Timberman Race Report

Billy's house right on Lake Winepesauke

   When we landed in Boston last Friday night it was just nice to step off the plane and feel that warm humid air.  Every time I touch ground in Mass there is a definite feeling of nostalgia. My mom was born and raised here and although I grew up in New York I spent a lot of time in New England  learning how to ski on these mountains , beach trips to Cape Cod, Gloucester, Nantucket , Hampton  and Seabrook. I graduated from Keene State college and lived in New Hampshire for 5 years and  spent every single Christmas here in Massachusetts with my mom's side of the family. So although  I was born and raised in New York , I have many ties to New England and love it!
     Now back to the race ... Things were pretty standard the days leading up to the race. My friend Billy Murphy was kind enough to let  us stay at his beautiful house right on lake Winnepesauke . ( if you're not familiar with this lake check out  the movie What About Bob and you'll get an  idea) . Saturday morning we headed to the venue for check in , to pick my bike up and for the pro meeting.  As usual I sat in the very back like the new shy kid in school as I'm still getting used to the somewhat intimidating group. My friend Ali Black , also from Salt Lake arrived and I immediately felt more relaxed as we chatted until it started. First order of business was that we would not be using wetsuits because the water temp was too high,  which would normally be fine except I forgot my swim skin! For those of you who don't know.. You wear a swim skin over you're race kit to make you a little sleeker in the water if you're not using a wetsuit. They are pricey and can't be just picked up at the local gas station.

Me in my Blue Seventy swim skin that was sitting in my closet

Basically the rest of the meeting you could just call me Charlie Brown because I couldn't quite concentrate on what the teacher was saying while worrying about this new problem I had . Luckily i was familiar with the course since I had done it the previous year.  As soon as the meeting was over I got up and raced right back to Jake and told him the dilemma WE now faced . Because as you Sherpas know it's unfortunately  now you're problem too:) To my relief Jake just calmly said. Well just have to buy one... The only thing he was worried about was where? So we started rolling through the expo and found one that would fit and went with that. My catastrophe just turned into a 10 minute detour phew!! Thank god for Jake once again!! 

We headed back to Billy's so I could get a quick  swim, bike , run in before it was time to put the feet up and have an early dinner. Jake ended up doing the run part with me which was so fun...at least for me. Then it was early to bed to get up and roll out at about 4.

I headed into tradition the next morning at about 5:30 perfect timing. Ali's bike was right next to mine in transition as was another family friend of mine Leslie. She is also racing as a pro and has done very well so far :) we all chatted for a bit which eased my nerves . 

        At about 6:35 we walked over to the beach for a quick warm up and then it was go time. As usual my goal was to stay with a pack and get some drafting in to save energy especially since it was a non wetsuit swim. The first 200 yds weren't bad and I could still see the feet of many when the front pack took off like a cannon and they were gone. I was now with one other gal and stayed on her feet until the second turn bout when I lost her and she created a gap. The rest of the swim in was solo and choppy. We had a few age group men too that cruised by. It almost feels like your standing still when someone swims by you in a wetsuit ! I came out and knew that my swim was not stellar, but quickly pushed the negative thoughts out. I told myself to move on. 
   During the bike portion I actually felt really good. The legs felt fresh and within the first 15 miles I did pass 2 girls and then was alone for pretty much the rest of the bike, but that course is so beautiful and fun that it kept me quite occupied. I decided to really concentrate on watts and was right where I needed to be. Which is really the only thing you can do if you're out there solo. Around mile 40 I saw two girls up ahead and just kept my focus on trying to close that gap for the rest of the ride. By the time we hit T2 they were pretty close and having them in sight meant I might have people to chase on the run. When I pulled into T2 Jake 
and my family were there and he let me know that I was in about 15th.  
    As I took off for the run the stomach was feeling good which is a plus. I had a little back tightness but usually I can just run it off so I just kept truckin. Within the first 2 miles or so I passed the first girl I think who had beat me out of transition.  Up ahead were two more which I would end up  passing . 

At the run turn around

Since the run was a two loop I was able to see my family at the turn around which was awesome. This is the only race that my family can usually come to since we live so far and it's becoming somewhat of a tradition . Once I saw Jake at the end of the first loop he told me the next closest girl was about 2 and half minutes up but I just couldn't close the gap the second time around.  I ended up in 13th for the day. Not what I was hoping for but I learn more and more about what I need to work on in each race. I can't wait to race my first full Ironman as a pro in Chattanooga September 27th which will be my next race. It was a great recovery to spend time with family and friends the week after the race with trips to the beach and a lot of cheating eating!! Now it's back to training with some big build weeks leading up to Ironman Chattanooga. 
Thank you to all of my sponsors with the Wattie Ink.Team! Coach AJ at Braveheart Coaching SLC,  Jonas at OFS for helping me reach my goals, Kara Vetica at The Healing Willow, Elete, Tom Fletcher and all of my friends and family for putting up with me:) I couldn't even show up without you!

Jake and I heading for Ice Cream after the race :)