OK, I promise to stop with the volume of postings about Timberman but indulge me with one last set of thoughts. I hope to reread this post before I sign up for any future race as well before I "toe the line" on race so. So, in no particular order, the lessons:
- Expect to be out there longer than you expect to be out there. This means bring (and consume) extra nutrition if you have to.
- When they say the parking for transition fills up at 5:30, believe them. I got to the site a little before 5:00AM, waited on line to park for about 30 minutes and got one of the last parking spots.
- I've still never gotten a cold bottle of fluid handed to me while on the bike (the run, in contrast, is hit and miss even within a race). Need to figure the best combination of carrying cold drinks vs. adding significant weight to the bike. I drank the warm stuff because I had to.
- The bottles on your bike will get thrown away at the bottle exchanges so you don't want to use ones that are too "good" but you don't want to use ones that leak when you drink out of them - like I did. Gatorade gets sticky
- Even though I wore the clothes I raced in previously, I needed more body glide on the inside of my arms (a new spot) as I got friction burns from my tri top. Of course, after the race my family mentioned that they didn't like the look of the one I wore anyway. Got to lose weight and fit into the team issue without muffin top on the run.
- My wife thought it great that I finally put sun tan lotion on before the race. I even had it ready to use in transition (but skipped that step too). Unfortunately I missed a few spots (see point 1 and point 5). I was able to get the body marking on my legs unreadable to the dismay of a volunteer so I need to learn how to put it on correctly.
- Dawn attempted to use her iPhone as a stopwatch. It worked great until it quickly wore down the battery. Then she had no stop watch and no phone. It didn't matter so much as there was no cell phone service at the race site.
- Mapmyathlete (see mapmyathlete.com) is a great idea only if there is good cell phone service in the area of the race. Timberman had between 0 and 1 bar at best. I don't know who was more disappointed - my family or the mapmyathlete guys. They did the right thing and said they would refunded everyone's money since it didn't work well.
- Pick the right course for where you are in the fitness and capability curve. Set your expectations accordingly. Even though two races may be the same distance they will be less similar than dissimilar.
- Know the course. Ride it, on a bike, beforehand. Driving it is better than nothing but driving it doesn't give the appreciation for the inclines.
- Don't go out too hard.
2 comments:
that is a great list. there's a lot to be said for knowing the flats and downhills on a course.
good luck with WW too! that's a helluva starting weight, but it really works if you work it. i lost weight on WW before too. Rock on Joe.
While the starting weight is still frightening, it is still down 70lbs from when I started this journey. Most of that weight loss was done with some variant of WW.
I know what to do, just have to do it. That's the challenge but the prize will be priceless.
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