Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

my navigation sucked. the buoys were very hard to see. There were orange ones for the sprint and then they continued on to yellow for the half. The yellow ones were hard to see and very far apart. There were no ropes and I ended up in the middle of the rectangle and had to be chased with a rowboat. I was also rounding the buoys very wide for some reason. Something to work on. I also need to work on drafting better, instead of getting freaked out by all the swimmers and just avoiding them.

practice everything more. still stayed calm which was good.

my best thing of the day. went very smoothly.

ok, everything started out fine. It started raining as soon as I got on the bike, but not too hard. Just after mile 15 I sliced my tire on something (flat #1). Luckily Michele was coming by me not too long after and helped my change the tire. Well, while I was trying to put a little air in the tire to seat it properly, I put too much air in and popped the tire (flat #2). Luckily, Michele gave me an extra tube and we fixed it again, but alas, we didn't put the speed patch on correctly and there was a bulge where the tire was sliced. Started to ride and after about 1/2 mile it popped (flat #3). Well, I was about to give up since I didn't have any other tubes or CO2 cartridges. Again, luckily, some guy (who I now love and will be forever thankful to) asked if I needed help and stopped and actually gave me a tube and CO2 cartridge. Gosh I hope he never ended up with a flat. I passed at least 15 people on the course with flat tires and saw tubes all over the place. I put a new speed patch on the tire and filled up the tire. Stopped at the next aid station and filled up the tire a little more. Prayed a lot on the rest of the bike and amazingly passed a couple of people and was not last on the bike (by ten people). I did not cry and was pretty proud of myself that I kept my composure pretty well. :) At this point I thought I could still break 7 hours. Didn't eat all my nutrition on the bike or drink all my heed. More on that later.

Not get any flats would have been nice. I am also going to be working on my cadence.

not too bad, I drank a bit of water and got my shoes and hat on.

nothing

Well, everything was going according to schedule until right after mile 3 where my vision blacked out and I had to sit down on the road b/c I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily (again), I happened to be right before an aid station and this kid brought me water, gatorade and a half of a banana. I finally got up and walked over to the aid station and sat down until I finished everything. The lovely people said they would pray for me and I started again. Pretty much jogged to each aid station and ate orange slices at each one. Ran in fear of passing out (fainted for the first time in my life this past tuesday at the library with the kids. I got up too fast and due to my low blood pressure, vision blacked out and then next thing I knew I was bumping my head on the ground and my kids were looking at me). This continued through the rest of the run. I happened to be able to keep running (slowly) and finish. I would have walked the rest of the race if I needed to. It was a huge test of my will and determination. Being that I was running so slow, I was surprised that my time wasn't actually that bad.

get my bloodwork done so I can actually find out what the heck is going on with me.

went over to a chair and sat down. Didn't actually feel right until after dinner. Dinner was fabulous. Casa Del Sol in Saranac Lake.


Many things


Not very well organized and they actually stopped athletes for traffic to go by. Jean missed first in her age group by 1:20 and they stopped her for about 3 minutes before she was allowed to cross the street and start the bike. I learned a lot and still had fun. I think it was good to not have a perfect race before I do the ironman next year. :)