I am going to try to do this in two different parts, starting with the day before the race. We got to our cottage in Laconia, NH late Friday afternoon. I went up to Gunstock mountain resort for the athlete check-in, then had dinner and visited with my parents and aunt and uncle before going to try to get a good sleep since I expected sleep would be hard to come by on the night before the race.
On Saturday morning, the plan was to drive down to where the swim start would be and go for a short swim to see what conditions would be like on race morning. However I forgot about one key factor in this plan – there was a sprint triathlon taking place at the same race site! So I drove down and there was absolutely no parking and no way to get to the beach other than driving all the way up to Gunstock mountain resort and taking the shuttle all the way back. Okay, fine. If I must! So we hopped on the shuttle and I went for a short swim along the sprint triathlon course that was setup. The water was very, very shallow for a good 100m out from the beach, but it was really clear and the temperature was just about perfect. I swam for only about 15 minutes and everything felt good so I got out of the water and made my way back to the shuttle. We shuttled back up to Gunstock and then drove back to our cottage… 3 hours later! 3 hours of my day for a 15 minute swim. One strike against Timberman, but since I didn’t really have too much else planned that day it ended up not being a big deal.
After getting back I wanted to go for a short ride to spin the legs out and also check out part of the bike course. I rode out from our cottage towards the race course and everything on the bike was working well, the legs felt really good, and I climbed about halfway up the first climb on the course, which was a lot less steep than I was expecting. After riding back to the cottage it was time to be boring for the rest of the day. Yeah, my family had arrived in force and barbecued some hamburgers and were having wine and beer on the beach… the day before Timberman. I had a plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce and a few glasses of water. Dammit, why couldn’t I just do the race BEFORE it was vacation time?
Well other than being very jealous of my vacationing family I did manage to rest and relax and wasn’t as nervous or anxious as I had expected. Sleep came quickly but was a bit restless. Big day tomorrow!
-Chris