White Lake Olympic 2010 Race Report

I did the White Lake Olympic race in White Lake, NC on September 11, 2010.   White Lake is a fantastic race venue making it a popular destination.  The lake itself is crystal clear with a sandy bottom that is usually calm.   The bike and run course are flat.  You would think all these factors would make for a fast easy race course.  Nope.   White Lake is cursed.   Heat and/or wind rear their ugly head for every White Lake race.   Anyone signed up for the American Triple T race (four races in three days) at White Lake next month is in for one hell of a weekend.

Last spring, I did a half iron race there, and it was hot and windy.   At least the water was calm that day.

Today, the wind kicked up a bad chop in the lake, and the swim was brutal.   My swim time was a PR in slowness and it sucked the energy out of me.    But that’s what I love about the sport of triathlon- dealing with those inevitable challenges that arise on race day.   And what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

My goal for this race was to make the podium.   I thought I had a decent chance, based on looking at the participant list.  “Speed racer girl” was the only super fast name that I recognized.  I didn’t think I could beat her, but put her in my sights as a target.  My training plan called for me to   run 3 miles off the finish.    I was supposed to do the run course at half iron pace/effort.  I doubted I’d be able to hold back there, but planned to do the post race run no matter what.

Official Results:

Swim 1500m: 36:08, 8th AG. Very choppy and possibly measured long. Everybody complained about the swim after the race!
T1: 1:43
Bike 45k: 1:20:27, 20.4 mph, 3rd AG.
T2: 1:44
Run 10k: 55:13, 6th AG.
Overall: 2:55:13, 2nd AG 🙂

Race Details:

I got up at 3:30 am for the 2 hour drive to the race site.   Always so hard to get up that early. Stopped at Sheetz to fill up and get some coffee.  I love Sheetz!   🙂   Got to the race site in plenty of time to register, set up my gear and hang out with friends.   I did some warm up strides on the sandy volleyball court, did some yoga stretches, and swam a few strokes.

In a nutshell, the swim was brutal.   The waves were coming at me in all directions.  Not huge waves, but enough to interfere with breathing and smooth stroke.    I did successfully draft off one girl between two sets of buoys.  That actually felt wonderfully restful.  Then we turned, and I lost her.

I came out of the water in about 8th place.  I passed a ton of people on the bike.  I don’t think anyone passed me.    I went very very hard on the bike.  I yelled at a couple people blocking.  At one point, I was blocked by some cars waiting to pass some slow bikers.  That sucked.

I came off the bike in third place.  I ran hard.  I tried to keep good form.  I passed one girl on the run, at about mile 4.   I felt bad, because I see her at alot of races, and I like her alot.  But also, it always feels good to be the one passing during the run.

After making that pass, I ran as hard as I could to the finish line, for fear that she – or someone else – would pass me.  There were 2+ miles remaining, and you never know!    I crossed the finish line and was complete spent!

My training plan called for me to do the 10k run at my half iron pace, and run 3-4 miles off the finish.  However, I put it all out on the race course, so did not have anything left.  I got a drink of water, and head out anyway.  I wouldn’t call it running.  It was more of a hobble, at a pitiful slow pace of 13.  I cut that short to 2.6 miles,  because I was tired, my back starting hurting, and I was worried that I might miss the awards.   When I returned from my hobble, I went right to the lake to cool off.    Then to the food table!    I felt like an animal, acting on pure instinct.

Had a really really hard time driving home, I was sooooo tired.

What I learned: I did learn that I need more swim training before halfmax.   I’ve only been swimming 35-40 minutes twice a week in the pool.   That is just not enough for this distance of race, as I felt really wiped out after the swim, and I that impacts what you can do the rest of the race.

And now for the best part, pictures!!!  Thanks very much to my twitter friend, Darlene, for taking some pictures while cheering at the race.

Here is a picture showing how lovely White Lake is:

I am somewhere in the yellow cap wave of swimmers below.  The water does not look choppy.  But it was a tough swim that everybody complained about.

Here I am running out of T2:

Here I am with the sweatshirt prize given to me as 2nd Age Group award.   Facebook friend, Suzy took this picture.   I didn’t think to hold up the sweatshirt.  I was so tired after the race.

So tired, in fact, that I had to stop driving on the way home and take a nap in my car.  I could not sleep, so instead I tried food.  I wans’t hungry, but this food did help perk me up enough for me to get home.

Here is a picture of that sweatshirt:  I was using it as a pillow in my car.