White Lake Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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White Lake, North Carolina
United States
Set-Up, Inc.
82F / 28C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 52m 41s
Overall Rank = 254/570
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 41/89
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 12:30 drank an ensure and got back in bed. Got back up at 4:30 and ate my oatmeal accompanied by a red bull and an ensure. Shaved, brushed teeth and hit the road.
Event warmup:

Rode the bike to the site, set up transition, ran for 10 minutes, then warmed up in the water prior to the wave start.
Visited with Tommy (tzmitch) Foots and Mandy.
Swim
  • 40m 37s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 55s / 100 yards
Comments:

First swim with a full wetsuit. I should have gotten one a long time ago! Hit the ladder in 39:25. I was 4 minutes faster than my previous swim and five minutes faster than last year. Some of that is getting better. Some of it is the suit. I was on top of the water and felt fast.
What would you do differently?:

work on navigation.
Transition 1
  • 02m 50s
Comments:

need to work on getting out of the suit quicker, but that will come. Overall a few seconds faster than last year.
What would you do differently?:

get out the suit faster and learn to start with the shoes on the bike.
Bike
  • 3h 00m 24s
  • 56 miles
  • 18.63 mile/hr
Comments:

Like everyone else, the wind got me. First 10 miles was done in 28 minutes. First 20 in 58 minutes. The last 36 took 2:02. I think you can see where the wind came in. Legs never felt bad. The strongest bike I have had in one of these races in the sense that I never felt bad. I could have staid on the bike for a while. So that is good. Despite my relatively slow time (see where I fell in the groups) this ride killed my run.
What would you do differently?:

1)Train more and harder on the bike. Also get back in the weight room to get the legs stronger. To get to my time goals the bike must be faster and the run must not suffer becuase of it.
2) use more self control. I liken this to playing golf. When you hear the wind blow through your ears your instinct is to grip the club tighter and swing harder when what you should do is relax and swing easy. Same thing Saturday. I could hear that wind and I was bound and determined to make my time goal. I had an ongoing conversation with myself to ease off and not kill the run. The problem was that my legs felt great. My heart was not going 200 bpm, so I lost that argument. If I had slowed down 10 minutes, I might have picked up 15 on the run and still been 5 minutes faster.
Transition 2
  • 01m 23s
Comments:

not bad. stopped to drain the last bottle off the bike. that might have cost me 5 seconds, but it was probably worth doing.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 2h 07m 29s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 44s  min/mile
Comments:

This run was disappointing but not devastating like last year. First 1/2 of the run was 58 minutes. Second half was 69 minutes. I took advantage of the first port a potty I came to, so I feel like I was sufficiently hydrated on the bike and most of the run. Walked every other aid station on the first 1.5 loops of the run. Left glut and the small of my back started cramping on the second 1/2 of the run and that forced me to walk. The towels were wonderful. Actually the wind was wonderful on the run. Without it we would have been toast. Several people were throwing up and having heat related issues on the run. At the aid stations that I used I took some coke with salt tabs and at one I had a piece of a hammer bar.
What would you do differently?:

I think the shortcomings of the run can be traced back to the bike. More training and harder training on the bike is necessary before November. Also, I have now seen Terah's pictures and it appears that I need to work on my run form. I am still heel striking. So, we are going to be doing lots of technique drills, no matter how funny they are, to get faster.
Post race
Warm down:

sat in the lake and drank my recovery drink. Waited for Wade, Mandy and Edde to come in. Saw Edded come in, but missed Wade and Mandy. Rode the bike back to the hotel and had some beer.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

bike fitness, wind.
I can't be but so upset. To hit 5:30 I needed to swim in 40 minutes, ride in 3 hours and run a 1:45 1/2. I hit 2 out of 3, but the second one killed the third. Even with that, I was off by 22 minutes and ran the fastest race yet for me. So, the improvement was there and there is plenty of places to improve. I guess that's a good balance. Need to make better decisions during the race and believe in those choices.

Event comments:

I did not have the issues others did with water stations on the bike except for having to dodge people stopping to get water. One of the blessings of carrying all your nutrition on the bike.




Last updated: 2008-01-02 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:40:37 | 2112 yards | 01m 55s / 100yards
Age Group: 36/89
Overall: 272/570
Performance: Good
Suit: 2xu Team full suit
Course: parallelagram out 750 meters, 450 meters across and back in 750 meters
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:50
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
03:00:24 | 56 miles | 18.63 mile/hr
Age Group: 52/89
Overall: 359/570
Performance: Average
Wind: Strong with gusts
Course: one loop looks like a shield
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 92
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:23
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
02:07:29 | 13.1 miles | 09m 44s  min/mile
Age Group: 37/89
Overall: 234/570
Performance: Below average
Course: 2 out and back legs that look like a question mark.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4