White Lake - Race Report

Having the few extra prep days prior to the race was a treat. The Barricudas and I checked out the courses and completed final workouts. I never felt rushed or anxious.

White Lake was a training exercise for me - meaning no taper and using the race as an opportunity to iron out my problem areas. And if you've read my previous race reports, you'll know that includes avoiding unintentional penalties and stupid mistakes.

I slept fairly well before the race. I wasn't terribly nervous. I ate breakfast, drank a good cup of coffee (per Ironwoman Canada's instructions) and left to walk Patriot Sangria over to transition a few minutes before the more coordinated Barricudas biked over in flip-flops/crocs and with large bags draped across their backs.

Setting up for the race went smoothly. The people sharing my rack seemed nice. I tried to notice the run and bike exits. I took note of the surrounding rack markers as mine was decorated with just standard candy-stripe black tape.

Race time was 7:00, with the the old lady wave slated a half-hour later. Since Barricuda BL's age group was combined with mine, we would be able to start together. As the first waves kicked-off, we headed over to the water to warm-up. Barricuda BN was there, too. His wave would start after ours.

Barricuda BL tried to convince me to start up front with her, but I was leary of my Rumpass experience and placed myself more toward the middle. As our wave took off, I watched the leader group - and swimmers around me burst ahead. I just tried to find my groove and focus on sighting. With a sigh of relief, I rounded the first turn and saw the correct buoy for the next leg. The long straight-away was more choppy than I anticipated, but there really was no current. The swim felt good and I gradually caught up to some of the eager beavers. I sighted well and exited the water feeling strong, though not without being trampled by more aggressive racers when trying to climb up the dock ladder.

The long run to transition and the timing mat was still there. I didn't know my swim split at the time, but it turned out to be 41:29, about two minutes faster than last year and 13/31 in my age group.

Entering the transition, I saw the black tape candy stripe rack. But I did not see Patriot Sangria. I ran back and forth for a bit looking for the nearby rack landmarks, but did not see them either. Was my bike on the right instead of the left? Finally, I realized that the transition area was L shaped and that my bike was on the other side of the L. The rest of my transition must have been fairly quick, as T1 ended up being 3:45, which wasn't too bad for me.

On the bike, I settled in. This would be the one part of the race I wanted to push beyond a training experience. I felt good during the first few miles. I couldn't tell exactly where the wind was coming from, though I quickly realized when making the turn onto the longest stretch of the course that I was also hitting a headwind. I remembered loving the bike course more last year. This year, it seemed like the road was way more bumpy, with the ba-bum cracks covering about 2/3 of the course. It also seemed more boring. Sometime over the past year's training, I've come to enjoy rolling hills more than pancake flat. Nutrition on the bike was going well overall thanks to heavily loaded carbo pro and motortab bottles. I couldn't eat much solids, but knew I was consuming a decent amount of calories. A little over halfway through the race, I stopped and refilled my water bottles at an aid station.

Though I didn't have my exact split as I forgot to start my Garmin, I knew by my bike computer that I was close, but probably over my dream of breaking 3 hours. My bike turned out to be 3:01, 13/31 in my age group - about 5 mintues faster than last year. I was still pretty happy.

The last few miles on the bike were tough for me mentally, though. Not so much because I was phyically beat or sick of the bumpy road conditions, but because I knew the run was coming up soon. My longest run to date since November was 9 miles - those extra 4.2 seemed like a big jump. I thought about how it would be so easy to turn my chip in - and just run what I wanted to without worry about my overall time. It was very, very tempting.

I moved more slowly in T2 as I delayed the final decision. With a big sigh, I tightened up my sneakers and told myself to suck it up. This was a training race, right?

I jogged out of transition, deciding to hit the first aid station for the porta-potty (which I soon learned was not a very original plan). My legs actually felt better than I expected as I ticked off each mile by breaking the 13.2 miles into a long series of 1 mile laps.

While the bike was fairly overcast, the sun decided to pop out more often on the run. It wasn't as hot as 2008 - or even as originally predicted, but it was still in the low 80s. I was a dripping mess of water dumping and cold towel donning - and I spotted a few racers sporting TRIgirl SS' "curtain of cool." As I headed toward the turnaround, I saw Barricuda BN hustling - and then Barricuda BL looking strong and confident.

My legs continued to feel OK - and my breathing wasn't as labored as I expected. I wondered how I would feel at mile 10, but it didn't seem much different than mile 7. The last few miles were fairly consistent with the majority of my run. For a few wonderful seconds, rain began to fall, but it was just a cruel tease.

Crossing the finish line, I had a feeling my run time was close to last year's (Garmin died around mile 7). My overall time was 6:17 - a PR and about 7 minutes faster than last year, leaving me smack in the middle of my age group - 16/31.

And my run? 2:27:29 - 18/31 in my age group and 12 seconds (LOL) faster than 2008. Last year, I was disappointed with my run. This year, I was grateful.

The Barricudas were waiting for me at the finish line. Barricuda BL had an awesome race and a great PR of about 15 minutes. Barricuda BN had earned another first place age group win. We cheered him and a few other RTC age group winners on as they climbed the podium - making Richmond proud. It was exciting to be so close to hard earned success and accomplishment.

Reflecting over the race these past few days - I've recognized that while I was happy for the PR, I was actually more satisfied with the realization that maybe I am not quite as far behind for Placid. I have a way to go on my running, but there could be more base to help me out than I thought.

And to be honest, I think that confidence builder is what I needed most from White Lake.