ironman 70.3 timberman › wzukusers › user-20990851... · 2016-03-13 · ironman 70.3 timberman...
TRANSCRIPT
IRONMAN 70.3
TIMBERMAN
There seems to be one trip a year that turns out to be a nightmare and this weekend was it. I travelled across country to race Ironman 70.3 Timberman set in the beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire which is supposed to be a 1h 40 drive from Boston airport. Well I landed in Boston at 1.30pm on Friday and hit the road with fellow Kiwi Dylan McNeice along with the whole of the east coast who seemed to head up that way for the weekend. So the fairly short car ride up north turned into a 3.5h mission. As soon as we got there I put together my Cannondale slice which does not take long these days and I was out on the road for a little spin. Considering I’d just had a solid 10h travel day I felt pretty good and was in slightly better position than Dylan whose wheels had not shown up yet and had travelled from NZ. Next little hurdle was to Qind dinner….easy right, wrong. It was now 8pm and a lot of these races are set in quite remote places so Qinding a place can be tricky. We did Qind a place that was recommended, but low and be hold it was over an hour wait to get served so we thought we could Qind somewhere else. After driving around for about half an hour and passing a couple fast food chains we gave in and got subway and went to sleep.
Saturday rolled around and things didn’t get too much easier. We had brought groceries but had no where to cook. We tried microwaving an egg but that didn’t go down to well and had a drip coffee machine but only whole beans. So after a time of trying to make do with what we had we succumbed to giving the local pancake dinner a go and ordered eggs benedict…..no comment on that. Skip forward to an inconvenient race brieQing time of 11.30am and google maps sending us the wrong way and there we are walking into race brieQing as they are describing the last section on the run (so we missed it), throw in there some insane lines just to get our timing chip and register and we might have been out of there close to 1pm to head down to the lake for a swim. This was the best part of the day as the lake was beautiful. Finding lunch and dinner that day another side story. The race: Beautiful clear lake swim in a large square with no wetsuit and at least 3 supper swimmers (Dylan, Andy Potts, and Cam Dye) was always going to be tough, but I backed myself to be close. The gun went off and the fast guys hit it hard, I think unfortunately for me they all spread themselves out along the start with Dylan on the far left. About 200m in when the group I was with (Tim O’Donnell, Cam Dye) saw that Dylan had a good gap they darted to the left. It was my mistake to not
go with them as I could not understand what they were doing and Qigured I’d stick to the straightest line, bad move. They more or less came together and I was stuck in no mans land. As the swim came to the end I caught the few guys that had slowly been shelled by the fast swimmers. This included Paul Mathews, Leon GrifQin, Braden Currie and a couple others. Onto the bike and Leon and Paul were going for it and this is where I knew things were not so good, I was trying my hardest and losing ground quickly to them. This sort of race feeling has not happened to me before, the perceived excretion was through the roof but the power was low and the heart rate was terrible, frequently dropping into the 130’s and I normally race in the mid 150’s. I kept trying as I could not bring myself to pull out but it soon turned into an expensive training day. I knew my body was not Qiring for whatever reason so I just focused on dealing with what I have to deal with and using it as good mental training for the day I step up to Ironman…
Off the bike I have no idea what position I was in but I was with Richie Cunningham and saw Paul Mathews run out as we came in so I thought it might not be too bad. Again off the bike the legs just felt hollow, luckily Dylan had brought me over some Horleys gels so I cranked one of them and just settled in for a steady run. It was Sunday so It’s long run day anyway so that’s what I did, I got to watch the race unfold while out there. The guys up front were a class above. Great to see Cam Dye with a lead off and Potts and O’Donnell running like scorched cats to catch him. Potts ended up winning with O’Donnell and Dye 2nd and 3rd. I Qinished 12th in what was my slowest half ironman time in over many years. I had plenty of time out there to get over it and come to the realisation that these type of days do happen and as long as I can learn from it and understand why it wont be a total waste. I have now done 11 half Ironman events in the last 8 months and this is the Qirst one out of the prize money.
Roll on Sunday, what else can happen. Well it turns out a lot. After the 2hour drive back into the city we googled “best Qlat white in Boston”, found the location parked up and got a coffee (which was ok, but not great). We went for a short walk around the city which looked very nice and then rushed back to the car before out ticket expired. We got lost on the way back and was 5-‐10mins late but that didn’t matter as when we got there the car was GONE. Filled to the rim with all our possessions (bikes, laptops, cash, passports etc), I nearly cried. With less than 3hours till I Qly our car is gone with no indication why. We frantically ask the shops around and no one saw anything. Rang the tow companies and they were all very unhelpful and even rang the police (not the 911 just the non serious line). Well the police man on the other line asked me what was wrong I preceded to explain and he hung up!! I rang back and asked why he did that and he said “sir you were talking to fast and I could not understand you” this literally blew my mind. A police man hanging up on someone in need because they were in a panic and foreign. Luckily, Qinally we asked a lady who had parked in front of us and was returning to her car she explained it was probably towed because there was a Qire hydrant on the side walk near were we parked (even though we parked under the parking sign). She said “IF its been towed” it will be at X. So still with out even conQirming where it was and now less than 2hours till I Qly we had to kind of hope it was at the tow yard she suggest and got a taxi there. Finally after a mad rush across town we Qind that the car was towed there for a parking infringement and it cost $193 to get it released. What a relief it was! Finally driving again and a bit stressed I put into Google maps “national Car rental return” and started driving, 10mins later and almost there we realise its taking us to the down town branch not the airport one. With some great driving from Dylan we had to get across town AGAIN and he Qinally dropped me off at the terminal (he had a later Qlight so could sort the car out). With 1h to Qly I check in…..its not over yet. I get randomly selected for the super intensive security screening when I pass through TSA. I present my passport and boarding pass to the ofQicer and he says “we’ve been waiting for you”.
Now I think he was joking but at that point I was not sure. This screening included a thorough pat down, swabbing and searching of all carry on, and requiring me to turn on all electronics (Iphone, Ipad and Mac) to prove they were what they appeared to be. Finally I could get the all clear and go to my gate with about 20mins to spare. I’m not sure if I have ever been so stressed and I am now sitting on the plane hoping nothing more can go wrong. Only to hear there are thunderstorms over Denver so they are re routing us. I just want to get home.
I hope there is a silver lining to this trip.
Until next time, Regards, Mark