Timberman - The Race that Wasn't

This race was important to me. It was my first half last year and I hoped to better my time considerably.

Swim: 36 mins

Waiting on the beach for 10 waves to hit the water before you sucks. It was great seeing the pros go off but then it was a lot of standing around. Finally, my wave was called and we hit the line. I had about 160 in my wave and took a position on the inside front. I got off quick and overtook quite a few guys. Out to the first turn I felt strong moving through guys and holding a really good line. At the turn we got hit with some chop and had to move through some stragglers in the other waves. I felt like I was moving along at a good pace. Hit the final turn and hit some more traffic. Kept my stroke long and smooth and eventually found my fingertips hitting the sandy bottom. Got up looked at the watch and was hoping for a better result but was satified.

Bike: 2:54

Ok, so I had orders to keep the HR at 155 the entire bike. I got out of transition and on the bike and felt really, really good. I took a gel and downed some water and tried to settle my HR into the 155 area. As we hit the turn on the back roads and the start of climb I was moving through the field with little effort. Took another gel at the 20 minute mark and continued this throughout the ride. When we got out to the loop I was hauling ass and still in the 155 range. I couldn't believe how fast I was moving by people and dropping them so easily. I hit the turn and headed back home at around 1:25 or so. I was feeling really good and thought I had a chance if I ripped off a solid run to go under 5 hours. I kept fueling with water and gel and was moving through a stiff headwind with ease and gobbling up guys that went out way too hard. A ton of them in my AG. The euphoria was about to hit a wall though as I suddenly noticed a sound coming from my rear wheel. I started feeling the road more and my bike started to swerve in the rear. I flatted. Pissed, I hoped off and cracked a CO2 into the tire. It held air so I jumped on and started going again but only for a mile or so. I had thoughts of riding it in but there was no chance of that with it totally flat now. I pulled off the side of the road and waited. Saw a support truck..flagged him and he came around to help. He pumped some air into it and told me to look for the Mavic car. I started going again and it went flat. At this point I wanted to punch something, cry or just mail it in. I pulled off the road and sat on the guardrail with my helmet off as people I worked so hard to catch cruised by. After about 10 minutes I saw the Mavic car and jumped up to flag him down. I ran straight across the road carrying my bike. He gave me a new wheel but couldn't get the gearing straight. I had my middle gears and that's all I cared about at this point. I just wanted to get home to transition. I ran back across the road mounted up and took off. I basically said screw the HR at this point knowing I had about 20 to go and cranked out the big gear. Again, I felt good and was hoping to come in under 3 hours. I cranked up some hills past some folks I had passed originally and roasted the downhills not caring about a crash at 50 miles an hour. I got to transition in 2:52 ish for a time of 2:54.

Run: 1:43

Shaking off the flat was hard to do but I thought I could really make up some time on the run. I could still finish in maybe 5:10 if I had a good second loop. I started off strong, legs were really good and I was overly focused on doing damage. My HR was 169 for the first mile which I put down in about 7:15. I dropped it back to 162 and kept it there for the entire first loop. Drift got me up to 165 to 168. I took water at every aid station and noticed some cramping and hit the salt at every other. At mile 5 I started taking cola too. It was hot on the second loop and I thought I had earned the right to push it but I waited until I hit mile 8. I was moving past people the whole time which gave huge motivation. People were walking all over the place and I was hauling. My HR was up at 169 and 170 on the hill and I started pushing harder as I neared the flats to the finish. After all I had been through today, I kept thinking about what could've been. I still thought I was going to come in at 5:25 but somehow I managed some speed over the last 3.5 miles and finished in 5:17. I def didn't leave anything on the run. I could've gone all out but I think I was at my max. My HR for the run was 170. I did cramp up hard twice but if I kept moving I was all good.

Total time: 5:17

Summary:
Crossing the line was bitter sweet. I had my heart set on this race because I knew this was my last race to actually race. I'm more concerned about finishing IM Florida. I did this race before and knew I could finish so it was all about seeing where I measured up. I was killing the bike and have never felt so good. Everything was clicking - HR, nutrition, and cadence. At the turn I felt even better in a stiff headwind. The flat destroyed me mentally but it was a good test because if anything I didn't drop out or give up. Even though I wanted to toss my bike in the ravine I kept it all in perspective, but it was one of the hardest things I've had to overcome since I started doing triathlons. To think where I could've finished is hard for me now. I could have easily been at 5 or maybe even under. I still finished 15 minutes faster than last year and was stuck on the road for about 20. A lot of what ifs have been running through my mind. I might have had better legs on the run if I had not dumped my nutrition plan the last 20 of the bike in order to make up time. I finished 250 overall, but could've well who knows? If anything, I know I can hit my numbers prescribed by Max and race well, really well. Barring mechanicals and other issues I'm where I need to be. Things don't always go perfect but for about 2 hours into Timberman things were going better than they ever have for me and it took a flat to derail it all. It's hard to get back to training after this but I've got more work to do. I can't even look at the results anymore. Moving on...