Racing in New Hampshire Again

Its been a while since I raced, but I got back out there today at the Timberman sprint. My intentions were to do the 70.3 race, but the Europe trip and a crazy few weeks at work wiped the month of June out, so I down gauged to the sprint, ramped up my training for the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin in Oct., and trained through my race this weekend.

It fell at the end of the a rest week, so I wasn't completely trashed like I was at the beginning of the week, but I'm confident I can train through and be ready to go long in early Oct.

The course was perfect. The swim was flat and fast, the bike was extremely hilly, but the wind wasn't bad, and the run was a steady climb up for 1.5 miles, then right back down. The weather was a dream in the low 70s after weeks of 100+ temps in Dallas.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

The swim went well. It was only 600 yards, so it was nice and short. I only saw 2 guys get away from me, and had some feet to follow for a bit of the way. I pushed it hard, but didn't let it get out of control.

Swim 7:28, 21st out of 988

This bike course is a tough 15 miles that takes you up to a mtn pass. Right out of T1 you climb for about a mile, then get about a mile of down and flat before heading straight up. I was hurting early on, but tried to settle in. I recall this course well from the 70.3 race I did here last year. The 70.3 race is a bunch of climbing for the first 14 miles, then mostly flat with small rollers to the turn around at 28, then back over that same Mtn pass. The Sprint course takes you about halfway up the pass, then turns you around and sends you back down to the lake.

I felt great on the flats, did my best on the climbs, and bombed the downhills. The new Zipp 404 front and 808 rear felt great, and my glue job on my tubulars worked out okay.

Bike 46:40 (19.3 mph), 129th out of 988

The run is beautiful. It should be since it is held on "scenic drive." It winds right around the lake. It is a pretty steady climb up to the turn around then back down to the finish.

I wasn't really paying attention to my splits, but felt good and had a decent turnover. Most importantly, I wasn't getting passed like I was standing still which is mostly the case.

At the turn at the top of the course, I flipped it up a gear and held a real hard pace back down to the finish line. It hurt like hell, but I welcomed it.

Run 22:50 (7:37 pace), 322 out of 988

So I went a 1:21.14, finished 15th out of 56 for for my age group, 111th (out of 499) for the men, and 131st overall.

I'm a bit sore, but should be fine tomorrow. I need to get a couple of hours in on the bike, so that will help lossen things up if a good nights sleep doesn't do it.

We've got some decent photos and should have more after our vacation wraps up.

Thanks to our friend Chikako who came up from Connecticut for the weekend to hang out with Ingrid and I, watch us race, and play with the kids.

We're off to our favorite restaurant we found last summer called The Camp over in Meredith for a nice dinner!