This year was my fifth year competing at Ironman Canada.  I love this race as I usually have so many other friends who are either racing, volunterring or watching.  It was great to have the support of Tristan and the Falcon out there.  I always get a little jittery before the races, so knowing that I could go to Tristan with any last minute concerns was comforting.

I had a consistent race, making my way up through the field as the day went on.  I came off the bike in 14th place. I started the run off conservative but was soon passing people. I ran well until mile 15, where I started to fall apart.

Actually… funny story. I fell apart right when I passed Mark Van Akkeren (who led for much of the race). I jokingly said “Great swim” as I passed him. It was about half a mile later when I hit the wall. Karma is a bitch.

The out and back run course at IMC is great as you get to cheer on your friends as you are coming back into town.  The last three miles of the run course are quite noisy as there are so many cheering spectators.

I held 6th place from about mile 15 to the finish. I made it to the beer tent within 5 minutes of finishing and took a Kona spot the next day.

Thanks to all my friends and Timex Teammates who sent me well wishes before and after the race!
Men:
1. BRYAN RHODES (#9) at 8:30:12
2. BERNHARD HIEBL (#35) at 8:34:34
3. .JASPER BLAKE (#1) at 8:36:08
4. ANDRIY YASTREBOV (#4) at 8:37:11
5. JUSTIN DAERR (#14) at 8:37:34
6. KYLE MARCOTTE (#5) at 8:44:30
7. MATT LIETO (#10) at 8:45:42
8. COURTNEY OGDEN (#17) at 8:47:04
9. NIGEL GRAY (#26) at 8:50:35
10. MATT SEELEY (#22) at 8:51:17
 
WOMEN:
1. BELINDA GRANGER (#67) at 9:17:58
2. ALISON FITCH (#68) at 9:26:15
3. HEATHER WURTELE (#66) at 9:39:51
4. SARA GROSS (#51) at 9:41:31
5. LISA BENTLEY (#50) at 9:42:37
6. DESIREE FICKER (#53) at 9:56:09
7. TRACY ROBERTSON (#59) at 9:59:27
8. JANELLE MORRISON (#1856) at 9:59:54
9. RACHEL KIERS (#57) at 10:04:47
10. CATHERINE BROWN (#1822) at 10:10:36

This was my 6th time participating in the 70.3 Timberman race up in Gilford, NH. It still amazes me how the race has grown since inception 8yrs ago. The location is phenomenal and the race is first class. Leading into the race I was interested to see how a very short taper would work. I was coming off of a pretty signicant 3 week cycle that my coach, Paul Regensburg, had put me thru. In the final days of the cycle my legs were definetely feeling tired and mentally I was fatigued from the intensity work.
At the expo I purchased a pair of metallic lensed goggles after reading my teammate’s, Brian Schanning, race report. It’s funny how over the years you can still pick up great advice that can really help on race day. That was one of my better last minute purchases as race morning was sunny with a bit of wind. The second leg of the swim was directly into the sun and the lenses really helped dull the glare. The swim is held in Lake Winnepausake, which is a beautiful, clear lake. I was in the 2nd M35-39 wave, which was the 5th of the day and 20 mins after the pro start. With 5 minute intervals between waves we were able to have clear water for the first leg of our rectangular swim. My swim strategy was similiar to my previous 70.3 race in Rhode Island. I had a friend racing in my wave, that is a stronger swimmer then I. So I wanted to try to grab his feet and hold that pace as long as I could. I got lucky this time and stayed on his feet for the first section. However, it was a “be careful what you wish for” situation, as I joked with him after the race (he couldn’t swim straight to save his life). As we rounded the first turn buoy, we started to catch some of the previous wave and it started to get really congested. I stayed on my friend’s feet and I was pleased at first as I felt like I was swimming hard to stay there. Then it started to get much more congested, so I made a decision to move left to some clearer water. However, now I was away from the feet that I had been following for half the swim. I tried to focus on my effort and form. The third turn, which took us back into shore, brought some chop. It wasn’t anything serious but some good rolling action. I ended the swim in 29:39 and as I was getting my blueseventy (www.blueseventy.com) wetsuit peeled off, I found out that I had slightly edged out my friend on the swim. This was pretty exciting until I felt a wave of nausea come on as I was buckling my Rudy Project helmut (www.e-rudy.com). It’s funny how going from horizontal to vertical in a quick fashion can bring on that uncomfortable queeziness. Fortunately it passed quickly and I was on my way out of transition and onto my Trek TTX (www.trekbikes.com). I was racing my second 70.3 with a Cycleops Powertap (www.saris.com) and my timex heart rate monitor and I was excited to work on triangulating the two with my perceived effort. I really enjoy having the data feedback, as it is a great reality check. The data helps to hold me back at the beginning of the race and keeps me honest thru the middle section where I tend to flake out a bit. It also helps to remind me to fuel properly as I can notice when I start to lose power and need more calories.

It’s funny how some of the best pre-race strategies can become completely irrelevant during a race. I had traveled up to the race with my friends Showky and fellow Timex teammate, Ian Ray. The night before the race I was mentioning my previous cramping while racing and how my plan was to take 800mg of sodium/hr this time. I spent 15 minutes playing with a tic-tac container to hold about 12 endurolyte tabs. Well, once I got about 20 miles into the bike I realized that I had left my container in my race bag, nice. Fortunately, it was a pretty cool day and I was lucky to finish up the bike in 2:20:19 without cramping. It was a three minute PR for this course and I had almost matched my target power output.
T2 was pretty smooth and I was out onto the run course curious to see how my legs would respond to my recent training load. I settled in and focused on my turnover. The run course is an out and back 2 loops. As I  came thru the turnaround at the halfway point of my first loop, I saw the 1st Place bike approaching with Andy Potts right behind. It’s amazing to see these phenomenal pros race. Andy came up on my shoulder and he asked if I wanted to run with him for a little bit. He was starting to, relatively speaking, shut things down as he had +8 mins on second place with 5k left. He was nice enough to let me hold on for dear life for about half a mile, before he cruised in with a 1:14:14 run split and almost 10 minute margin of victory. I know this is going to be his first year racing in Kona, but I’m very excited to watch him race. He is such a tremoundous talent.
After surviving my little mid-race speed work, I settled back in. At mile six, I started to feel a bit fatigued and decided to start the cola shots at the aid stations. This was an immediate boost and helped to carry me for the remainder of the run with good consistency.

I crossed the line with my run PR of 1:21:20 and 4:14:01 overall time. I was pretty psyched as it was a 10 minute PR for the course and put me in 7th place overall, 1st amateur. Thanks for reading and hopefully I didn’t bore you to tears.

Timberman 2008

Being able to drive under 4 hours to a triathlon festival the caliber of Timberman makes it a “must do” race. The course is beautiful, the event organizers are great www.timbermantri.com and the pro field is first class. Having done the 70.3 several times I decided to take the lazy route this year and race the sprint. Hey, I can sit back Sunday and watch Potts, Lessing, Lovato, Wellington and several friends rip up the long race on Sunday…

Saturday morning

The sprint is fast, 600 meter swim, 15 mile rolling bike with one “nasty” hill and a rolling 3 mile run along the shores of the lake, sounds more fun than a 70.3 any day… right?

Almost 1000 racers lined up race morning to nearly perfect weather, 68 and sunny with a light breeze…

I was in the 4th and final wave, the swim in crystal clear lake water is fast, the bike, a tad busy and the run rolling hills and maybe a touch short of 3 miles. Although sprints are painful there’s something reassuring knowing every stroke, pedal and step takes one measurably closer to the finish, no seemingly endless Ironman death marches here…

I raced the swim and bike full on, with the exception of the last downhill, which is a no passing zone… getting struck behind a slowpoke coasting the rest of the way in. After posting a 16:44 minute run split I crossed the line in 1:04:35 hrs, 55 seconds behind winner Tim Snow an up and coming pro and 1 sec behind the other pro in the race… Bottom-line, I missed the podium by 1 second… People, I know we’ve all being watching the Olympics but I raced for 3876 seconds and came up one short!

Results: http://lin-mark.com/tmsprint08.txt

So it’s 9:00am on Saturday morning and I’m done racing for the weekend… that doesn’t sound right! Tomorrow I can train by myself - or train with 2000 of my closest friends.  And double this month’s run milage!

Remember that bit about the organizers being great? Well, being a member of Team Timex didn’t hurt and having the same name as their son didn’t hurt either, so a few hours later, with a race packet in hand I’m in.

Now reality sets in, I’ve no nutritional goodies and my running shoes are 4 year old 8 oz. racing flats that are “flat” in many senses of the word…

Time to hit the Expo, firstly for a bunch of Powerbars and gels http://www.powerbar.com/ and then to see Shari at the Zoot tent. Several of our Timex teammates have been racing in Zoot M Ultra’s this season http://www.zootsports.com/ with great results, so I was confident if Zoot had my size I’d be good to go. Shari and Ben came through big and I walked out 10 minutes later in a new pair of the most comfortable running shoes I’d ever put on my feet…

Sunday morning

Once again great conditions… low humidity, 65 and enough wind to stay cool on the run. As usual the old guys go last with our wave 55 minutes after the pro start, time enough to watch Andy Potts decimate the swim in 22 minutes and be riding his bike before the competition got out of the water!

No need to bore y’all with the details: I found a great pair of feet on the swim (thanks Jim) and rode the bike in 3 sections, first 14 miles at bike threshold (149 HR), next 36 miles at 142 HR (nice tail wind) and the last 6 miles at 137 HR, easing up at the end to be “fresh” for the run…

I was barely on the run course when the announcer congratulated Andy Potts on his 1:14 run, new course record and 10 minute schooling of the rest of the field. Watch out Kona this guy is the real deal…

Pro Results: http://lin-mark.com/tm703profin08.txt

 As usual I ran a little ahead of myself averaging 6:55s for the first 4 miles before reality and lack of training set in but with the moral support of a couple of young studs (thanks Tod and Toga) we managed to keep rolling and held a decent pace to the line. The Zoot Ultra’s were fantastic, my right foot was unblemished and had a small blister behind the ball of my left foot, mainly due to grit from T2. The arch support is the best I’ve ever felt in race shoes…

The highlight of the run was watching our Timex teammate Chris Thomas run a 1:21 PR run split to convincingly take his second Top Amateur Ironman 70.3 victory this season in 4:14:01 hrs. Chris even spent time running with Potts before graciously allowing Andy to run the last few miles solo…

I ended up crossing the line in 4:35:36 a Timberman PR, first place in my new and improved old guy age group and PR’s in both the swim and bike… even with the Zoot’s I might actually have to train some to get my run back…

Results: http://lin-mark.com/tm703ama08.txt

Despite screaming IT bands for most of the run it was a fantastic day and the double was no trouble at all…

After Boulder Peak this year, I had a conversation with my coach, Simon, that went something like this:

LT: I think my body needs a break, I am not doing well, I need some rest. Have you ever felt like that?
SL: Yes, sometimes you just have to get away from the sport for a little bit and take a break. What do you do when you arent training and racing?
LT: I unload trucks at work
SL: ooookay, anything else? When I need a break, I have a yacht that I like to sail. Do you have anything like that?
LT: Noooo, oh wait! Yes!!! I have a skateboard!!!

I dont think that is what he was implying. However, now that I have retired for the 2008 season, I decided it was time to check out other (legal) recreational activities. Denny bought me a longboard at the beginning of the summer that I practiced on for two weeks. But only in the dark. Because I suck. While riding my board in the dark I ate a curb. As I was laying half in the street and half on the sidewalk, I tried to picture telling said coach/Timex people/fellow Boulderinians that I got hurt while barefoot longboarding in the middle of the night…so I hung up the board for a few months.

Yesterday was my first day of longboarding practice. I was dragging my feet since I am still sick, and threatening to die at any minute. I dont think Denny cared, so longboarding it was. We rode in the daylight, and I was wearing shoes which put me way ahead of the last time I rolled. I am happy to report I didnt eat any curbs…mainly because I was riding in the middle of the street, but still…

Some may ask why the sudden blog frenzy… I have been having some log in issues…. I cant read instructions properly as I am ADD!!!! Keith finally sorted the situation and now I plan on boring you all to tears with my mundane ramblings :)

Taper Smaper….

People who do Ironman are maybe a bit strange and perhaps even a touch crazy. We swim, bike and run more than what is considered normal. We obsess about our heart rates, our weight, tyre pressure, power tap readings, how many calories we put in a biddon on a long ride, matching cycle kits and have heated debates on whether or not long compression socks are ruining our sports image. After months of doing all of this while following a program that will hopefully lead us to race day glory of either a PB, a kona slot, a podium or even just the finish line we first must enter the “taper” period.

Now on paper the “taper” time should be a welcome relief from all the gnarly training but alas this is where everything goes pear shaped. I personally struggle with slowing down. I always get a touch crazy in the first few days…. I cant sit still. I start baking and cooking. Poor Luke gets food shoved in his face. I obviously cant eat it. I am busy obsessing over my weight and wondering if it is possible to gain 2 kgs in this next 2 weeks. Hopefully NOT!!!!

I know how this all sounds….really I do. I guess I just wanted to write about it so that other people don’t think they are crazy. Also if I put it down in a blog then hopefully I will not find the need to talk about it and drive Luke and Joey ( housemate) mad.

I am filling in the time with some serious Olympic Games watching… GO AUSSIES!!!! Also I have been getting some of the best body work done by Tim Monaco here in Bend. He is a magician and can fix any niggle with just 90 mins on the table. The Golden Turtle has had a little love and is ready for the road trip up to Penticton.

Luke and I will be packing her up and hitting the road on Friday.

See you up there!!!!

Memphis x x