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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.

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I registered for my first race of 2009, the Tupper Lake Tinman.  I have plenty of time for training, as the race is June 27th.  It’s a half iron-man distance.  That breaks down to a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a finish of a 13.4 mile run.  I completed the race two years ago and I had a blast.  Granted I will say the training gets pretty serious for a race of this distance in the final stretch, but it’s worth it.

I am currently just doing some pre-season workouts.  I will be putting together my final training program within a couple of weeks.  It will probably turn out to be around 15-16 weeks in length.

2009 is here, and that means resolutions and fresh starts for many people.  I have made a few goals for myself for the upcoming year.  I was dissapointed with myself for not doing any competitive triathlons or races this past season.  I know why, I was busy focusing on several large projects at work.  I was still able to keep active, I just didn’t maintain my race conditioning from the previous year.

kiwi

For 2009 I am getting back to racing.  I will be updating my race schedule within a week or two once I plan our the year.  Next week I start my pre-season training schedule, that means trips to the gym 4-5 days a week and watching my diet.

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