Tinman Triathlon

Race: Tinman Triathlon

Location: Tupper Lake, New York

Distance: 1.9K swim, 90K bike and 21.5K Run

Description: Swim was in a lake with a rectangular buoy line. Bike was rolling with good pavement conditions. Run was hilly for the first 5 miles then relatively flat (mix of pavement and trail).

Conditions: Cool and overcast.

Place: 2nd Overall (4:13:44)

It was nearly a month since my last triathlon so I was eager to see where my fitness was. My goal for this race was to really nail my hydration (more on that to come) which would allow me to be competitive throughout. The previous weeks have shown me that my bike is becoming a strong asset as well as my run. The swim though, as always, was a question mark.

Race morning was calm and cool. This was strange turn of events as it had been calling for thunderstorms with rain.

The swim had wave starts with mine starting first. It was a nice change as most times I’m last and have to fight through throngs of people. My goal was to draft as much as possible and try to stay as close to the front as I could. Before starting, another guy called out his friend as the “guy to watch for”, as in he would have the fastest time; point noted.

Off we went into the warmish lake waters. The buoy line seemed to stretch out forever. I got off to a good start and found a small group to hang in with. To my surprise, I surged out of this group and moved forward to find faster swimmers. At the first corner of the swim course, I had found my speed. Two other swimmers, 1 a girl and the other, “the guy to watch for”. I swam right on their feet for the remaining distance. Exiting the water I was relieved to see a new PB, 29:09 for 1900ms. The swim time is starting to pay off! Not only that but I was in 5th spot!

The bike course was undulating. Ups and downs. It was all about how you could carry the momentum. My goal was to keep my fluid intake to 1100mL per hour, something that is very tricky to keep track of but I had worked a recipe beforehand: I drink 50mL per sip and at 3min intervals I would reach my goal quantity. So I set a timer and off I drank.

At 10miles though my day could have been over. My right shifter started to skip gears. Not just 1 or 2 but all of them. The screw that holds the handle on had come loose. At the beginning it wasn’t too bad as I could jimmy it to at least hold a gear. With no on board multi tool I was at the mercy of the shifter. Somewhere along the way, I lost the screw and was now down to just the handle! This meant that I now had to hold the shifter in place in whatever gear that I wanted. It also meant that I couldn’t sit up because then my gears would shift on their own.

This was all going on as I powered through the hills. This whole fiasco never really bugged me till some of the bigger hills on the way back. Because I couldn’t sit up, I had to aero position every hill. Interesting to do in practice but in a race, comfort is more important.

My splits were near identical, 1:09 for the way out and slightly more for the way back. This was good enough to put me into 3rd position going out on the run.

I thought I had it on the run. After 7K I was in second place and had a 500m deficit to second. But something strange happened, I couldn’t catch the guy in front of me. It was like a yo-yo. I got closer to where I thought the next hill I’d be making he pass, then as I crested the hill, he would be far off again.

My thought process was about maintaining a strong speed to catch him but it never came. I finished the race in second but then had to wait and see if my time would hold up (as the other waves finished).

It held up. After looking at the results and seeing that I lost time only in the swim, I felt decent about my performance. I don’t hold the shifter as an excuse but it would have been nice for that not to have happened!

This race has showed me that my swim is coming along, the bike strength is getting better and my run is good even though there has been little work on it. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens come November after a couple of months work on my running form.

Thanks for reading. I’m a little sore today but in good spirits. Hope you had a good weekend.

Cliff