White Lake Half II - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Wetsuits weren't legal for this race. Many people choose to DQ and race with them anyway. This was my first non-wetsuit swim of the season. It has been too cold at the lake I practice at to swim without a wetsuit. I need to stay mentally tough and not think about that too much. I have come a long way on the swim. There was a lot of contact and choppy conditions to contend with. I had one person in a wetsuit continue to run into to me. Their sighting was terrible and they kept zig zagging in front of me. I couldn't quite shake her and I know I lost a minute or two having to stop and get her out of my way. I have never had that before. I did draft a little on this race, really for the first time. I am really learning a lot about racing in the open water. Several people who raced last year said their times were 6 minutes longer. Maybe it was measured a little long??

I think I would have tried to sprint past the wetsuit girl. I was afraid to push it and be exhausted but I think getting away from her would have really helped me get into a rhythm.

I knew this would be a LONG transition. I broke my orthotics about two weeks before the race and had to tape my feet before the run in order to avoid a stress fracture. I figured after the swim was better than after the bike. My feet were covered with sand and grass so I had to wipe them down before I could tape them. I also reapplied sunscreen which I was later glad for.

not a thing

I am really weak on the bike. I am especially weak on flats. I am a better climber. We decided to do this course because of the swim. Having to use the same muscles over and over with no change was BRUTAL. Speaking of brutal, the wind never really let up. I read that there would be about 25 miles of headwinds. It was nearly the whole race. The first 10 miles I was averaging about 18-20 with little effort. Once the wind started, I was sometimes going 12! I ran over a snake around mile 20. I also stopped to help my training buddy who flatted around that same distance. I lost about 7-10 minutes helping her. I did do a decent job keeping hydrated and getting some calories in. Having not trained in the heat this year, it was a lot of guess and go.

I know the bike would be hard for me. The heat, wind and no hills wasn't well suited for me. I came in way down at the bottom of my age group. I need to spend more time in aero getting comfortable, even with the gusts. My cadence is pretty slow too.I know I need to work on that.

I was SO thrilled to get off the bike but I saw the runners on the course and knew that it was going to be HELL out there. My feet were in agony on the bike so they were immediately happy to be in running shoes. Rolled my bike in and wrapped my mind about the task at hand. My legs really didn't feel all that badly.

Holy Cow! I believe that will be the toughest HM I will ever run. I have run 3 trail HM with at least 12,000 of elevation and consider this flat run by far the hardest. It was 35 minutes longer than my trail half I completed two weeks before. I am not sure I would call this a run really. It was a survival shuffle. It took me 1 hour to do the first 4 miles. The first 2 were so brutal that, for the first time, I wondered if I could even finish it walking. I knew then that all my time goals had to be ignored. It was about finishing now. Once I got into my ice routine, things got better. I filled my bra with ice at every station that had it. I soaked my light tank in the ice water and threw it on my back. I grabbed and ice towel and put it on my head. I alternated drinking Heed and water at every other station. I spent ALOT of time at every station. I know this was part of what killed my time. I really believe if I hadn't I wouldn't have finished. Around mile 4 I started to have a little fun. Crazy in the head fun but fun no less. I started handing ice out to people who looked like they really needed it between stations. I would pull ice chips out of my tri top and you would have thought I had given them gold coins. Not one persons turned down my ice. :) The ice in my top made a little clanking rhythm. It helped me along. One lady that I leap frogged with called my "Jingle Bells". Another liked my "Ice Chest". I called myself the "Ice Fairy". I had an angel on the course. I called him Mr. Starbucks. He had a Starbucks shirt on. I thought he was working the course but he was pacing his friend on his mountain bike and offering support to the runners. He was a source of entertainment and encouragement through out the race. At mile 11 he made sure they had a Coke out for me (I couldn't find one at the other stations). It was a wonderful gift and the reason I was able to pick it up a little on the last two miles.

Today- was about the climate. I think I did a pretty decent job with nutrition considering we had trained in ANY heat this year. I am knowing more and more about my body and what it needs. I stayed tough mentally. The time doesn't really reflect the effort it took to cross the line. Heat training is really the only thing that I think would have made a difference.

Had a bag of salty chips and a soda at the finish line. Meet up my training buddies who had finished ages earlier but were feeling really rough. Later we waded around in the lake and showered in the cold only showers! Found Mr. Starbuks and thanked him for his support on the run.


Lack heat training.


I will not do this course again. If you like the heat and are fast on the flats, this is the race for you. The lake was beautiful but not enough to make me go through the heat of this course. I heard it called "White Bake", they weren't kidding. The recycled ice towels were pretty nasty. At one station the young volunteers had started to fill the drinking cups with towel water. NASTY! I am sorry that I spent 6 months training to race in these conditions and still am left wondering what I could do if it had been cooler. In the end I did complete a 70.3. I am proud of that.