Tupper Lake Tinman Wrapup
NOTE: If you want to skip the story you can view the images here.
I completed my second Tinman, half an Ironman distance, triathlon yesterday. The race took place in Tupper Lake, nestled up in the Adirondacks. The events for this triathlon include a 1.2 mile swim in Raquette Lake (odd that it’s not Tupper Lake), 56 mile road ride and you finish with a 13 mile run. I completed the race in 6 hours and 5 minutes. This is slightly slower than my time two years ago and slower than I wanted to finish in, but I ran into a few issues on the bike (more about that below).
My goal for this race was to complete the race with roughly the same time from two year’s ago. I didn’t know how realistic this was as I did not train as long or intense as I did the first time around. Work and other stuff seemed to get in the way this Spring. One major bummer was that the East Greenbush YMCA had their pool closed from February until June 22nd for repairs. That meant I would have to go to a nearby pool to do workouts, which honestly didn’t happen. I actually only did 4 pool workouts for my entire training. Two in February and two the week of the race.
As the days dwindled down to Saturday, I was just hoping the weather would hold out as the forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms. It had also been raining for the previous 5 days straight. When I arrived up to Tupper Lake bright and early at 6:30am it was not rainy, just overcast. I stayed in Blue Mountain Lake on Friday and I was woken up by some of the loudest rain I have ever heard around 4:30 in the morning. I am glad that passed over by the time I got to Tupper Lake.
After I got my packet, body marked and picked up my chip timer I was off to set up my transition area. I learned a few things from my first time around so I was prepared this time. It was nice getting there bright and early so I had plenty of time to set up and then relax. Finally it was time to put on the wetsuit and head over to the swim corrals. The swim start is done in waves. The first wave is the Sprint distance, I was in the first wave for the full Tinman. The 10 minutes between the Sprint wave and mine came really quick and before I knew it the siren went off and I jumped into the water.
It took me about 15 minutes to find my rhythm for the swim. I felt like the next 15-20 minutes went pretty smooth. I was tracking good along the buoys and I felt good. I made the two turns around the far buoys and then I was heading back to shore. At this point my feeling good rhythm had worn off and I felt like I wasn’t moving. With two buoys now left to shore I want to get the swim over with so I turn up the pace a little. Finally I reach shore and start making my way to the transition. After I get my wetsuit off I look at my watch and realized I had actually beaten my previous swim time by 5 minutes, I was psyched.
After my transition Iwas off on the bike. I was feeling really good the first 20 miles. No problems, still no rain and I was maintaining a descent pace. The rain started shortly thereafter. Just enough of a drizzle to let you know it’s raining. I made it to the turnaround at mile 28 in 1:31. Now heading back I was feeling really good, my legs were spinning nicely keeping up my good pace and I felt strong. I was thinking if I could maintain this pace for the ride back I would shave 25 minutes off my previous bike time.
At mile 33 disaster struck. It happened in slow motion. I saw the rock on the road at the last second go under my tire and then I heard the dreaded pssssssssssssssssssss. Flat tire. OK, no problem. I have the tools I need and I pretty fast changing tires. I pop off the front tire, get the tube out, new tube in and I connect the CO2. My CO2 chuck has a trigger on it which makes it really easy to connect to the tire and fill. After a few quick presses the tire was filled and I was packing up my tools. I am feeling good at this point, I had everything done in less than 5 minutes. Then just as I am about to mount the tire back on the bike I couldn’t believe what happened next. Without me even touching the tire, I hear a psssssssssssssssssssssssss! At this point I said a few choice words which the people passing me found amusing. Either it was a deffective tube or I must have overinflated it. as an aside, if anyone wants to make a million dollars, all you have to do is invest 14 gram size CO2 cartriges. The problem is that they now come in two sizes, 12 and 16 gram. The problem is that 12 gram isn’t enough to fill up one tire and and 16 grams is too much. I knew this and I tried to not use the entire cartrige but I obviously failed.
At this point I am thinking to myself I am done with the race. My first problem was I forgot to bring a second tube. The other problem was that when the second tube blew it created a 1/2 inch rip between the tread and sidewall. Even if I had another tube I didn’t know if the tire would work. For the next 10 minutes or so I am just wandering around the side of the road, waiting for a support vehicle. I then start walking my bike back for something to do as I am bored just standing there. After another couple of minutes I decide to myself that if someone stops and offers a tube I would try to complete the bike. Just like that a competitor stops and offers assistance. I tell him all I need is a tube, he gives me one and I let him know I’ll give him one after the race (which I did). So now I change the tire again and this time I am careful to not over inflate the tire. This let the tire a little softer than normal but it would work to get me the rest of the way back. After getting the tire changed again I can see the tube bulging out where the tire is torn. I tell myself to take it easy on the downhills as I don’t need the tire to fail on a downhill at 40 MPH.
All told I think I was stopped for about 25 minutes. The last 20 miles on the bike sucked. My legs had cramped up from not moving for so long, it started raining again and I was cold. Feel bad for me at this point 
I survived the last 20 miles being careful to avoid major problems in the road and taking it easy on the couple of downhills, except for the last one. I knew it was the last one before a 4 mile stretch to the transition so I decided to let the bike go.
Back at the transition I heard my brother cheering me on offering to buy me an ice cream sundae after I finish. I went through the second transition and I was off on the run. The weather turned for the better for the run as the sun came out and it warmed up. The run was pretty uneventful and similar to my run two years ago except this time I knew the course. I knew about the first hill that basically starts off the run. Between the mile markers they had posted and landmarks I remembered I was able to keep a good pace. I felt good through mile 9 and then pushed myself for the next two. The last mile or two really suck. You know you are close but the miles seem to take forever. Finally I made my way back onto the beach and I crossed the finish line.
My brother Jason did an awesome job supporting me and cheering me on. He also took the pictures for the day. Look at the full gallery here.