White Lake Half - Triathlon

I got a little witchy at the beginning of the swim start, got kicked and elbowed a few times, and was having trouble sighting. Finally got myself settled down into a reasonable pace. I was amining for a leisurely swim, knowing that I was going to have a long day ahead of me. I just wanted to come out of the water relaxed and uncooked. I accomplished that. Goal one=accomplished.

I *might* have been able to crank out a little faster swim. Certainly I have done better in practice, but I was trying to keep as much in reserve as I could. My time was only one minute slower than the first time I did this race...with no sickness in the mix.

Transition one was farily smooth. I was not trying to set any records, rather, I just wanted to make sure I was setting myself up well for the rest of the day. My T1 last time was about 4:32 minutes or more, so this was a significant improvement.

The first 10 miles or so of the bike course went veery well, I was cranking out a consistent 21-23mph and my heart rate was right whee I wanted it to be,just below my LT, Life was looking good.
Then came the turn onto route 210. we rounded the corner, and the headwind slammed the door in our faces. It was justing up to about 25 mph, and staying steady at 10-15 between the gusts. Much hurting ensued. I blew the waterbottle hand-up at mile 18, and had to ration my water for the next 16 miles, but I had gatorade in reserve, and did not panic. My goal was to finish my whole flask of Hammergel on the bike. I just about managed that. My shoulders started to get a little tired of being on the aerobars for nearly 3 hours, and I rode the last few miles spending a good bit of time on the bullhorns, and trying to stretch my legs.

Fairly leisurely transition. Took 800mg of ibuprophen. That turned out to have been a good idea. Ended up with a little sand in my shoes.

I just tried to keep my heart rate under control. When I hit 178, I started walking until it dropped below 168. I also made little deals with myself to keep the walk/run ration failry low. At one point I slammed two cups of Heed at the same time. My bloated belly told me that was a mistake, but a giant belch fixed that little problem in about 10 minutes. I am sure the nice lady who was next to me at the time was appaled, but so, be it.

To warm down, I stood in the lake for a whle and cooled my legs down.