Tupper Lake Tinman Race Report

Well I never got a chance to finish my training camp logs, but here’s the quick recap:

Camp was amazing, Saturday on the bike course rocked, windy, but so much fun, and the scenery was incredible. It was a big confidence boost going into the race next month, just knowing that I had two loops in me, and I still felt okay after. Hanging out with, and meeting/getting to know more people from Train-This was by far the best part of the weekend though. I’m so lucky to have gotten in with this group, they’re all amazing! For that I should probably thank Alexa! Sunday ended with a nice recovery ride with Kim, Mary, and Tim. Then Mary and I went for a swim, which was great. We sat on the beach and talked while we waited for Kim and Matthias to finish up their runs. I had an amazing talk with Mary about Ironman, and a bit of where I want to go starting next year. The ride back with Matthias was great as well. He’s a good car buddy. I’m very glad that he decided to come up, and that we carpooled together.

Now onto the big story for this weekend, my Tupper Lake Tinman race report!

I have some discussing to do with Mary about this race, to try to figure out where things went wrong before I head up to Placid next month. During the race, it was hard to not think “This is just a half, what the hell am I going to do next month if I’m in this much trouble now?” I wish I could say that I successfully stayed positive the whole time, but I didn’t. I am, however, proud of the way that I forced myself to put things back into perspective and pulled myself out of a pretty dark place. But here we go…

Woke up at 5am, was happy for an 8am start time. Thank you so much to Stefany for letting Amanda and I set up our air mattress on your motel room floor! Also, congrats for crushing your race Saturday! It was a bit chilly in the little cabin we were in, but outside it seemed much warmer. It was raining though. I was a bit worried about being cold on the bike, but I’m used to the rain, and this spring I’ve gotten through much colder rain than 63F. Ate breakfast, then headed over to the race site. It was raining pretty good at this point. I tried to stay as dry and warm as I could, and got marked, grabbed my chip, and set up in transition. I then headed back to the car to relax and stay dry. I was feeling pretty good. I felt confident. About 30 minutes before race time, I got my wetsuit ready and on, and then got in my gel at about 20 to go. I headed over to the lake, and watched the sprinters go out. 10 minutes to go. I got in and swam maybe a 100yds or so easy. Hmmm, I’m not feeling all that great in the water; tried not to think about it. 1 minute to go was announced, and I got ready. Off we went, and a bad swim was begun. I couldn’t find a rhythm, I had a ton of trouble sighting the course for some reason, and as such I couldn’t find anyone to settle in and draft off of. It took me until the turn back in to shore to find anything resembling a comfortable rhythm, and I focused on trying to reel back in the group that had gotten away from me. I definitely brought some time back on the way back in, and felt good okay coming out of the water and into transition. I took an extra minute getting my socks on, because I really didn’t want to bike 56, and run 13 sockless in wet shoes. I think it was a good decision.

Swim: 28:14 was good enough for best in my AG and 16^th overall.

T1: 2:16

I headed out on the bike, and again had trouble finding a good rhythm. We rode into the wind on the way out. I had stretches when I felt good, but they were interspersed with times when I felt like I was pushing, and not going anywhere. I was annoyed when I was passed by a paceline of 5-6 guys, but shrugged it off and focused on how I was feeling. At the time I felt like for the most part the ride out was solid. I wasn’t comfortable, but I felt sustainable. I didn’t really look at my watch at all. I try not to look at my data right after races, I like to let things sink in first, and I think it lets me put things into better context, I’ll be doing that later today. On the way out, I was happy with the position I was in, and I felt stong, and I was ready to bring it back, and have a strong run. I don’t know what happened. I think I was maybe a bit light on nutrition, but I wasn’t much behind. I had a little over a bottle of drink in me over the 28 miles out, and 5 shot blocks. My stomach felt solid, which is a big deal for me. After the turn and heading back through Cranberry Lake I thought I spotted Kellman and his neon yellow Fleet-feet kit. The trip back to Tupper, I just struggled. I felt heavy, I started to feel some quad pain that I’ve been dealing with lately, and I couldn’t keep my heart rate up even though my effort felt really consistent. It was pretty demoralizing. By the time I rolled back into town, I hurt, pretty much everywhere, but I never felt as though I had overdone it, nor did I think that I was lacking in nutrition. I’m still not sure of what went wrong, but I’m hoping talking with Mary will help clear that up. T2 was smooth, Amanda asked how I felt I gave her the “no good” look/head shake, and headed out.

Bike: 2:33:40

T2: 1:21

The run brought the hurt. The first mile or so I felt pretty good. I had trouble feeling my effort, and I think I took that first mile out a little fast. I didn’t hurt so much for that little while, and I thought I was settling into a good sustainable pace. I was wrong. At mile 2.5 everything came crashing down on me. Whatever high I had been riding left, and I was in a world of pain. I took a minute to stop, and go to the bathroom. At that point I thought I was done. I couldn’t see myself running again. I couldn’t even see myself walking the distance back to transition. I took that minute to talk myself back down. I’ll go through my inner dialogue for you here:

Why am I here? I love this sport, I love what I’m doing right now.

Why am I here? Everyone has a bad race, this is your first, this is where you see how strong you are.

Okay, how can I continue? Keep it slow and steady, get your legs back. Forget about the time, just focus on completion.

I got running again. Set a pace that I knew I could easily handle, I tried to settle in around 8min/mile. I long run that pace all the time. I know that pace, it’s comfortable, it’s my running happy place. I walked for about 15ish seconds a couple times before mile 5, negative thoughts crept back, I pushed them away. By mile 5 I was able to settle in. I still hurt, my focus was one foot in front of the other. I walked aid stations to try to get as much sport drink as I could. One quick note, if your race is sponsored by Coke, you freakin better have Coke on your damn run course! Especially when I need it! I ran the rest of the course, walking aid stations, and just holding on for dear life. I finally made it to mile 10, just a 5k left. I can do this in my sleep. I allowed myself to check out the time, assuming about 30 minutes for the swim, I realized that I have plenty of time to make it sub 5. I even had a shot at my goal of 4:50 if I just maintained. I didn’t try to push it in, I just kept with what was working for me. Run 1-1.5 walk 10-15 seconds of the aid station, continue. Before I knew it I had about 0.5 to go, and I left myself pick things up a little. I crossed the line with the clock at 4:51:20ish My official time ended up a bit slower than that. I think maybe they started us a bit less than 10 minutes after the sprint start.

Run: 1:46:47 (if not for flower city half back in May this would’ve been a 13.1 PR)

Overall: 4:52:15

As much as things went wrong for me during the race, I’m happy with the result. I’m very happy with the result. After, I got a ton of support from my team. The Train-This crew is incredible. I agree with Mary, If I can do that on a bad day, I can’t wait to see what a good day might look like!

I also need to thank Amanda. She's amazing! She rode all the way up to Tupper, and spent most of the day either in the car, or in the rain. She was cold and soggy all morning, and I'm sure that there were other things that she'd much rather be doing then watching me ride and run around some little town 4 hours away. She also bought me a delicious Rolo McFlurry, which was just as god as any AG award I've ever won! So thank you dar, your support is everything to me!

Now it’s time to look ahead to Placid. Just one more week or so of work, then on to a 10 day taper. I’m almost there. I still have my days when I’m scared of the race. I have some goals, but I’ve decided that I’m okay if they don’t happen. I can look back at the little journey I’ve made and be proud of the result. In a month I’m going to be an Ironman. Come hell or high water, I will make my way across that line, I don’t care how long it takes me. I’d love to hit those goals I have, but this season I’m realizing how much I love Olympic and 70.3 racing. I had a bad day Saturday, and I still loved it. We’ll see how IMLP goes and reassess. The plan right now for next year is Rev3 Cedar Point. I may make that the 70.3 though. It’s too early for decisions, I’m a wait and see kind of guy. I’m excited to race mini-mussel coming up and get my sprint on! It’s been almost two years since my last sprint, which was my first ever tri. Then I’m extra pumped to volunteer Musselman and cheer on my buddies John and Seth as they take on their first 70.3.

27 days to IMLP

33 days to Wedding!