1/2 Ironman Race report

[Vinman]

This past Saturday was the Tupper Lake Tinman 1/2 iron distance race 1.2 mi swim/56 mi bike/ 13.1 mi run.

The day started off at around 7:00 with a dense fog that prevent seeing even the first bouy on the swim course. But within 45 minutes the fog lifted and it turned to a blurbird day. The water was a refreshing and wetsuit legal 72 deg.

I was in the 3rd wave out with about 150 in my wave. As the horn sounded all 150 swimmers stated a mad sprint to get into a space and get a rhythm started. I had a decent amount of body contact during the first 1/4 mile but after that it become a bit more spaced out and didn't really have much trouble with bumping into people until the fastswimmers from the waves behind me caught up. I exited the water feeling pretty good with a 39:50 for 1.2 mi. Which is a bit slow for me. I need to learn how to swim faster and keep a straiter line. All the course corrections cost me some time.

I had a good transition and headed out on the bike. My goal for the bike was to keep it under 3 hours (~19 mph) For those that don't know where Tupper Lake is, it is in the Adirondacks of NY state. Rolling terrain is kind of an understatement as there were a few decent sized climbs but nothing too huge. I felt really good on the bike and immediately started passing many racers. At the turn around (28 mi) I was 1:20 into the ride averaging well over 20 mph. But as soon as we make the turn I realized there had been a light tailwind with us. I was thinking "shit, I don't think I can hold this speed for another 28 mi with a headwind." But to my suprise I was only 3 minutes slower on the return and ended the bike with a 2:43(20.6 mph ave) for 56 miles. The bike felt easy to me, probably too easy.............

As I exited the second transition I was feeling pretty good. My goal was to run about a 8 min/mi pace. My first mile was a 7:45 mostly uphill, not bad but I decided this was still a bit too fast and slowed to my goal pace of 8:00 which I held for about the next 4-5 miles and then proceeded to blow up I slowed to an 8:30 pace then 8:45 by mile 8. The last 5 miles were a struggle. I felt like my legs were going to fall off. I wasn't even breathing hard, I just had no gas left. By the end of the run my pace was well over 9min/mi and ended the run with a 1:58 (9:01/mi ave)

My overall time of 5:24:07 was still within my goal range of 5- 5.5 hrs so I pretty happy with than and I'll chalk the explosion on the run up to a learning process. I think I could have gone slightly slower on the bike and not have lost quite so much time on the run. I also need to eat more on the bike. I probably only took in ~550-600 calories on the bike and I should have been closer to 750. I also need to learn how to swim faster and straiter.

Bit overall I am very happy with my performance and just glad to have achieved my goal of completeing a 1/2 iron race.

I also have a couple pics that I'll post up once I get them from my friend. One is a sweet shot my dumbass V shaped sunburn on my pasty white chest from having my race jersey unzipped on the run. It looks like a white and red superhero costume of something.

[CantDog]

Nice work Vin. Its seriously time you get a dedicated TT/tri bike. And sack up for some wheels.

(in fact, I'll send you a pm in a bit, I've got a zipp prodeal coming, maybe we can figure something out)

[truth]

Nice Vin. Congrats on hitting your target range for the event even though you bonked on the run.

[Vinman]

Nice work Vin. Its seriously time you get a dedicated TT/tri bike. And sack up for some wheels.

(in fact, I'll send you a pm in a bit, I've got a zipp prodeal coming, maybe we can figure something out)

The tri club I belong to is either getting a race wheel sponsor next season. We just got Aegis bikes as a sponsor last week. So eventually when I get some cash together I'll have the connections to get some sweet gear. But with the kid on the way I doubt that I'll be buying any big ticket items for tri in the near future. Besides I love blowing by people on $7K ticked out bikes with my bastardized tri/road bike set up and el cheapo psuedo-disc.

I bought a disc wheel cover for my rear. So I have a psuedo-disc wheel right now, which makes a huge difference over the a regular wheel. It was prolly one of the reasons I had a good bike split.

[p-tex]

Congrats!!! That's great. I like to read about these experiences since I just signed up for my 1st Tri. Olympic dist but I had never done ANY lap swimming until just last week, so this will be plenty for my first time out.

Great job - I hope that my bastardized bike/tri setup works as well!

[crashnburn'd]

But with the kid on the way I doubt that I'll be buying any big ticket items for tri in the near future.

Nice job on the race Vin. I was actually going to be riding up in that area last weekend, but plans fell through....

How's Angie doing? Due soon, right?

[Vinman]

Nice job on the race Vin. I was actually going to be riding up in that area last weekend, but plans fell through....

How's Angie doing? Due soon, right?

About 3 weeks to go. She's and the kid are doing great. She's about ready for it to come out soon though.

He needs to wait until after this weekend though. I have one more race on my docket this weekend.

[Vinman]

Finally got some pics

Me at the finish


Me with a really stupid looking sunburn from having my race jersey unzipped on the run.


Captions welcome, encouraged even

[ski_faster]

Nice work Vinman. I signed up for my first triathlon and its going to be interesting to say the least.

[crashnburn'd]

No caption required.

[Plakespear]

Nice job, Vin.

[lph]

congrats, vin. must be pretty encouraging that you met your goal while blowing up on the run. well done.

[Tuckerman]

Nice job how long did you train?

[Vinman]

I trained for about 6 months. In Jan/Feb I basically just focused on swimming and some lifting. Later on in Feb I added some bike and then in march added my run. Then picked up the hours a bit once it was warm enough outside to do some real training. I also did a lot of hiking to ski and skinning at a fast pace that I counted as training.