IM70.3 Timberman
A Learning Experience
IM 70.3 Timberman Race Report
Race Planning
This race was nice because it was so close to where I live. No need for any Airbnb or hotels, just drove up to the race on the morning of the race.
The bike drop off and packet pick up was on Saturday, so we did do quite a bit of driving this weekend. Dropped the bike off on Saturday and tried to keep it light on the legs for the remainder.
Nutrition Plan
Swim
1 Gel before the start
Bike
Planning to bring 3 water bottles with:
1 scoop G1M
2 Scoop Base Salt (lesson learned from Musselman)
Planning to bring 5 gels, one every 35 minutes is goal
Run
Planning to bring gels… 1 gel every 25 minutes.
Lick some salt (every 30 min, 1-2 licks, again, lessons learned from Musselman)
Saturday
The day before the race was spent at Home. Getting things in order, prepping the bike, and more or less just hanging around. The morning before race day we made some homemade blueberry pancakes. I ate quite a few of these, and had two eggs with them.
We drove up to the race venue around 11am so that we could do packet pick up and bike drop.
When we got to the race, looked at the merch, dropped off the bike, and then grabbed a bite to eat at Wrap City in Tilton. I got the Si Racha sandwich, since it was the only bread and chicken option on the sandwich list. This sandwich was fried chicken, and had a ton of sauce and extras on the sandwich that I was not expecting. I also ate their house made chips on the side, also lots of grease here. In retrospect, I am thinking that this food option may have been part, if not the leading cause of my race day issues.
For dinner we have sous-vide chicken, pasta, and red sauce. I had quite a bit of red sauce, and in retrospect will keep this sauce volume lower next time.
Race Day
Woke up at 3AM and got ready to depart. Started the day with 1 cup of coffee, started eating at 3:25AM. In my bottle of electroyltes I had one scoop of G1M and an additional scoop of salt. Went to the bathroom one time before leaving.
The drive to the race took about 1 hour and had to stop to pee on the way there (because my bladder is tiny).
Arrived at the race and parked in the Pleasant Street School parking lot. This was clutch since it was effectively right at transition area. We arrived at this lot at 5AM, and I think had we arrived any later we wouldn’t have had any parking available here. Definitely recommend that for future races.
When we got over to the transition area, they weren’t letting anyone in, and we had to wait for about 25/30 minutes before they let anyone in. I went pee again when we arrived at the transition area. I had to go number 2, but I was going to wait a bit. We got let into the transition area around 530AM, and I set off to setup my bike. There was a ton of morning dew all over all of the bikes, but it didn’t seem to be too big an issue for me. I setup my transition directly to the right side of my bike, and had my bike facing outward, hanging off the back of the seat. In my transition setup I had:
2 bottles (1 G1M, 1 Water)
Ear plugs, swim cap, goggles
Running shoes, running belt with bib # attached, gels for the run on the belt
Cycling shoes with socks inside them (used the low-cut socks, darn tough), arm sleeves
Helmet, sunglasses
Running hat
Towel for the ground
Bike nutrition was placed on the bike, and in my back pocket
Salt canister
Kanes shoes
After setting up, I gave my bike pump and bag to Sam and Steve, and then made my way over to the bathroom. Went to the bathroom and then went to warm up wearing my Kanes shoes. My stomach at this point was feeling a bit strange, but I didn’t pay too much mind to it, perhaps it was race day jitters, or that Sri Racha Sandwich…
I did some running around, light jogging, no more than 5 minutes, then did some arm moving and slapping and then kinda just wandered around for a bit. I walked to the water edge and splashed some water on my arms and face to try and aquaintment myself with the water temperature. I then walked back to the swim start, and got in line, they then announced that we could do swim warmups… great!
I did an official swim warm up, got fully submerged and then got out. I peed again but this time in my wetsuit (I’m an animal, don’t be surprised). Getting back into the swim corral was a bit of a zoo since everyone had funneled in at this point, but I was determined to get into the position that would best reflect my race time so I could try and swim faster. I got queued up in the 35-37 min group, and was ready to get after it. I started my watch to connect to satellite and it was going slow as usually, until my watch restarted itself, right as I was heading down the embankment into the water. AHH! Thankfully, I was able to get it working again right before getting into the water! Literally, right before I got into the water.
Getting into the water, I ran, lifting my legs high so that I could run more than swim (pro tip, this is much faster), I then got right into it.
I went out pretty hot, and was struggling to get my pace and breathing under control. I set in, and tried drafting people at every opportunity. I got smacked around and bumped into quite a few times but overall swam a good swim and my sighting was pretty damn good!
After about 10 minutes in the water my stomach gave a bit of a lurch, and I felt like I was going to shit myself… but it passed. Another warning sign that something was off. My shoulders got pretty damn tired throughout the swim and I was primarily breathing to my right side due to the wake, and how things turned out. I think favoring one side is was caused my right shoulder to begin hurting, at least more-so than the left was getting sore. At this point I tried to breathe on the left side more, but it wasn’t working well. I had to slow down a bit and try and get my breathing under control so that I could breathe every 5 strokes rather than 2/3. Towards the back part of the swim, maybe last 500 yards or so, my hamstrings started to feel kinda tight, but no cramps (Yeehaw for that sodium!)
Coming out of the water I was pretty tired from the swim, and really had to focus on getting my breathing under control. On the run over to my bike, I took off the top part of my wetsuit, and then removed my goggles, swim cap, and ear plugs. I placed my goggles and ear plugs into the swim cap and then just tossed that on the ground when I got to my transition. I took my wetsuit off by doing one big pull, and then a second pull. I then had to manually remove my feet. All things considered, the removal of the suit went pretty well. I then put the socks on, without getting up, keeping one foot on the ground, and one heel on the ground for more balance. I then put the cycling shoes on. I tried to put the first arm sleeve/Warner on, but had difficulties getting my wet arm into the sleeve. I gave up after the first sleeve and just road with a single sleeve. This worked out perfectly throughout the entire bike as a snot collector.
Going out on the bike, no issues. I knew that my hamstrings were kinda tight, so I had some salt pretty quickly once on the bike. I then began my nutrition strategy and stayed very consistent with it. Taking a gel every 35 minutes and trying to drink at least one bottle an hour. I picked up a spare bottle at the first aid station and kept that stashed in my jersey for the remainder of the bike ride. That bottle was used to cooling, drinking, and rinsing off.
On the bike I only stopped at the first aid station. I attacked the hills pretty hard. I think the hill attacks took some out of my run legs. I bombed the down hills and tried to get as aero as possible for those. Got into that Sam Long aero position and just hammered some down hills.
I had to pee on the bike… So I went pee… Three times. Trying to find a location where there were no other people around was difficult due to the nature of the course and the speed of the athletes around me. I was able to find some stretches of road where I was able to relieve myself without anyone else seeing… I think.. and kept on trucking. Not sure why I had to pee so much, but it is what it is.
Coming into T2 I was feeling pretty tired. I hopped off the bike, and proceeded forward. Got the shoes on quick and was out of transition lickeddy-split. I started the run feeling rough, but I held a fast split since I felt similar fatigue in Musselman. I was well ahead of my planned pace at Musselman, and figured today would be similar…
First mile was fast, 6:40ish pace, and I knew I was in for a long run (that was wayyyyy too fast). I pulled back on the pace and things started to deteriorate. At about 3 miles I had a very powerful need to use the bathroom, it was at this point when I decided to skip that aid station and keep running (perhaps I thought it was just a passing need…). The next aid station was after transtition (2ndlap) and I was praying to god that I would make it there without sh**ing my pants. I got to the aid station and immediately went to the porto and spent about 3 minutes in there trying to get myself together. After the bathroom I went back out on the run and was still feeling pretty bad. It was after about 5-10 more minutes when I really felt my stomach sloshing around. It was like none of the liquid I had been consuming was absorbing, and the gels were suddenly very difficult to get down. I knew that if I kept eating them I would just add to the discomfort in my stomach. After a bit more sloshing I started to get a cramp on my left side, and that was present for a number of miles. The cramp went away eventually, but then I promptly got a cramp on my right side.
The stomach sloshing continued through to the finish line. My left foot fell asleep at some point on the second lap, and it was asleep for a couple miles. It finally came back but my right knee was beginning to ache a bit more than it usually does. At around mile 7 I was in rough shape. I really wanted to stop, but I knew I couldn’t. I couldn’t take any additional liquid on board without making the sloshing bad, so I took tiny sips at each aid station and continued onward. It was mile by mile at this point and I was just pressing on to see the next mile. This continued until mile 11, but I was really hurting, I didn’t have much in my to push the pace and I was just trying to run sub 8-min miles. At mile 11 I started a count down from 20 to try and get to the finish line. Every 0.1 miles I would decrement one, and continued to do so to preoccupy my mind rather than deal with the discomfort of my present condition. As I neared the finish line, somone passed me, and another person was beginning to pass me. I responded to the second person and didn’t let them pass me, and although I really didn’t think I could do it, I picked up the pace for the home stretch. The fans were incredible and the support from all the town and volunteers was really just awesome. I was able to finish sub 5 hours, but it was tough!
Post Race Thoughts
In retrospect, I actually ran a pretty respectable half marathon 1:38:00 (7:33 min/mi). I was really upset at first, but I still pulled off a great race despite all my pain. I’m still unsure what exactly contributed to the stomach issues, but it was likely a combination of things. I think paying closer attention to the food the day before will be more critical in future races.