We got to White Lake late Thursday afternoon and set up camp at Camp Clearwater...Trey couldn't wait to take the kayak out and I couldn't wait to see the sandy bottom and swim in the clear lake! My practice swim went great - I was so comfortable and had no issues at all. My only issue was where in the heck is the sandy bottom and clear water. I can feel a sandy bottom, but I see greenish brown murky water and smell oil...ugh! Well, it was late in the afternoon & boats had been out all day, race morning will be different, right???
We had a relaxing evening and took a long walk around the campground and pretty much wondered where in the world are we? We were basically in a RV subdivision where some people had been there so long the wheels of their camper were embedded in the dirt...and after talking to a few residents, I realize I sound like I am from New York...ha!ha!
Friday morning came and we waited for our HUB teammates to arrive. Trey was racing the half ironman distance, so we would be racing together. Once everyone got there we went over to packet picket and for a short practice swim. Again, everything went good! YAY...I knew I was ready to rock out 1500m tomorrow morning. My LONGEST open water swim!!
Race morning came early as always...
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| Dave, Trey, Me, Joanna, Jimmy (Not sure where Ivor is) |
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| Beautiful morning |
The half ironman distance started at 7:00, but the international distance didn't start until 8:30 and my wave didn't go off until 8:40. Although I was excited to get to watch Trey finish his swim...that is a long time to wait and I knew the temps were just going to start rising, along with race nerves! It was actually very comfortable temp wise that morning, a little chill in the air. BUT according to the weather I knew that would change soon. I saw Trey finish his swim...he had a solid swim but all he told me was that the sun was going to be in my eyes on the way coming in and sighting was going to be hard...kudos to him for not letting me know that I was about to swim out to lake chop that was going to crash over my head. He was a worried man as he headed out on the bike.
Well, it was getting closer to my wave start time...just time enough to get in the wetsuit and jump in the water one last time. I was just assuming that crystal clear water must be when we swim out a bit.
I had my partner in crime with me, Joanna, my "sure I will do an international distance triathlon with you, that sounds like a fun idea" friend. We were in the same wave...we made the decision to try our best to swim this together, thankfully this race had sighting buoys leading up to the triangular ones for the turn. Our plan was to break the swim down in buoys, assess the situation and keep swimming.
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| Ironically enough this is pretty much what we looked like out at the 2nd buoy...ha!ha! |
We had no idea what we were about to encounter! We stayed back and let most of the wave go before heading out...probably within 100m we already ran into someone backstroking and then got caught up with everyone. At first I was thinking-look at us catching up with everyone. We made it to the first buoy, we were both good but in a huge crowd but continued on. I remember thinking first of all there is NO clear water, this stuff is green & it smells...what in the world have I gotten myself into. By the time we reached the the triangle buoy and made the turn we noticed there was a pretty good current & looked a bit wavy! Here's where the fun really began..it seemed like it took forever to make it to the next sighting buoy...we seriously had a conversation in the water..."what are we going to do?? (ha!ha!) Joanna had a man leech on to her and I thought she was about to fist punch him if he didn't get off of her. We made it to the next triangular buoy and knew we were on the homestretch but had no idea how we were going to get there. The lake was so choppy it felt like ocean waves. Our next sighting was suppose to be one of those orange squiggly things - where the heck is that thing?? We FINALLY got away from that man and made our way to the pier...I was thinking we may have missed lunch, it felt like we had been out there for hours!! We made it up the ladder, made sure both of us were okay and made the 300yd run to transition. I thought to myself that I could have gone the rest of my life without doing that...ha!ha!
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| Holy Moly - I DID IT!!! & did not enjoy one second of it! |
I ROCKED the first 10 miles of this bike, feeling fabulous averaging 21mph and then boom - I hit the wind and it literally stopped me in my tracks...I just pedaled along and watched my efforts get me nowhere. This bike course had no scenery whatsoever and one road that we were on had divets in the road pretty much every few pedal strokes...Needless to say I was ready for this bike ride to be over. All in all it ended up going pretty good. The bike was 28 miles.
Now on to the run..
The run course was awful...out in the blazing sun, running on the shoulder of a highway. It was an out/back course, so people were running back as you were running forward and you only had the shoulder of the road to get around anyone. I actually felt good on the run...just hot and ready to see that finish line!!
I'm not sure why this race is advertised as being so great...I can honestly say that there was not one part of it that I really enjoyed. I'm giddy over that fact that I survived my 2nd open water swim race under difficult conditions, that just gives me more confidence for races to come! I had a few choice words when this one was over as did everyone else that we talked to after the race. Trey ended up having a solid half ironman race, but agrees with me about the course!
It is really strange for us both to be racing. Sunday was our 23rd wedding anniversary - what a way to celebrate!!!!
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| Team HUB Whitley - 23 years!! |
What doesn't kill makes you stronger...I know making it out of that choppy lake sure made my confidence stronger.
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| YAY - those waves didn't know who they were messing with! |
At the end of the day I actually had a good race...finished 5th in my age group out of 9 women.
7th in the swim
3rd on bike
3rd on run
I don't have another race on my calendar until Lake Logan in August.
As always - thanks for your cheers!!
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