White Lake Half II - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Everything you hear about this swim is true - the waves were minor, and the water was clear the the bottom throughout the swim. My goal was to keep things smooth and steady, and I accomplished that goal. I've done a lot of work in the pool both increasing my speed and my distance, and it definitely paid off. My strokes and breathing were in a good rhythm, my sighting was good, and I felt strong the whole time. Hit some feet a few times, had mine hit as well, but no kicks to the face or anything like that. Wearing the wetsuit was a major plus. Also a major plus was the huge burp I let out around the 1500m mark - really made everything feel a lot better after inadvertently swallowing so much lake water. Definitely happy placing 5th in my AG.

Right before the swim I noticed the inside of my goggles were smeared, so I wiped it out. This also wiped out all the anti-fog I had applied, so I had to clear my goggles probably 7-10 times during the swim. One of those times I thought I had lost my contact, and I ended up treading water for about 30 seconds waiting for it to settle back in my eye. I lost a good 3 minutes dealing with my goggles.

Long-ish swim from the swim finish to T1. Suit off pretty quickly, applied some spray-sunscreen, took a gel, put on my bike shoes, helmet, glasses, and was off. A solid but not great T1.

Clearly, this is my weakest sport of the three. I make it to a spin class about once a week, and recently have been good about getting in a long ride on the weekends, but it's much harder (both mentally and time-wise) to train for 2.5 - 3 hours on the bike a few times/wk than getting a 1 hour swim or 6 mile run a few times/wk. So, I knew this was going to be my weakest event, and I mostly just wanted to keep my legs relatively fresh for the run; however, I also knew this course was very flat so I wanted to do my best to keep the time respectable. I'll throw in the fact that I ride an $800 road bike without aero bars, which is not an excuse, because I definitely chalk this one up to lack of training, but after the 20th bike passed me whose back wheel cost more than my whole bike (and whose whole bike probably cost more than my car...possibly my house!) I have decided I really need to invest in a proper Carbon tri bike. I know I am going to continue racing, and I thought about buying one for this race, but the timing wasn't right. It'll probably be my best big purchase. Anyway, back to the ride - I kept my cadence pretty consistent, and as flat as the course was, there was not much gear changing. One highlight of the ride was seeing a turtle in its shell at mile 14. The poor little guy probably got scared as our leader zoomed by him, and stayed in his shell the whole race. Tough life. The other highlight was seeing my GF around mile 20. She drove from transition to the bike course, and she would have missed me had I not yelled out to her as I passed. Definitely a morale boost and a motivator...that lasted about 5 miles and I realized I had 28 miles left. Basically I stayed around 18 mph as I suspected I would and was SO grateful when I saw the transition area, as I had been ready to get off that bike for quite some time. Little did I know the pain was coming.

More training, win the lottery so I can buy a sweet ride.

Got out of my shoes once I saw T2 was coming up, jumped off the bike, got to my rack, knocked my neighbor's bike to the ground, picked it back up and racked it, racked mine, socks/running shoes on (first time doing the run with socks), another coating of spray sunscreen, took a gu, boom gone.

My goal was to run in under 2 hours. When I saw my time, I could not believe that I missed it by 4 seconds. My overall goal was to finish the race in under 6 hours, so I'm happy with my performance, but I am very annoyed about those 4 seconds keeping me from meeting this goal. Oh well. The first 8 miles or so I ran with a guy named Richard - also in my age group. We talked a bit and kept each other entertained, which was awesome. The first half of the race flew by, then the talking stopped as we got a bit more tired. I lost him at one of the aid stations, and he finished a few minutes after I did. One thing I love so much about triathlon is the community and the people you meet in transition, during the race, after the race, in training, etc. Anyway, I knew I wanted to keep a 9 min pace, and I stuck to that fairly well. After the first mile I knew I was going to have to walk each aid station to avoid dehydration/instant death, so that I did. My strategy was such: 2 cups of water and 2 sponges. Drink one cup of water, throw one over my head, squeeze one sponge down my front, put the other down my back. This worked perfectly, as I felt recovered and cool basically the entire race until the next aid station, when I got thirsty and hot again. I always enjoy out and back races because you get to pass people and it gives you something to look at. The last 5 miles I was in the house of pain. Really my only goal was to make it to the next aid station, and if I couldn't see that then I picked some object far ahead and ran to that, then did it again until that white tent oasis appeared. I consider myself pretty mentally tough, and I knew walking during the race was absolutely not an option (outside of the aid stations when it was a necessity), but my body definitely wanted to. All in all, I am happy with the run, but would have been overjoyed had I run it 4 seconds faster. I am giving this run an average because I did not meet my goal.

Run just a tiny bit faster. Like...just a really small amount faster.

Met up with the lady (who was taking some great photos by the way), drank some cold water, sat down, told the gf I am a crazy person, jumped in the lake (best decision ever), got some red beans and rice (I love the South), drove to Wilmington and ate some fish tacos and drank my first beer in about a month.


The only negative thing I have to say about this race is the quality of the bike course. The roads really were not great, and although they were flat, the uneven pavement made things difficult. Also, there was only one porta potty on the bike course, which I thought was strange. I thought the volunteers were really good, especially on the run course. I only had one issue getting sponges, and that was when a 13 year old girl volunteer manning the sponge station was flirting with at least a 16 year old kid working water. I was pretty firm with her that I needed sponges now. Let's be honest - someone needed to intervene.