Tupper Lake Tinman

Saturday, June 26 - Tupper Lake Tinman
Had to work on Friday then we left for Keene Valley after packing up some of our stuff then to Tupper Lake to get our numbers, take a swim, and basically have all of the things we needed to pack up our things before the race. I was mentally not in a great place before the race. I was concerned with my training, my bike times getting slower instead of faster on the course, my calf pain, my right upper ab strain all contributed to my craziness. Joe has come to the conclusion that I have an anxiety disorder when it comes to racing - after watching Obsessed on TV, I concur. We get to the race site and are about to go swimming but I decide not to go as the lake was completely choppy, my ab hurt, and I didn't want to mentally destroy myself. Joe gets his wetsuit on and realizes he didn't bring his goggles with him to the camp at all. Wetsuit off, we go in search of new goggles. Go home, pack, get some sleep for a 5 am wakeup.

I get up and choke down some breakfast but feel like I am going to puke. The feeling lasts all the way into Tupper Lake and even before we get into the water. I am surrounded by a father of a former student of mine who has done 10 Ironmans, Joe, and our friends Melinda and Christine. We are laughing getting ready for the swim and my anxiety is slightly lessened. The swim starts and I am in a real groove until we pass where the sprint tri leg turns and I can't see the next bouy. Follow the hats in front of me. Then I see three bouys only one is off to the left of the others and I have to stop to make sure I am sighting in the correct direction (I see at least 10 others do the same thing). Yup, I am sighting correctly, but the 2nd bouy has drifted out of alignment so we have to do a V like course on the out to make sure we are within the bouys. It is pretty obvious at this point that Tupper Lake Tinman is not being run by athletes as they would have given up more bouys to sight from and made sure they were in alignment before the start as they would have thought about the swim from a swimmers perspective not a boaters perspective. On the turn I see a guy who is breast stroking pretty quickly so I watch him and figure he is looking straight at where we should be going so there is no need to sight for the rest of the swim. Swim time was 43.01 - fast than last year.

Transition goes well - someone starts to talk to me and I am tuning her out and focusing on me, not trying to be rude but I need to focus while in transition.

Bike does not start well. My knees are aching and I can't get comfy on the bike. My feet are numb, my traps hurt, I am pushing though. I finally get into a groove at the halfway point but realize that I am pushing hard and still have to run a 1/2 marathon. I keep pushing though. Liquids are going in fine but solid foods and gu blocks are not being tolerated - I can't even swallow anything solid except oranges. I finish the bike in 3 hrs 51 min which is 3 min slower than last year.

Transition again goes well. I head for the potty and then out on the run. My legs are protesting and I contemplate just not doing the run but know that I need to do it. Then I get into the zone. I felt like I was doing so well. I just kept running taking in gatorade and water and when available oranges. I walked 2 short but steep hills and 2 aid stations. My stomach is sloshing but my mind is saying drink more, I need more fuel. I keep pushing through. I probably walked about 1/4 of a mile total but that is it. I ran the 13.4 miles (yes, that was 13.4 miles) in 2:26 which is fantastic for me. My finishing time was 5 min faster than last year in a 7:06. Wow!!! That is a moral booster. During the entire run, I could feel my legs being chaffed and when I finished Joe realized that I was bleeding. I cut my legs pretty badly from chaffing. Joe looked at my legs in the med tent and said "You took a chunk of skin off. Oh, wait, there it is on the other leg!" It hurt but I was so happy with my time and my running performance.

Things seem to be lining up appropriately for Ironman. I did my last long run of the training today 17.1 miles in 3 hrs 20 min. It sucked but I did it. I did the same distance before Ironman last year in the same time too. On the run all I could think of is how people think I love every minute of this training and that it is easy to those of us who do it. Not so. It is such hard work both mentally and physically. I just know that feel of the finish line is worth every second of pain and every moment of the craziness.