White Lake Half Iron

So the time finally came after weeks and weeks of preparation. We checked in on Friday afternoon and settled into our fairly primitive digs right on the race site. There were 5 of us in the cabin with open air windows and constant noise and light coming in. Morven, Zimm, and I, got their first and stashed our stuff in the back corners and dropped the top bunk to have a double stack on the bottom. While in the line to pick up our race packet, I realized that I forgot my CEP calf sleeves and needed to purchase some at the satellite Inside-Out Sports site. They didn't have my size in the CEP and so I was forced to go with the Zensah's. Similar feel but NOT built for long legs and so my calves were not fully supported but oh well, it will have to do...

Kangaroo and Ruby outside the hut

Morven and Zimm putting down some grub

View out our cabin door - inches from the finish

Morven, Zimm, and Tom

Tom and David showed up a little later and we were able to move the cars around so that we were parked right to the side of the cabin. We then headed down near the lake to hear the logistical meeting and ate a nice spaghetti dinner provided by the local White Lake Baptist Church. Even though it was rustic, it was nice to share in a team dinner at our picnic table inside our cabin. It was fun to share stories and to get ready for the mornings adventures together. We took a walk out to the water exit dock (about 200yds or so from the cabin entrance) and hung out under the stars for a little. I am thankful for friends like them and memories like that... something I will always remember.

We headed to the outhouse to finish cleaning up and then shut out the lights (well at least the ones INSIDE the cabin...there were still plenty of others on outside that were shinning in). Even though we settled in around 10:30pm or so, I felt like I was constantly tossing and turning until at least 2-3am. In that time, I got up twice and walked around outside and went to the bathroom. I kept a water bottle near my head and was drinking all night to stay hydrated. I think around 3am I finally fell into a deeper sleep only to have Morven pulling on my feet at 5am to wake me for some breakfast.

Indecisive about the helmet - aero or vented?

Getting the shoes ready

Morven lining up her belt

David breaking out the suit

I had my usual pre-race meal of 2 packets of Trader Joe's Organic Oatmeal with raisins in it. I usually have orange juice as well, but this time I just started downing my Nalgene filled with BCAA's and Gatorade powder. After breakfast, I filled my protein mix water bottle and another one with water only and headed out to set up my transition area.

No sleep = No probem

Breakfast

The team was ready and in wetsuits at about 6:40am and we headed out the cabin door and literally about 30yds from the water entrance. David and I debated on whether or not to jump in the water and warm up since we were going off in the 2nd and 3rd waves, but when the director came on and said that we were going to wait a little longer to start the race to allow the fog to lift off the lake we decided to wait it out. At about 7:10am the director came back on and said that we were going to delay the start will 8am because we couldn't see the sight buoys and the conditions were still dangerous. It was nice to be so close, so we just headed back to the cabin and relaxed on the beds.

David and I are loaded up and ready to get the suits on

Putting a wetsuit on takes awhile

David, Morven, Me, and Tom

If the director would have waited till 8am to make the final call, we would have swam, but instead he made the call at 7:45am that we would be doing just the bike and run (I say JUST when obviously those are the major events in the triathlon and the swim doesn't really matter at all but still we all were ready for the swim and trained to complete the WHOLE thing, not 90% of it...). Anyway, after running back and forth from the transition they started releasing us from the water exit spot in 2 sec intervals so that the transition area was not a cluttered mess. We ran from the dock into the transition area and we were off...

Coming out of T1

On the bike, I didn't have to fight the usual sluggish start after the swim and was able to start cranking away right off the gun. At 60 mins in I was over 22 miles and at 90 mins in I was just over 34 miles. Unfortunately, I realized that I was running out of my 400 calorie/electrolyte laden beverage in my water bottle and I was down to my last Accel Gel out of the 4 that I had packed with me (2 of them were Honey Stinger gels at 120 calories). I knew that I was going to be in danger soon and when I hit the 40 mile mark draining both (leaving only water left), it was just a matter of time before something was going to happen. That something happened at mile 50...

At mile 50, cramps started setting in and my 22mph pace came to a halt as I had to actually dismount the bike with 3 to go because I couldn't turn the pedals without the hamstring cramping. I got off and started to stretch until I could straighten my leg out and felt better. I needed electrolytes and was looking forward to getting to the aid station at the 1.5 mile mark of the run.

I slowly came in to the transition area and left not knowing for sure what was going to happen. I had to walk most of the first mile for a 10 min pace and was not thinking that I was going to be able to finish. At the first chance I had, I started taking the electrolyte tablets with water and grabbed a towel and squeezed it over my head. After 10 mins of so I actually started to feel better and I began to proactively take the tablets at almost all of the stations with water until I came to the last marker at mile 10 and then I just toughed it out from there. David passed me at mile marker 3 but then I caught him and we ran together for awhile at mile marker 5 or so. At mile 7-8 he started to die off and so I started to pull away. I hobbled in with minimal cramps and was able to close sub 7 min mile again and felt great at the finish line.

I pulled around and lined up with Zimm to watch the others come in when I started to feel a little sick. I walked over to the shade and still didn't feel so good so I headed over to the medical area. Here, they took my BP at 110/70 when I got there but in the 2 mins that I was there it dropped to 70/50. At this point, they hooked my up to a EKG and saw a spiked T-wave. This indicated an elevated potassium level and they did a quick blood scan to confirm. Once they realized that there was potassium in the "salt" tablets that I was taking they quickly put in an IV and began pumping in a saline solution to pull the potassium out. After about 2 hours of sitting in a beach chair with blankets around me, I finally started to feel better but missed all the others finishing. I didn't get to drink the beer with Tom and I didn't get to eat any of the free food... boooooo.

All said and done, the race itself went fine. I had decent times that could've been better, but considering the cramping, I was happy. I was on pace to PR on the bike for 56 miles (and still was close) and I just beat my B2B time on the run despite the 10 min first mile and cramping throughout. The rest of the team did great as well. Morven managed to run faster on the White Lake half marathon than the open Tobacco Road marathon a few weeks before, which is absolutely remarkable. She never had any type of cramping and looked strong throughout. I am so proud of her. David and Tom had some struggles. David, hit the wall on the run and his hamstrings tightened up limiting his movement. A strong runner he struggled the back half of the run. He also was penalized 4 mins for drafting which didn't help. Tom, couldn't find any luck when his chain snapped and he needed to wait about 15 mins or so for someone to come and help him link his chain. He, too, had cramps and struggled on the run as well. Zimm came through in the clutch for perhaps the greatest day of us all with some great pics that I hope to have uploaded soon on this post. But most importantly, I was happy to be alive and able to get home and see my family again. Another race done...