White Lake 1/2 Race Report
Sometimes races do not go exactly planned…. In fact they rarely go “exactly” as planned, but it’s how you respond to the adversity and handle yourself physically and mentally, that dictate the result. Lets just say that White Lake #2 was a great test.
First off SetUp Events put together a great race in a great location! This race has been so popular in the past that they split it into 2 weekends Whit Lake ½ #1 was 5/2 and the sprint was 5/3, and White Lake #2 was 5/9 and the sprint 5/10…. I did the second weekend.It was an early morning for me, even by race day standards, because I decided to save money on a hotel room and got up at 2:30am to drive the 2 hours to the site that morning. What can I say…I am poor and cheap! I got there in plenty of time to register and got all my stuff together without any rush or unnecessary stress.The swim was in beautiful, clear and smooth White Lake (hence the name of the race). The water temp was 77 degrees, just barely wetsuit legal for this race, but it was going to be 90 degrees and sunny so I decided to go with the swimskin to keep my core body temp as low as possible for as long as possible. Also I wanted to challenge myself. Swimming in a swimskin is certainly slower than a full wetsuit. I had a decent swim, not exactly what I was hoping for, but it was difficult to see for the first 1/3 of the course and many of us swam a little farther than necessary. I exited in about 29min and was in 8th place, about 4min behind the leader.
Another advantage to the swimskin was my T1, itwas the fastest of the day and I was cruising on the bike course before I knew it! I had decided to push pretty hard for the first hour, not even look at my PowerTap, and see what happened. I had moved into second position by mile 10 and kept my foot on the gas, so to speak. This bike course is pretty flat, has a few small undulations, but is basically pancake flat so I could see the other competitors on some of the long straight away and knew I was catching the leader. At about mile 23 I moved into first position and was feeling great! However, about 2min later I heard a clunk and my chain feel off. My first thought was to stay came reach back down and put it back on. However, the chain had gotten jammed between my 11 cassette and rear seat stay, so I had to get off yank the chain out and I was off again. Ok only about a minute lost, and I thought to myself “no big deal, stay focused and relaxed. Note to self, never do your own bike tune up before a race…leave it to the professionals!” At this point I knew the leader was well aware of me and I have a feeling he pick it up a little, because it took me almost another 5 miles to catch up. I cruised past, a little more aggressively this time and around mile 40 there is an out and back where I clocked about a 1:30 lead. However, about a minute after that I heard that dreadful noise…KA POW! Tsss…Tsss…Tss…Tss and I knew this was not my day…to add insult to injury it was my rear tire also that had flatted. At this point I muttered a colorful metaphor to myself and for about a sixteenth of a second I thought about quitting. However, I that is not my style, I hit my watch to time how long it was going to take. After what felt like forever I was back in the saddle and rolling along. It took about 4min which I was pretty pleased with. I knew the leader was a good runner and at that point I decided that I would cruise into transition and see where things stood at that point before deciding my fate. I finished the bike in 2:15, which was the fastest of the day, including my mechanicals and flat, I was very happy with that.
I rolled into transition with my flat tire around my neck, since I didn’t have anywhere else to put it and didn’t want to leave it in the side of the road. Immediately my wife saw it and asked what had happened. I told her about my bike adventures as I took a somewhat relaxed T2…rushing never helps anything. As I headed out my wife also told me I was about 2min back, good to know. I was out on the run course with just my thoughts the sun and the heat before I knew it. I am racing Florida 70.3 next weekend and my plan at White Lake was not to run myself into the ground so that I would be fresh for next weekend. I was a little frustrated with how the day was unfolding, but I decided to focus on the beautiful weather and the fact that I was doing what I love, racing! I got myself into a positive frame of mind and felt great, physically and mentally. I found a slightly up tempo pace that was pretty comfortable that I knew I could sustain for the rest of the run and not kill my legs. A few people gave me splits along the route and I realized that I was closing in on the leader, not very fast, but I was closing. I decided to continue in my rhythm. At the turn around he was 1min up and knew I was closing. I decided that I would at least make him work for the win, so I picked up my pace for a few miles, but I kept getting 45 second splits. At that point I was going to have to run much harder to catch him with only a few miles left and I had bigger fish to fry next weekend, so I continued my pace and cruised into to the finish line in second place about 40 seconds behind, with the fastest run split of the day.
Believe it or not this was the first time I had ever flatted during a race and although I must admit that I am a little disappointed with my luck, I am very happy with the race and the lessons learned. There are several aspects of this race that I am very pleased with, not the least of which is how I responded to the events of the day. I reacted and responded to the situations around me in a calm and collected manner and I ultimately raced my race and stayed positive throughout the day. White Lake certainly tested me both physically and mentally and I am very happy with the outcome. Now for some new tires and tubes on my Bontrager Aeolusrace wheels, a visit to see the mechanic at Inside Out Sports and then off the Disney World for Florida 70.3! ☺
