Timberman 70.3 – Triathlon becomes a contact sport

In what has become a race weekend ritual, Friday afternoon Alisha and loaded the car and headed out for the last triathlon weekend of the season.  The gorgeous lake region of New Hampshire was our destination.  This region has become one of my favorite spots in New England.  The sparkling lakes, pristine mountains, and crisp air make it the perfect location for a triathlon.  We spent Saturday exploring the Castle in the Clouds perched atop the mountains providing spectacular views of Lake Winnepausakee.  

The Timberman 70.3 was the last race planned and the second 70.3 event of my season.  This race drew a talented pro field which included Andy Potts, reigning World 70.3 champion and Chrissie Wellington the reigning Ironman World Champion.  I saw both talented athletes in transition when I arrived Sunday morning.  Chrissie looked like a bundle of energy chatting with everyone around her.  I love that in the sport of triathlon age groupers and pros mingle in the same transition area, no barriers or seemingly special treatment.  Everyone runs the same course under the same circumstances. 

So after setting up my transition area I walked down the beach to the swim start to see the “special surprised” promised by the race director.  There were grumbling rumors in transition that it would be the Backstreet Boys singing the national anthems (they had performed a concert the night before, much to the dismay of several athletes at the hotel next door to the venue).  Thankfully, Keith Jordon, the race director had something else in mind.  Two skydivers floated to the ground carrying the American Flag.  Shortly thereafter, the pros were off and swimming, starting a full 50 minutes before me. 

I felt good swimming a few warmup simulated 25 meter sprints.  When my wave was called I walked down into the water for the start.  Unknown to me, my day was just about to get interesting.  Normally in the swim start, I position myself right in the front.  The first 200 meters usually see multiple swimmers sprinting beyond their ability, dying by the time they hit the second buoy.  My typical race starts off sprinting ahead of these adrenalin fueled swimmers and staying up front.  Well, Sunday I couldn’t quite get to the front.  When the gun sound I jumped forward and started fighting with everyone else for the same water space.  After about 30 seconds I caught someones foot or elbow squarely in the right ear.  All of a sudden I heard church bells in my head and the world underwater was spinning around.  Not good, I thought.  My ear drum had been ruptured.  Staying in the water was extremely painful.  For about ten seconds I contemplated wading back to shore and abandoning the race.  This thought immediately pissed me off.  I didn’t train 8 months and come all this way to quit in the first 30 seconds.  My wave was taking off ahead of me, and I quickly decided I’d see how far I could stand the pain.  I continued swimming, not always in a straight line, my equilibrium was off a little. I finally exited the water (somehow still in under 30 minutes).  I’m convinced I lost at least 3 minutes because of this accident. 

I stumbled out of the water and wobbled on unsteady legs into T1.  Standing by my bike I took a second to get my bearings, grabbed my gear and figured, what the hell.  The ear’s not going to get any better might as well keep going.  This bike course had a significant amount of climbing in the first 13 miles.   I spun up the climbs to keep my heart rate low and put off the accumulation of lactic acid. After the first hour I finally got into the flat section and dropped the hammer.   The climb back up the Marsh Hill Monsta wasn’t nearly as bad on the way back up.  I came back into T2 with an average split, nothing spectacular, but most importantly there was no pain in my legs (ala FL 70.3).  I shuffled off on the run feeling good.  The miles were ticking off at around 8:30 pace – again not spectacular, but I was holding steady.  At the turn for lap two I fell off my pace, but was still running (again, not like the trudge it took to finish FL in May).  Aid stations came and went as I grabbed gatorade, water, sponges and salt tablets like they were going out of style.  The snow handed out by guys at one of the early aid station was a fantastic touch.  A couple miles later I got a huge boost on the run when I looked over and saw Team Hoyt running the opposite direction on their first run lap.  If you haven’t heard about this father-son team do yourself a favor and do a search on YouTube – they are truly an inspiration in the triathlon community.   Finally, the finish line came into view and my race and season came to an end.  The final time was 13 minutes faster than my best 70.3 so it’s hard to complain, but I still think I have a sub 5 hour race in me.  The swim was extremely upsetting, and I’ve got a better run in me somewhere, I just have to figure out how to unleash it after swimming and biking.  If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?   

While standing in line for the post race grub, Alisha showed me a fantastic souvenier she had crafted for me.  While hanging around waiting for me to come around from each event she sketched out a drawing of the lake, swim course and surrounding mountains.  She then managed to get both of  men’s and women’s winners, Chrissie Wellington and Andy Potts to sign it.  Very cool!

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