Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon - 1/2 Tinman - TriathlonOlympic

The oly participants were all in the first wave. So, 180 people went off at one time. I didn't fully comprehend it at the time, but I had centered myself pretty much right in the middle and up front (maybe 3 people deep from the front). That ended up being the most amusing thing of the entire race! I have never been swum over before and that happened at least one time. My feet were grabbed and I did the same thing. It was funny for awhile. Then 200+ meters went by and it wasn't that fun anymore. Things did finally settle down, though. By that time I was realizing that I couldn't see a flippin' thing out of my goggles. I was just trying to stay with other hot pink bobbing heads. I kept focusing on not merging to the left, which was an issue again for this swim! It's really aggravating. I had to focus constantly on swimming at an angle to the right so I could stay straight. I made it to the first turn and really did it fairly well considering. The straight stretch to the second turn was tricky as I kept on veering to the left and was constantly correcting that. I made that turn OK, and then kept hoping for some current to push me towards shore, but the water was very calm, so no such luck. Also the sun was a-shining, like I'd been warned, but did I get tinted goggles?!?! NOOOOO, of course not. I was blind anyway from ineffective goggles, then the sun made it pretty much impossible to see anything. I paused at one point just so I could try to get a good look at things. And, yes, I got whistled at once by a person in a kayak telling me to "go right a little bit!!" aaaahhhhh!! About 2/3 of the way through I had my first thought of, 'I'm never doing this again.' After that I began reminding myself of good swim strokes and just tried to calm down and swim like I've been practicing (for so, so long). I really came away thinking I had done pretty poorly on the swim. But then I looked at the results afterwards and realized it must not have been that bad - I was 9/55 in my AG, and 37th/180 overall. Not too bad for a girl who can't swim straight to save her life and was practically blind the entire time!

Next time, I'm gettin' goggles that are as big as my face!!!!!!!!! And tinted to boot! ;)
And I'm going to learn to swim STRAIGHT!!!
And I need to learn to not kick so much!!!

This went OK. Got goggles and cap off right after I was out of the water. Had top of wetsuit down to my hips by the time I got to my bike. I sat down to pull it off, then reached for a towel to dry off one foot, then put on sock and shoe. Then dry off second foot, then sock and shoe. (I had put blister powder in my socks before the race.) Put on helmet, stuffed a gel and shot blocks in back of shirt, took drink of gatorade in bottle on ground, then, as a very last second decision, put on my cycling gloves and ran off with bike.

Only put gel in pocket, since that was all I had planned on taking on the bike portion anyway. NOT put on gloves. I had decided to not even take them, but stuck them in my bag anyway before we left and last second put them on. I didn't notice anyone else wearing them. I wanted to be consistent with my training, but don't think it was necessary at all, just a waste of time for both transitions.

First off, I did not get caught in the traffic jam that forced some people to have to wait. It wouldn't have made a difference, though. I was in a very hard gear right off the bat (would have known that if I'd had a chance to get on and see.) Couldn't get my feet in the cages very easily. Once I did, and got the gears in order, I realized immediately that I really do kick way too much when I swim. My thighs felt like rocks. It took some time for them to ease up. It's pretty flat out of town, with a big hill going out. That sucked. And what really sucks and what really, truly does some real damage to my psyche is when person after person after person passes me on the bike. I can't stand it. My mental toughness goes right out the door. I start hating my bike, wondering why I work so hard if everyone and their grandma is going to pass me anyway, start thinking about what job I should get so I can pay for a freakin' bike, start regretting all of the workouts here and there I had to miss for this thing and that thing, start swearing that I'll never do an Oly again, and maybe never another tri again, start wondering why I work so hard at swimming if everyone will pass me anyway..... oh woe is me.... I was in a foul mood. Until about mile 8. Then I heard a guy say to someone in front of me (both of whom had passed me) "isn't it a beautiful day out?" I had a mental turn around at that point. He was right! We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was absolutely gorgeous out! The temp was great, it was sunny, and I was racing in a race in the Adirondacks, a place that I love, and I'd been training for this for 3+ months!
C'mon woman, get with it!! :) So, after that my mental game got back to where it needed to be, which isn't to say that the ride got any easier. The road up Mt. Arab was in terrible condition. It was pothole after pothole and sand and gravel and cracks and everything you could imagine that could be wrong with a road. I was sure I would get a flat. And it was a road up a mountain. (as an aside: It was the first mountain we ever hiked up with Tyler when he was 7 months old!) I couldn't wait to turn around and come back down! The turn around point stunk. There was no room to do it in. And when I went to turn around, trying to do it without having to stop and put my feet down, some people decided to use the spot to stop and check out their bikes!! Get out of my freakin' way!!!! (That's what I wanted to say.) I ended up going off the road a bit and had to get off to get straightened out. And where were the downhills??? It was all up hill on the way down too! It sucked!! At the turn off to get off the road my family was there to cheer me on! That was great and very much needed! The ride back into town was OK. I executed my nutrition plan as I had wanted - I took a gel with 5 miles left. It wasn't that bad. Kept taking sips of water. I made sure I had emptied the bottle before I got back. My legs finally started feeling like they were there to ride, but it was a little too late. Oh, and as I got closer to town I started worrying that I was drafting off a woman. I tried to pass her, but then she passed me again, but never took off. So I decided to stay behind her, but always to one side or another. I got sick of it, and kind of felt like she was blocking me. I wanted to get away from her. To be honest with you, I can't even remember if I did pass her a 2nd time before we got back to the transition. I think I did, because I was worrying that I'd been using up too much strength for the run. Dunno.

OMG, there's too many to even worry about talking about. I can't decide if the bike is my limiter, or if I'm still just a weak cyclist. I know I still need more time in the saddle. But I'd like to see what difference a bike that was 10+ lbs lighter might make.

This went well I think. Taking the gloves off slowed me up. Got helmet off ok and bike racked ok. Fiddled around with jelly beans/shot blocks too much. Couldn't decide what I wanted. Took one of each (I think?) ha, I don't even know. Took a couple drinks of gatorade. Put on cap from the du instead of putting hair in ponytail. That's very different than how I usually do things. Good decision I think.

Leave the bike gloves at home. Know ahead of time what I'm going to eat!!
Run out of the chute with water bottle with plans for Rob to catch it from me at some preplanned spot (saw lots of others doing that!) :)

I didn't know what I was doing really. I didn't want to go all out, because I didn't think I could do that for 6 miles, so I just tried to keep a steady pace. My feet felt numb coming off of the bike, so I had something to focus on - wiggling my toes to wake them up. I passed several people at the very beginning, which redeemed me a bit from all the passes on the bike. Then there was nobody to pass for the longest time. I really needed someone to pass, but there was nobody. I kept my sights on "lady with the red tri-suit on", but she and I evidently run a similar pace so I just had to look at her back for 5 miles (she was at least a 1/4 mile away for most of it.) I tried to focus on my arm movements and keeping my shoulders and hands relaxed. I passed the grocery store we always shop at when we come up in August. I kept repeating s-h-a-h-e-e-n-s with every foot strike for a little while. Then I passed the shop (I think its out of business now) where we bought Bryn's 1st b-day party stuff because her b-day is always during family camping week - it was Elmo themed... At every water stop I'd take a cup and slow for a very short period of time to get 2 good sips in before taking off again. At about mile 2 I started to get some cramps like I had to go potty (damn those bobbystocks breaks!) It didn't get too bad and eventually went away. Off and on during the entire run I'd get some cramping, but never too bad and it didn't last too long each time. At mile 3 I ate a bag of those jelly beans instead of shot blocks. I really liked those. They were easy to get down, and very yummy! At maybe mile 4 1/2 my right ankle really started to hurt, like, it was really hurting! I'm not sure why. I think I twisted it on uneven surface. I specifically thought to myself "you're so close now, you've trained this hard, you can worry about the darn ankle when it's over!! Forget about it!" I did... It's fine now. Who knows. But the "lady in the red tri-suit was still ahead, but getting closer. She stopped for water at the last water stop - I didn't. I'm going to get her. I get close enough to try to see what her race age is. Is that 35? 25? 33? Why couldn't they write it more clearly?!? (not knowing that the ag was 20-39 at the time). I figure she's a woman, that's reason enough to want to pass her! But, when do I make the move? And, is she the type that will hunt me down and not let me pass her? hmmmm... what to do.... I end up passing her with probably 1 mile left. Was that too soon? Now, I didn't have her like a carrot dangling in front of me. I had a bloodhound behind me chasing me and I better make it to safety first!!! I passed 2 guys running together and one guy said something like "go get em'" No, she's going to get me!!! is what I should have said!! I ran like she was running me down! I made it to the grassy straightaway which was so so so long. It totally reminded me of the finish at the snowshoe race in January (and, for those of you wondering, NO I DID NOT WEAR MY SHOWSHOES!!) :) I ran my little heart out. I heard the family cheering me on, but I couldn't look over at them. It took all of my concentration to keep my legs moving. But, I didn't feel like puking! I don't know if that's a good sign that I had prepared well, or if I just wasn't pushing it hard enough!?!?!
But, I did it!! I finished my first OLY!!!! And, maybe my last? I doubt it. I found myself getting very jealous of those people running in and finishing their HIM's! Ha, I think I'll just stick to sprints and olys, though!

Not much here.

Walked around for a minute wondering if Rob and the kids were coming to find me. Went over to transition and finished the water I had there and then decided I better go look for the fam since they didn't seem to be looking for me! Found them in their lawn chairs watching the racers.


Shall I go on some more about my bike and lack of cycling ability?!!? No, I think not.


You can kind of tell the oly is an afterthought next to the HIM, which is understandable, to a certain extent. I came away thinking that you'd think after 25 years they'd have some of the bugs worked out. Like, what the distances actually are. Their maps are primitive. The bike turn around point was iffy and no one seemed to be monitoring it. But, dexter is right, the town seems to love it, and I know it's got to be good for them. There were a lot of volunteers that were very happy people. And it's in the ADKs, what a great place!!