2021 IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman Race Report -- Ben Levesque

Timberman 70.3 Half-Ironman in Laconia, NH was my first triathlon experience. With about 13 weeks of training I knew I would be able to cross the finish line if I relied on lessons learned throughout the summer. In late May, I set a goal of a sub-7 hour half-ironman under three broad assumptions—a bad swim, an average 15 mph bike, and an average 10’ 30” per mile run. On race day, I predicted a 7:30:00 overall time, and I aimed for a 3:30:00 on the bike. Here’s a recap:

Swim: The swim course on Opechee Lake had three red turning buoys, with four yellow “outbound” buoys and four orange “return” buoys for athletes to follow. On the morning of the race, the water temp. was 75.4° F, meaning that the race was swimsuit legal according to the athlete guide. This meant that athletes could wear a wetsuit and maintain their eligibility for age-group awards and/or world championship slots. I decided to wear a wetsuit and lined up with the 50-55 minute projected swim finish group.

The swim was my greatest concern because I lacked a metric for my race swim pace. Though I’d been exclusively training in open water all summer, the Garmin Forerunner 35 never produced usable data. I settled my nerves by talking with a few competitors as we waited for the waves of athletes ahead of us to start. For many athletes I spoke to it was their first half-ironman, and for a few their first triathlon. At 7:18 am, I entered the water. I spent the first 20 mins. finding my rhythm. At some point between the first and second turning buoy, I took a second to look at the other athletes and I decided that I was raising my head too much when I went to breathe. I adjusted my form and the benefit was instant; I felt faster and more relaxed. I exited the swim with a smile, and was surprised to see Dartmouth Triathlon coach Jeff Reed cheering (alongside Coach Jim) as I headed to T1.

Bike: I felt most prepared for the bike. I’d spent the summer adding miles on the bike and I’d completed several long-rides beyond 56 miles, so I had no doubt I could complete the distance from a training standpoint. I hadn’t been able to preview the course, but a quick review of the athlete guide (and a few conversations with teammates) informed me that the first 35 miles were relatively flat and the next 21 miles had challenging ascents.

I saw several teammates along the course, including Coach Katie Clayton and London (on their way back from the turnaround), Vaishnavi, and Evelyn. Throughout the first 2.5 hrs. I fuelled well (water/Gatorade every 30 mins., gel/bloks/Clif bar every 60 mins.) and felt strong. The ascents in the latter half of the course felt familiar having cycled similar ascents in New Hampshire and back home in Maine. Three-quarters of the way up the final ascent (about 3:04:00 in the bike), I dropped chain. I hopped off the saddle for a quick fix and proceeded to power through the descents. Checking my watch, I knew I would be close to 3:30:00 if I pushed myself through to T2. I completed the segment with an official time of 3:30:11.

Run: The run course consisted of two ~6 mi. loops around Opechee Lake, followed by a straight downhill to the finish. I used the first loop to orient myself to the run, and simply focused on reaching “the next aid station” (mentally, every aid station became “the next aid station”) for water or Gatorade. 

Rather than my regimented nutrition on the bike, I lost a sense of fuelling during the run. Other than the banana I strategically picked up around mile 6, I was unfocused with my nutrition—this is something I plan to improve for the next race. Nevertheless, the miles passed without much trouble. By 6.5 miles I was bolstered by the knowledge that I would complete a half-ironman (because I couldn’t just run half the distance). Around mile 12, my right calf cramped (for the first time in a racing or training environment) as I descended into Laconia, though the pain was manageable; I smiled as I heard athletes being announced at the line less than a mile away.

My teammates were there cheering me on and it felt like the perfect finish. In the end, I completed the event in 6:58:48 (49:04 swim, 3:30:11 bike, 2:24:41 run).

Final Thoughts: Adventurer Mark Beaumont said that in his first circumnavigation of the world (by bike) in 2008, he came within eight hours of his planned duration (with a total time of 194 days and 7 hours). He learned how closely his goals were related to his actual performance. I was shocked by how close my performance came to my goals and estimates—after seven hours, I hit my target half-ironman within 1’ 12” and my target bike within 11.” Given the connection between goals and race performance, I plan to set informed targets for the swim and run in future races.

- Ben Levesque
(Ben is a member of the Dartmouth Triathlon Club and class of 2024)

Dartmouth Triathlon Club IRONMAN Timberman 70.3 finishers.

Ben crosses the finish line at Timberman 70.3, his first triathlon!

2021 IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman Race Report

IRONMAN Timberman 70.3 is in the books! After a disappointing post-pandemic season opener at the Patriot Half in June, I went into this race nervous that my lack of a consistent approach to 70.3 training and nomadic lifestyle over the past year and a half would make it difficult to perform well at the half distance. With great support and advice from Jim, I made it my goal to toughen my mental game and race “smarter, not harder.” I’m excited to report that I was super happy with the result: 2nd in my new age group (F25-29) with no major low points and a strong finish! Here’s a recap of the day:

Swim: The Timberman swim is a single loop with three turn buoys in Opechee Lake, a small lake near Winnipesaukee in Laconia, NH. With Hurricane Henri in the forecast for the mid-Atlantic, the water was a little choppy but definitely could have been worse. Endurance Drive athlete and my Maine-based training partner Ella and I lined up at the end of the 30-33 minute projected swim finish group, following Jim’s advice to seed ahead of where you think you will swim because nearly everyone overestimates their swim time. Following a time trial start, we were in the water by 7:04 am and onto the course.

Two big mistakes I made at Patriot were 1) going out too hard in the swim and 2) not properly warming up beforehand. Luckily, Ella and I had time for a brief swim warmup before the gun went off, and as soon as we started swimming I focused on resisting the urge to swim too hard. The TT start and early seeding made the water less chaotic than a mass start, so I settled into a rhythm quickly and found someone to draft behind with good sighting skills and a strong kick. Shout out to that mystery woman with a BlueSeventy wetsuit for making my swim mostly stress-free! I stayed behind BlueSeventy around all three turns, and then picked up the pace a little bit on the way back in because I felt really relaxed and in control of my HR. I cruised into the swim finish and was surprised to see a better time than Patriot with much less effort expended (smarter not harder FTW!). I stayed in control and had time to say a quick hi to Jim and the other Dartmouth triathlon coach, Jeff, as I jogged into T1. 

Bike: At Patriot, my HR was extremely high for the first hour of the bike because I had overcooked the swim and was still trying to put out HIM watts. At Timberman, I knew that I needed to not worry about watts and focus more on keeping HR in control. The bike course is roughly 35 miles on a pretty flat out-and-back (slightly downhill with a tailwind on the out, slightly uphill with a headwind coming back), and then about 15 miles of punchy, steep hills before another 6 miles descending into town. I knew that I could get a lot of free miles in the first hour, so I held back the watts and focused on staying in aero at a moderate effort. My HR was high initially but came down as I cruised the flats, and I immediately started hydrating and fueling to set myself up for a strong finish.

There was a substantial headwind once I hit the turnaround, but at that point I was warmed up enough to push HIM goal watts without spiking the HR. I saw Ella and Dartmouth Triathlon athletes Evelyn, Ben, Katie W., and Abbi as I headed back toward the hills and got a morale boost from seeing familiar faces. Before I knew it, I was at mile 35 and ready to tackle the “fun” section of the course. Ella and I had driven that section the day before and we were both worried about how challenging it would be, but I soon realized that all of my training in VT/NH/ME for the last year and a half had been outstanding preparation for terrain just like this. The 11-30 cassette I (well, Jim) installed on Betty, my new Canyon Speedmax CF 8.0 SL, could easily handle the steeps, and I started passing people left and right while still feeling in control. My only complaint at that point was that I felt a little nauseous and couldn’t take in more blocks or bars, but I had enough carbs via Skratch to be nutritionally topped off even if I wasn’t taking in solid food, and I forced myself to keep sipping as I climbed.

After the final steep kicker, I enjoyed the descent back into town, although I got slightly held up by a race official on a motorcycle who wouldn’t move over for me to pass him. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do about race etiquette in that situation, but I didn’t want to risk a visit to the penalty tent so I ended up braking on the downhill. Even so, I was thrilled with my bike split as I came back into T2 considering how hilly the last section was, and even happier that I had continued to race smart. I threw my shoes, visor, and race belt on quickly, and then it was time to run.

Run: Jim, our social media guru Colleen, Jeff, and a whole bunch of Dartmouth supporters were stationed directly out of T1, and it was so fun to hear them cheering as I began the run. I was also feeling great and the nausea had gone away, so I clocked a few fast miles that felt effortless. The run course features two hilly loops around the lake, a final climb, and then about two and a half miles downhill into the finish. Jim had reminded us that racing smart would involve running “softly” (easy, low effort) on the uphills and striding out to pick up the pace on the downhills, so I did my best to modify my pace to match the terrain. I dumped water and ice on my head and down my shirt to stay cool at every aid station, and fueled with SIS gels and a little bit of coke and Gatorade.

At the end of the first run loop, I passed our cheer squad again and realized I was right behind Ella. Jim told us that we were 2nd and 3rd in our age group, so I knew that if we each held consistent paces we would end up on the podium. I moved up to second by mile six and tried hard to stay in control, although my legs were getting fatigued and my GI system was not doing great. I made the strategic decision to spend ~40 seconds in a porta potty at mile 9 because I wanted to finish the last stretch strong, and after that I hit a pretty strong second wind. I ran softly but consistently up the last incline, saw Jim for one more morale boost, and then clocked my two fastest miles of the day into the finish as the rain began to come down. I crossed the line in 5:08:10 (34:46 swim, 2:48:49 bike, 1:39:44 run) and got to share post-race hugs with tons of the Endurance Drive and Dartmouth Triathlon crew.

Some final thoughts: As Jim and anyone who knows me even remotely well can probably tell you, I was not happy after Patriot (although my disappointment about that race has honestly become something we all laugh about now). There were dozens of variables that differed between that day and Timberman: weather, preparation, course, spectator support, fellow racers, even menstrual cycle phase (which matters! Stay tuned for a blog post on that sometime soon). That said, I think the biggest key to success for me was racing smarter (not harder) and being patient, which led to a much more enjoyable race and a much stronger result. I regained a lot of confidence in my racing ability after it had been shaken, and I’m super excited to see what I can accomplish with a more consistent 2022 season! Next up: two weeks of hiking in Switzerland for my honeymoon, then Lake Sunapee Olympic Tri on September 18th for fun, and then IRONMAN St. George in May 2022!

Coach Katie Clayton 2nd in AG at IRONMAN Timberman 70.3

Katie, Jim & Ella relax after a long day of racing and coaching The Endurance Drive & the Dartmouth Triathlon Club