Timberman is less than a week away!

After months of solid training, the big day is just about here. Last year Timberman was my first half ironman.  The race in New Hampshire starts in a beautiful, clear lake and has a challenging but not too crazy bike and run course.  The race was tough for me last year, but I knew I could improve a lot.

Training with so many great people from Trifitness continually motivates me to put in the time and effort to improve.  The combination of experienced coaches, strong athletes and dedicated beginners makes for a dynamic, supportive group that’s fun to be with.  It’s not easy to train with a long commute to NYC and plenty of work to do, as well as spending time with the family. This was a big year for little league as Jake made the all stars so finding the right balance was key, but a supportive family has enabled me to make huge progress this season.

My approach this season was simple:  Get strong on the bike, maintain my solid running ability and relax about the swimming. 

The biggest problem for me regarding triathlon was swimming ability (or lack thereof).  I’ve spent three winters beating myself up about swimming. I used to dread going to the pool and felt guilty if I didn’t.   This winter I decided to relax and swim when I could.  I swam with the group a bit and swam a bunch on my own.  My favorite workout – 100 yard repeats with enough rest in between so that I could focus on my technique.  My relaxed approach seems to have paid off.  I’ve done plenty of relaxed open water swimming and the speed gains are evident.  We’ll see what happens on race day.

Cycling this season has been a blast.  Starting with one or two Computrainer sessions a week with Trifitness this winter – including the awesome Saturday indoor time-trial series, I’ve felt the bike strength increasing.  I got outside in the cold a bit as well, just to prove to myself I could do it. 

As the weather warmed up I spent more and more time on the bike. I spent a lot of time on my road bike early on, and after years of watching pro cycling on TV decided to try my hand—or legs—at some road racing.  The Wednesday night criteriums in Bethel became a staple as my weekly interval training.  Those roadies are super strong, but after getting dropped in the first couple of races I figured out how to ride in the bunch, conserve energy and finish strong.  Most races are combined Cat 4/5 so there are some incredibly strong guys (and a few girls) in there. The Tokeneke Road Race (ought to be called the Tokeneke Hill Race) was a great experience as well – tons of climbing with some seriously fast riders.  I didn’t finish last and even managed to beat a bunch of hardcore roadies!  I'm proud to consider myself a roadie now too ;-)

My running mileage is a bit below where I’d like, but the increased time on the bike seemed more important to me. I still managed to do three half marathons this winter and  a few long runs recently.

So here comes Timberman.  We have a great group racing.  The Pascal(e)s, Mark C., Jen S., Rob G, Brie, Sue S. , Brian and others.  I’m looking forward to blowing away last year’s time and having fun seeing a lot of TriFitness uniforms out on the course.  Next up: Lake Placid 2011!

Thanks for reading!

Jason