Brian joined us on the Saturday morning group ride yesterday and I asked him for a race report on his Timberman 70.3 experience. Congrats to Brian and everyone else representing Bikeway who raced it!
For the first time this year I was headed to a big race without my race partner Carlene who also happens to be my wife. A family commitment kept her from racing this past weekend. This race was the IM Timberman 70.3 in Gilford, NH. If you have never done this race, it is a must do before you hang up your goggles, bike, and sneakers. It is one of the most well supported races out there with themed aid stations (some even had snow balls to hand out), an unbelievably deep pro group with names like Chrissie Wellington, and of course scenery that is gorgeous. In order to keep this somewhat short, I will jump ahead to the morning of the race.
To put it mildly, I didn't sleep a wink. The anxiety of getting up at 3:45 A.M. to get into transition as well as redemption from last years results was weighing heavily on my mind. Before I knew it, the three alarms I set were all going off in unison and I popped out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning. All my bags were prepped the night before, so all I had to do was make a quick cup of coffee and my morning go to snack, a bagel thin with loads of almond butter. Out the door and off to Ellacoya State Park to park the car at the race site (parking fills up before 5 A.M. and then shuttles are used). I arrived in plenty of time and took the opportunity to get another quick nap in before setting up transition at 5:45 AM.
The weather stations predicted rain for the weekend but the rain gods held out for a sunny swim in 71 degree water. When the gun went off I tried to get a good inside position to keep the buoys right along side of me to help with sighting them. The water wasn't too choppy so swimming on line wasn't an issue. During the first leg of the swim I felt pretty good and quickly got into a nice groove. My plan was to swim at a moderate pace to the first turn and then pick it up a little to the second turn, and go all out for the swim back in. I was executing it well until a cramp grabbed hold of my right calf and I had to basically swim without any kind of kick. After about 5 minutes of fighting off these cramps I was able to loosen up and finish the swim relatively strong. When I looked down at my watch my time was 35:14 which was about 30 seconds slower than last year and all I thought was, "how could I be slower." At least races are never won in the swim so I decided to just crush myself on the bike.
Transition to the bike went well and I started to hit my nutrition plan which was about 250-300 calories per hour along with 20 ounces of water per hour. Electrolytes were already premixed in the fluid so I was good on that. I felt great on the bike coming out of the mountains and felt once I hit the more flat part of the course I could make up some serious time (Of course it helps to be on a properly fitted P3 with 404 firecrests to do this. Sorry for the plugs but the guys at Bikeway who prepped my bike are awesome--Mike, Rob, Julian, etc.). After the turn-around at mile 28 I saw that I was way ahead of my last years pace and was averaging around 20 mph. This got me excited and I figured I would drop the hammer and try to negative split the bike on the way back. I finally finished the 56 mile bike at 2:43:47. That was 20 minutes faster than last year!
Its run time. Transition off the bike was seamless and I felt like I was shot out of a cannon on the run....then it all came crashing down. A major cramp in my left quad. Then a hamstring. Did I burn up on the bike? Was my nutrition plan right? After getting the cramps worked out it was slow going and the weather was getting hot. I continued to run for as far as I could and fast as I could between cramps. This was the plan for the day and it worked. Although my run was 5 minutes slower than last year at a 1:51:22 my overall time was a personal best at 5:13:55. A 17 minute improvement which I was ecstatic about. Of course there is always room for improvement and the question of what would have been my time had I not cramped. That will only be answered the next time I hit the course.
Also, a big thanks to all the Bikeway team members up there who were all supporting each other out on the course. Kelly, Dave, Carly, Mario, and Mike to name a few.
Yours in Tri,
Brian Kuczma
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