Inside Out Sports White Lake International - Triathlon

Probably one of my best swims, which is sad. Felt like I was moving and I actually tried drafting. Don't know if that worked, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. I also worked hard at keeping form, breathing, and sighting.

While out in the middle of the lake, it was odd to look straight down and see the sandy bottom. It was kind of reassuring, to be honest with you.

Sight better. I am pretty sure I was not going straight.

Fastest in AG and 4th fast overall. Once passing over the swim/T1 mat, kept sprinting to the T area, put on helmet, glassed, and was running out. Cycling shoes were on bike.

Nothing.

Came out of T1 and jumped on bike, feet on top of shoes. Pedaled for maybe 1/3 mile before I was in the clear and got into my shoes.

Worked very hard at first. HR was sky high b/c of the swim and I felt like I maybe swam too hard. After what seemed like an eternity, was able to drop HR under LT and worked hard to stay a few beats under.

Was passed by 2 riders and swallowed up quite a few others. Effort was hard in that the wind was blowing hard until maybe mile 15-17? One of the riders that passed me (AG 25-29) had been drafting off me for a few mins. I didn't notice until I saw his shadow. At that point, I looked back at him, told him to pass or drop back, and then slowed down just a little to see what he'd do. He stayed back there for another minute, so I started to move left and right just to get him directly out of my draft stream, but always making sure it was safe to do so. Finally, he either rested up or had enough and tried passing me. I was hoping a marshal would be out and 3 times prevented him from passing me by speeding up. Finally, I thought to myself it wasn't worth it and let him go.

Came up on a female racing the Open category and we watched a pace line ahead of use (3 cyclists) moving along. I commented to her that was pretty blatant drafting and she agreed. I then chased them down and made sure I passed them fast and as far over as possible to prevent them from jumping on the back of my wheel. Drafting pisses me off.

When there were 4 or 5 miles to go, had my first gel and finished up my water, setting myself to run after the bike. 2-3 miles from the finish, I could see some other cyclist ahead, but started to feel gassed and decided to not chase them down. I couldn't tell if the drafter was among those up front.

"I'll see you on the run", I said to myself as I pulled feet out of shoes. Clean dismount maybe 2-3 feet before the dismount line.

NOTE: Bike tuneup by LBS was off and I could not shift properly for the entire ride. I could not get into my normal gear and every time I shifted there was clacking and clicking. B/c bottom bearings went out right before the race, didn't have time to properly test bike and that came back and bit me in the arse.

For races of this duration, need to work on higher intensity workloads.

had to put socks on b/c my running shoes tear up feet.

No socks, but need to try different running shoes.

Went out onto the course and noticed my Garmin was still in BIKE mode. Damnit! I thought I had been pushing the LAP button (MULTISPORT mode). Didn't get to RUN mode until maybe .15 (or more) into the run.

Started to chase down and pass runners. Started off at 6min/mi and felt like I could prob hold this effort for the duration. After the first mile, had to back it off just a tad (15 secs a mile) to make sure I could hold that pace. It didn't help that you'd suck in a mouthful of gnats (or whatever bugs they were) in a few spots where they were swarming around.

Passed the drafter in the first mile. He was running strong, but I made sure to speed up a little and make the pass. Too bad he wasn't in my AG.

While close to mile 3, came up on two 30-34 AGers that were running together. As I passed them, I kind of joked that I was bummed neither of them were in my AG...with a smile. The d00d in the back laughed, but the front guy was either annoyed or had his game face on.

Kept going hard, using ice towels on my head to cool off and drinking water at every station. They felt great and wearing a visor, instead of a hat, REALLY helped in that I could squeeze the cold water on my head and it'd pool for a second or two, then come down the sides. I'll only use visors from this point on.

Finished up, then hung out with Steve and the rest of the Sandspurs.

Nothing.

Ate, drank, talked, and enjoyed the weather while hanging out. Good time at White Lake


The wind on the bike course and my bike. Took my bike in to get fixed 2 weeks ago and received it the night BEFORE the race b/c of errors in orders by LBS. The entire ride, I could not get in my favorite gear and the chain clinked and clacked for the entire ride.


Very good race. Low key, but SPEED shows up to race here. Very strong competitors, especially in my AG!