White Lake Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt pretty good on the swim. I tried to stay with lead group of swimmers in my wave but I was never able to get any good drafts. I might try a sleeveless wetsuit next time b/c the sleeves on my full suit were taking on water and felt heavy. Otherwise it was fine but it felt like it went on FOREVER! I just knew I had been swimming for 45 minutes!

I got to the wall in just over 35:00.

As mentioned use a sleeveless wetsuit or skip the wetsuit all together.

Uneventful. Suit momentarily stuck on heels, as usual, but no big deal. Happy to be out of the water and on to the bike!

Really enjoyed this ride. It was very windy out there but I just tucked down as small as I could and rode. My back tighten up pretty good between miles 15 & 30 but then it settled down. I did have to have a few posture breaks. This is something I never had to do on my road bike w/ aero bars.

I had planned to keep my power b/n 135 & 140 for the duration but that felt too hard that day. I have a new tri bike and I don't think I'm quite use to it yet. This was my longest ride on this bike. When I tried to increase my power my cadence would fall so I opted for a lower power with a higher cadence. I felt like I was flying out there and I passed ALOT of people.

I had 3 20oz bottles of Infinit for the ride. I spilled a good bit of one bottle but drank all the rest. I also think I might have only put one scoop in one bottle b/c it tasted very weak. So, between the spilled bottle and the weak bottle I missed a lot of calories.

Get more saddle time on the new tri bike. Take in more fluids on the bike.

Ran into t2, racked my bike, grabbed my race belt, visor and garmin and took off. I felt great! Was happy to see keyone and her husband there cheering me one. Hubby yelled that was 1st or 2nd in my age group. (that wouldn't last long...lol!)

Nothing. Good transition.

Felt pretty good through the first 3 miles then the wheels started wobbling and by the turn around (6.5 miles) they fell off. My legs were seizing up and I had a horrible knot in my left hamstring that was radiating up to my hip. I was so nauseous that I only took 1.5 hammer gels the whole run and, to make matters worse, there was no water at miles 8 & 9. By mile 10 I was ready to knock on someone's door and call my husband to come pick me up. He would have told me HTFU anyway...so I just continued on. I shed a few tears at mile 11 and gimped my way home. A girl in my age group passed me in the last mile but when she slowed to walk I mustered up just enough energy to pass her and ran all the way to the finish. Of course, I forgot to turn my race number around, got a 2 minute penalty so she ended up beating me anyway!!! aargh!

Wow. Where do I begin...

1.) Drink more. It was a hot day but I only took in approx 50 oz of fluids on the bike. Didn't pee the entire race (or for 2 hours after).

2.) More nutrition. Lost half of one bottle and think I mixed the other wrong. Was too nauseous to take gels on the run as planned. Total calories for race approx. 700.

3.) More time on the tri bike. Muscles not quite adapted to new position.

Crossed the finish line and stumbled over to the nearest tree for support. Was having a hard time breathing but after a few moments it passed and I was okay. Husband and tzmitch found me but it was a few minutes before I could gather myself enough to have a conversation. Eventually wandered back to the lake to soak my legs. That felt great.


Hydration, nutrition, tri bike fitness.


This was my 2nd HIM and my first attempt in the wind and heat of White Lake. I'll know better what to expect next year and , hopefully, won't make the same mistakes again!

Race time: 5:50:15 (plus 2:00 penalty...argh!)