On August 17th, I raced Timberman 70.3. Timberman is New England's premier triathlon and this year did not disappoint. I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend with some of my clients, thank you so much Mike and Cindy Walsh!!! They have a beautiful place in Laconia and its only 15 minutes or so from the transition area. My wife came with me and we left Calvin home with grandma. We did miss Calvin, but it was also extremely nice to have a little time to relax. Leading up to the race, I was very busy and we had a lot of people either racing Timberman or Ironman Mont Tremblant. As a result, I was stressed out and flat out from the week+ leading into the race. I wasn't really sure how things were going to go. I was feeling pretty good, but still not quite 100% recovered from IM Canada which was 3 weeks prior to this race. Nonetheless, I was optimistic and excited to race on a course I know well. We had a great team dinner at Chris Stevenson's house the night before with a great turnout. Thank you so much for hosting Chris!!! NorthEast MultiSport also manned one of the aid stations on the run course for Timberman. Thanks a ton to Sherrie Gibson and everyone else who helped out. It was AWESOME seeing you out there on the run course and I know all the athletes really appreciate you committing your entire Sunday to helping at the race. Here is a short video from the team dinner and of me starting the 1st loop, 2nd loop, and then finishing the race. Thanks to my wife for getting some video:
Here is my video race report. I apologize, but these seem to continue to get longer as the season goes on:
Key take aways from the race: I FINALLY broke 30 minutes on the swim in a half Ironman. I rode stroke. I was still able to run strong despite some accumulative fatigue. I broke the 4:20 mark in a 70.3 which I am extremely happy about. I ended up 17th overall, the 8th amateur, and 2nd in my age group. Lastly, I want to send out some huge congratulations a lot of Peak Triathlon Coaching athletes that raced as well. I am so proud of all of you, but it is amazing to see you all conquering new distances, PR'ing or just flat out rocking it. Check out these results: Ashley Blake, 45+ min PR at the Half Ironman distance. Amazing Ashley! Jessica Caissie successfully completing her first 70.3. Terrific Jessica! Roger Chopelas succussfully completed his first 70.3. HUGE Roger! Karin Chen, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! :) Donna Golatta, crushed her first 70.3. You continue to amaze Donna! Dan Greer with a 70.3 PR at Timberman! Jared Hardner with a Timberman PR and a great day! Christie Harris with a PR at the 70.3 distance! Coach Trent Hayden with a near PR and a breakthrough performance at Ironman Mont Tremblant. Stephanie Kaminaris crushing it a the Timberman Sprint on Saturday. John King, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! :) Ryan L'Italien, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! With an extremely respectable time of just over 12 hours. Abbie Liebman, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! You did it girl! I knew you would. Lizette Mantilla, battling the New England terrain and finishing Timberman. Kristin Mara completing Timberman on her way to Ironman Maryland in a few weeks Michelle Mercier-Link completing her first 70.3 in style! Phil Pane completing his first 70.3. You continue to inspire Phil! Jim Piper completing his 2nd Ironman in 11:30 on a tough course. Awesome! Eric Randall completed Timberman as prep for Ironman Maryland in a few weeks! Chris Stevenson wins his age group at the Timberman Sprint on Saturday! Mikael Taveniku battled through some injuries and a creazy travel schedule to complete another Ironman! Matthew Troyer, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! I knew you would break 12 hours my friend. Well done! Chris Veilleux, another 70.3 PR, including PR's in all 3 splits. Awesome buddy! Bobby Walczak, a 70.3 PR and saying he's never felt better! Big things to come Bobby! Mike Walsh, completed another 70.3 just 3 weeks out from IMLP. Well done Mike! Jack Webb completed is first 70.3 in a very respectable time and nearly 30 minutes faster than his initial goal! Did I mention we had a lot of people racing this weekend? Holy smokes!!! It amazing to see all those amazing accomplishments right next to each other. Congrats to all of you. We are EXTREMELY PROUD of you all and thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your triathlon journeys. What a weekend!!!