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2016-08-29 1:33 PM

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Subject: Race Report- Take the Lake Xtreme- Lake Waccamaw, NC
My A Race is a very small, very local quadathalon, held in Lake Waccamaw, NC.

The lake is one of the only natural lakes in the state, it is classified as a bay lake. It is almost a perfect oval about 7 miles long by 5 miles wide. The circumference is about 15 miles. Along the eastern shore is a state park that covers close to 6 miles of shore line. The rest of the lake is lined with houses and boat docks. The lake is very shallow at it's deepest point in the middle it is about 8ft deep. The no wake poles are 200 yards from shore and the depth is usually 3-4 feet.

The race got it's start from the annual Labor Day Swim. For the last 40 years locals have been coming out on Labor Day to swim across the lake. The route is a 4 mile swim. It goes from Dale's Restaurant to the Dam. About 10 years ago the local community saw this event as a good way to get people more active and Take the Lake was born. They added events in Running, Kayaking, and Biking. A few years after that they got the idea to do all four events in the same day. The Xtreme was born. The idea is that you would swim across the lake then encircle the lake with the bike, kayak, and run. With the bike and run being 15 miles and the kayak 14 miles. The order of events is Swim, Bike, Kayak, & Run.

This has race has been my goal since March when I started back seriously training. I did this race in 2014 with less than stellar results and quite a few mishaps. I hoped this year would be much much better.

The race starts 6:30ish. Did I mention this was grassroots? It is very low key there are only 7 of us participating this year. We have a very brief pre race meeting and it is time to go. There are no timing chips, no banners, no crowd, no bib number. The biggest difference in this race that other races is the support. With this race you need support.

The swim.
For the swim you have to have your own guide boat. I tapped my friend, Lee, to have that honor again this year. Kayaking that slow for that long is pretty grueling. It was his job to make sure that we stayed on course and that I didn't swim myself in a circle. This swim is also wet-suit 'legal' the water temps were too warm to be USTA legal wetsuit but this race doesn't follow that rule. I think only one of the competitors did not have one on. So, I didn't feel like I was cheating. The plan with the swim was to stop every 1/2 mile to get some water and take a short break. With an estimated time of 3 hours I needed to stay on top of my nutrition from the beginning. The first stop came within 15 minutes and I was hitting my goal pace. Short break and I was back after it. The second stop offered a slightly longer break of 3 minutes. But, after the first mile my pace dropped quite a bit. By the end of the 3rd mile my pace had dropped to 20 min per 1/2. The last mile had me pushing to finished under three hours. Luckily the water was shallow and I was able to make some forward progress in the end. By the last half mile it was getting warm and the wetsuit came off. It was a walk/swim to the finish. But, I was able to finish it off right at three hours. Beat my 2014 time by 9 minutes.

T1
This is where the support comes in quite handy. Transition is at Dale's. We finished the swim at the dam. We need to get back to dales to start the bike. In 2014 I didn't have a plan for this but this year I had more help. My brother, Dan, was waiting on us at the dam with the truck. We throw the kayak and in the back and sit on the tailgate for the ride back. I don't ride on a tailgate much but me and lee both got the sense Dan knew it was a race. We seemed to be going pretty darn fast. But, the time in the truck give me a few minutes to drink some and eat a banana. So by the time we get back to transition I'm rested and ready to bike.

The Bike.
The bike course is a 15 mile route. In 2014 it was 22 miles and I way over biked it. This year I wanted to play it extra conservative on the bike and make sure I had plenty in the tank for the kayak and the run. So, I make sure to keep my heart rate under 142 and I don't look at my speed or my time. I make sure that I am drinking plenty of water and Infinit GoFar. The bike goes exactly as planning I make it back to transition in 50 minutes and feel plenty rested for the kayak.

T2
The guys had my kayak sitting in the water with my paddle and life jacket ready to go. My kayak can be a bear to get into so Dan helps me out and I'm gone out of transition fairly quickly.

The Kayak.
If there is any one place were equipment makes a difference it is the kayak. Having a boat that can get up to speed and hold that speed is critical. It's almost like going from a mountain bike to a triathlon bike. In 2014 I had a nice kayak. It was a necky that was 14' feet long. It was easy to paddle and super stable. This year I have a Seda Glider with is 19' long and only 22 inches wide. It was longer than all the other boats there by at least 3 feet. Paddling hasn't been a problem for me since the beginning of training. I tried to paddle at least once per week from an hour to two hours. The strength to paddle the kayak was always there. Nothing I did or didn't do specifically. When I got into the water the person in ahead of me had a 40 minutes on me. I was able to catch them and pass them at about the 7 mile mark and according the guys I beat her back to the transition by 30 minutes. Support on the kayak was super important too. I couldn't/didn't want to take all of my food/nutrition with me. So I had them meet me every hour in a boat. When we met they were able to refill my bottles and keep me going without too much delay. Also knowing that they had the means to come and get me if something were to happen really made me feel good about being out there. I was able to paddle fairly hard for the entire trip and wound up finishing under three hours for the kayak as well. The average speed was close to 4.6mph which was not far from my 4.9mph goal.

T3
Moving on the to run. I felt pretty good about my legs and how I felt. My heart rate wasn't too high from getting out of the kayak. I will say though that my support team was no where to be found when I got there. They had all gone into Dale's to get something to eat. Of course I couldn't blame them. We had been at this since 4:15. I get my shoes and socks on and head out on the run.

The Run.
The run course is the same as the bike course. The plan is for them to meet me every two miles with something to drink and some nutrition. I don't have high hopes for crushing the run course. But, I also don't want to get run down from behind. I head off to the first turn around which is two miles out. This is where we start having our first break down in communication with the support team. I wanted them to meet me at the turn around but I'm already a mile past the turn around when they come find me. I make it back to transition and take a break. I've got 4 miles down and 11 to go. At this point my HR is where I expected it to be for the effort I was putting out. My plan for the run was to keep the HR under 145 and to take a 1:00 to 1:30 walk break every 1 mile. After sitting for a few minutes I'm back out on the course to finish up the race. I gave my team, which now includes my wife, instruction to meet me at the boat ramp which is 2 miles away. Well, I make it to the boat ramp, they aren't there so I keep going. I make it another mile. Still no sign of them. Go my walk and run another mile. Now, I'm two miles past my water/nutrition time. I start to walk. I knew that I couldn't keep running or I would pop. It was getting hot in the afternoon sun and I couldn't keep pushing if I wanted to finish. After about 10 min of walking I start looking for a house with a water hose to get a drink from. After a few houses a find a house that looking promising. Just as soon as I turn on the water I see the truck drive by. I run back to the road to see if I can get there attention. But, they don't see me. The dam is about 1.5 miles away I have to wait for them to ride all the way down there and ride all the way back. But, the walk break was pretty necessary. I wasn't feeling all that great and I had just reached the limits of my run fitness. The next 6 miles were going to be pretty tough. I was also having a problem with my feet being wet. I've never had that problem before. It felt as if i had just ran through a puddle and my feet were soaked. I don't know if it was the shoes or the cheap socks but squishing every step was no fun. I finally make it to the turn around and sit on the tailgate for a few minutes. I take some time to eat a snickers and drink a bit of a Coca-Cola. My heart rate had come back down and when I started back running it seemed to stay lower in the 130's which was good. But, my left calf was starting to send signs of cramping. Then my hip flexors started to hurt significantly. Still had super squishy feet that weren't helping anything. Then next stop my brother got me a fresh a pair of socks. Which was wonderful. However, that joy didn't last long. The rain came within 15 minutes of stopping. It didn't rain long, but it poured for 15 minutes. That rain was just enough for me to finish the run fairly strong. In the end I finished the run in 3:30:00.(13:42 pace) It wasn’t fast and I had to push to finish but I finished.

I wound up finishing the whole race in 10:52:00 and actually won the whole thing by an hour. It’s not a big race but it’s a tough one. I couldn’t have done it without all of the support that I had. I went with Infinit Nutrition for the entire day it was the speed blend for the Swim and the Run and the Go Far Blend for the Bike and the Kayak. Other than the little bit of a banana, Snickers and the Coca-Cola that was all I had for the entire day. I always felt slightly hungry but never enough to want to eat, which is how I like to work out. All in all I was a successful day.


2016-08-29 1:43 PM
in reply to: Nick B

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Subject: RE: Race Report- Take the Lake Xtreme- Lake Waccamaw, NC
Holy crap - that sounds like FUN!

Congrats.
2016-08-29 4:15 PM
in reply to: Nick B

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Subject: RE: Race Report- Take the Lake Xtreme- Lake Waccamaw, NC

A couple guys at work told me about this and had I not already been committed for the weekend (well...that and not having a kayak...) I looked at doing this myself. 

 

Congrats on a well-executed race! 

2016-08-29 10:07 PM
in reply to: #5197085

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Subject: RE: Race Report- Take the Lake Xtreme- Lake Waccamaw, NC
Really enjoyed the report! Awesome execution.
2016-08-30 7:13 AM
in reply to: McFuzz

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Subject: RE: Race Report- Take the Lake Xtreme- Lake Waccamaw, NC
Originally posted by McFuzz

A couple guys at work told me about this and had I not already been committed for the weekend (well...that and not having a kayak...) I looked at doing this myself. 

 

Congrats on a well-executed race! 




If you plan on doing it make sure you have a kayak that's ready to take on the challenge. I'd recommend at least a 16' touring or sea kayak. The longer the boat the faster it will be. Of course the trade off is stability.

The unfortunate part is that these kayaks are rarely cheap. Not to say that a wal-mart kayak is not good but I would liken it to riding a box store bike in a race. You'll get there, but you'll suffer.

Most people finish the kayak in 3:30 to 4:30. It's a long long time on the water all by yourself.
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