. The course was serving Gatorade Endurance, which I’ve used extensively this summer during run-training for this specific reason, and it was a pleasure to take a hand-out every time I needed one. The mile-markers ticked by faster than I expected – one after the other, with the exception of the few “missing” markers. There were two hills on the run course that were definitely putting the hurt on most competitors, but I ran these and didn’t slow a bit during the entire 13.1 miles. Indeed, I ran the race I wanted to, and I was hell-bent on finishing with nothing left in the tank. At mile 10, the cramps began, and at mile 11 my quads were beginning to lock up. It was too late to take in a gel, and I was running too well to slow the pace. I kept my focus, and pushed through the pain in my legs until I spotted a M25–29 athlete 20 meters up the road. I caught him, and I put a gap on him. My legs were screaming, and now my lungs were feeling the strain. In my sights, another M25–29 athlete. I caught him, and I put a gap on him. I was doing what I set out to do – at mile 12, I was leaving it all on the course. The pain in my body dissipated, my mind detached, and I floated through the remainder of the course. I rounded the final corner. I saw Liz and my mom cheering, I saw the enormous 800 meters-to-go arch, and I saw the finish line. My goal for the run was to go sub-1:45, and I came across the line at 1:44:13.

Run Target / Actual / Rank :: 1:45:00 / 1:44:13 / 243rd fastest

Overall

My overall goal for this race was to go as close to 5 hours as possible, but the weather conditions were simply difficult. The course was also quite challenging, and the competition for the World’s slots was amazingly stiff. I’m confident that had the conditions and the course been more similar to the Tupper Lake Half Ironman race that I did in June, I would have gotten down closer to my target overall time. How did I feel? I felt perfect – I really did. The swim was challenging for everyone, but I swam strong and with a newfound confidence – my technique work and structured sets in the pool definitely proved worthwhile. The bike was a tough course, and headwinds, temperature and rain made the efforts hard to gauge and the terrain difficult to ride as aggressively as I would have normally. The run, on the other hand, was perfect.

After I crossed the line, I was awarded my finisher medal and my Timberman-branded water bottle and sport towel. I made my way through the transition areas and watched the athletes continue to come in as I joined my fan club back at the car. I was hot and cold at the same time, my stomach was in knots, and my legs were practically unable to support me. I sat in a foldy chair for quite a bit of time, wrapped in the only dry clothes I’d brought with me, until a smile finally washed over my face. Without a doubt, I’d left it all on the course, and I’d raced this race to the best of my ability. I didn’t qualify for World’s, but I did land in the top 20% overall (including the pro-field) with an overall time of 5:12:34; good enough for 31st place in the M25–29 Age-Group, and 256th out of over 1350 finishers.

Overall Target / Actual / Rank :: 5:00:00 / 5:12:34 / 256th fastest

Official Age-Group and Overall Results

Photos here

Finally, and as usual, an enormous thanks to everyone out there for reading, supporting, and encouraging my athletic pursuits. I couldn’t do it without you.

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