White Lake Triathlon Race Report - Goodbye NC

White Lake Sprint II Triathlon - 750 Meters / 14 Miles / 3 Miles

I raced my last race in North Carolina yesterday - The White Lake Sprint Triathlon in White Lake, NC.  The morning started off a little iffy but fortunately turned into an awesome day.  My husband Bill reported rain at 3:00 am - hmmmm.... I really don't want to race in the rain, maybe I should just stay in bed and sleep.  No, get up and go, you know you'll be happy you did.  Had my typical pre-race breakfast of oatmeal with banana, peanut butter and vanilla soy milk. 

White Lake is about 90 minutes to the race site from our house so we left at 5:15 which would give me plenty of time to get my race packet, get set up and then warm up. We got about 20 miles from home when I realized that I didn't have my USAT card or Drivers Licence to get my packet!  Arrrruuuggghhhhh.... We turned around and rushed back home.  Made it with an hour to go before race start, whew!  Didn't get in a run for a warm up but I think running back and forth to packet pick up helped a little. 

White Lake is an absolutely beautiful venue for a triathlon, I'm going to miss racing here a lot. I've done a hand full of races at White Lake including one in the middle of a 100 mile bike ride with some friends when I lived in Fayetteville.  The water is crystal clear with a sandy bottom.  The water temperature according to race officials was just under 70 degrees at race start.  I warmed up in my wetsuit and the temperature definitely felt warmer than 70.  So I shucked the wetsuit for my speedsuit. 

I had what felt like a good swim, ended up with the fastest swim in my age group and 5th fastest swim for the women in my swim wave (40+), 29th among all the girls that day.   That's not bad considering I'm only swimming 1-2 times a week.  Gotta get to the pool more!  Average HR: 165 / Max HR: 170

It's a long transition run from the swim exit up the wooden ladders at the end of a pier to T1.  I overheard someone say "She's really moving" as I ran across the grass to the transition area!  1:23 for T1. (looks like 1:13 was the fastest of the day). 

My bike felt decent; good even!  I rode the day before with the Ocean Isle Beach Cyclists since I only have a couple more times to ride with them before I move.  I only rode 41 miles and tried not to get drawn into any of the faster sections.  I was successful with that except towards the end where I just couldn't resist riding down the three that had gotten away.  There was a slight tail wind on the first part of the 2 loop course.  I saw 23mph some during that time!  On the second lap the wind picked up a little and changed direction slightly but I was still hovering around the 21 mph pace. 

Somewhere along the way, I can't remember if it was on the first or second loop I hit a bump and my Garmin on my wrist came apart at the pin!  I'm glad it didn't happen during the swim.  I grabbed it and stuck it in my back pocket.  Of course thinking okay, now I'm going to have to pull it out to hit the lap button in T2. I passed a lot of girls with 40+ and 30+ on their calves but didn't see any 50+ women. There is a girl from Kure Beach in my age group, Karen Wilson, who is super fast and I was looking for her.  8th fastest bike split of the women!  Average pace 21.1 mph.  Average HR: 164 / Max HR: 172.

T2 was a mess!  Since my swim wave was number 8 of 10 waves there were a lot of bikes already back on the rack.  When I went to rack my bike I knocked over two bikes.  $#!T  So I re-racked both of them and they fell down again!  A spectator standing by witnessing all of this said "Leave them, the bike is over", thus giving me unofficial permission to leave them where they lay.  I feel terrible about this.  But I honestly did try to get them re-racked.  Thus my T2 took 1:15!  Boo....  the best of the day :50.  Rats.  I did remember to get out my Garmin just before I exited onto the run and hit the lap button twice. 

The weather hadn't warmed up too much for the run so it was nice and comfortable.  I have to say I LOVE my new Brooks Launch running shoes!  So comfortable, not a second thought about my feet.  Couldn't see my watch since it was stuck in my pocket but I did feel it buzz for mile one.  So it was just - "run as hard as you can".  Got caught by two girls in their 40's and thougth I saw Karen on my way back but I don't really know her except that she is tall and blond so I wasn't sure.  Turns out that she was registered but didn't race that day!  Lucky for me!!  Run time:  23:58 / 7:59 miles.  I thought it was a 5K and was really psyched thinking I'd run 7:42 pace.  Rats.  Average HR: 173 / Max HR: 184.  I guess I could have run a little harder, should have run a little harder. 

Rebecca Moxey

At the finish line I found Bill then chatted with my friend Rebecca Moxey, got some water, went to the car to change and clean up.  Back to transition now that it was open, got my bike and transition bag, back to car to dump off stuff.  Back to race site for a hot dog and a soda, passed out about 40 samples of Aquaphor!!  (Could have passed out 140!)  Saw my friend Suzy Nisbet from the Raleigh area. 

Suzy Nisbet

I met a fellow Aquaphor Teammate! He shouted go Team Aquaphor at me as I was setting up in the transition area and we did meet later at packet pick up, Jeff Plemmons from over by Charlotte, NC.

Placed 11th overall Female and won my Age Group by 4:25!  It was sad saying goodbye to Rebecca and Suzy. I wish my friend Carol Scheible would have been here racing.   I'm going to miss them.  I'm going to miss this place.  Good Bye North Carolina!

Crawfishman Race Report

Crawfishman Triathlon - Grand Hills Estates - Bush, LA.  1000 yds / 18 mile / 4 mile

Pre Race:  Why is it that if you don't know anyone that everyone looks so fast?  A lot of very fit women in south Louisiana on race day.  I kept seeing women with 50 and older on their calves that looked like they would leave me in the dust.  I was worried.  Perfect weather that morning, a little breeze in the air, cool enough for a jacket.  Looks like its going to be an awesome day!  I raced in my Recovery e21 Kit!  I keep telling you - this product is amazing!!!  (Use Code: e21WINS for a 20% discount!)



Nina and Lonnie Borrouso!


The Swim:   The water temperature was perfect, probably around 81 degrees.  No wetsuit - hurray!!  I think the swim course was a bit long - my Garmin clocked it just at a mile.  Drafted off of a girl for the first half of the swim, she was swimming just a tiny bit faster than me.  Then for the second half she slowed the pace so I went around her.  I saw a lot of green swim caps in front of me in the water and knew that my swimming wasn't up to normal - not good.  Bill's sister Nina her husband Lonnie and my nephew Scott were supposed to come to the race but at race start they hadn't showed up yet so we thought that maybe they'd changed their minds.  As I came out of the water I heard a woman's voice yell "Go Ginger!" and I knew that they'd made it!!  We'd stayed with them the night before in Covington, LA and I was excited to have family at the race.  Average HR: 155 / Max HR:  171

The Bike:  Anyone who thinks South Louisiana is flat is misinformed!  You have to remember that I'm a flat lander now and that bike course kicked my you know what!  My right lower quad was tight and uncomfortable the entire bike.  I think it's from sitting in the car driving down from North Carolina.  I always run and swim to warm up before the race but should have taken my bike out for a little spin to flush out the legs.  I passed a lot of really young girls in their teens - great age group swimmers from the area.  Towards the end of the bike two girls passed me.  One was 46 and the other 57!  The 57 year old was a woman named Susan Boudreaux - I've raced against her before in Shreveport and on the coast.  I'd looked up prior year's race results from Crawfishman and saw that she always took the Masters or Grand Masters podium spot, and when she was younger was one of the top 3 Females.   Averaged 20.1 mph on the bike.  Average HR: 165 / Max HR: 175

The Run:  More hills - ouch!  It felt like I was running in slow motion.  I had my Garmin set to show me heart rate, pace and distance but I didn't have it on scroll mode.  Rats.  I did see the first mile split - 7:55, not quite as fast as I was hoping to run, but then the hills do slow me down.  At the turn around I saw the two women that had passed me on the bike, they were behind me.  Thank goodness for speedy transitions!  By mile 3 both of them were passing me.  I asked the one if she was Susan Boudreaux but she didn't remember me from prior races.  Hmmmm.... I guess I'm just not that memorable!   The last 1/4 or a mile or so was downhill to the finish.  I'd warmed up out and back up that hill and knew that it would be a fast finish.  I started picking up the pace and saw that I was catching Susan.  I honestly didn't think I stood a chance to catch her, she'd made up a lot of distance on me.  And I wasn't really planning on catching her.  But as we made the last turn onto the grass headed to the finish banner my momentum took me right by her.  She hadn't changed her pace at all on the downhill.  I heard her say "THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT!" as I went by her.  It is a race after all, right?  8:04 pace. Average HR: 176 / Max HR: 190 



Susan in the red tri shorts.

Post Race:  Found Bill and the rest of my family and we went over to the festivities!!  There was Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Hubig's Pies, Great Harvest Bread, Smoothies, Beer and Frozen Margaritas!!  Sweet!  While I was in the beer line I overheard a guy asking a girl if she took the Grand Master's award and she said "No there was a girl who passed me in the finish chute."  I tapped her on the shoulder and said " That would be me!"  The humidity was low and a nice breeze made the wait for awards pleasent!  Bill and I went to the car for me to get cleaned up - I hate hanging around in wet, stinky clothes.  Then we met back up with Nina, Lonnie and Scott to wait for the awards presentation.





Nina, Lonnie, Me and Scott*



I finished 12th Overall Female and Grand Masters Female (50 and older)! 

The award was so cool!  An original piece of artwork from a local artist, Jose Balli.  I found out later that he lives on the race course and we'd passed his home on the bike!

My husband Bill was amazing!  He and Scotty were running all over the place taking pictures.  He did an awesome job as Chief Photographer!!  After the race we went back to Nina and Lonnie's house for an awesome lunch of grilled chicken, sausages, roasted corn on the cob and salad - YUM!!!! 


*My nephew Scott Saladino lives in Virginia with his wife Christina.  They're both serving our country in the Navy.  Scott is at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS until August for training.  I think it's so awesome that he gets to see his family on the weekends and that he came out to cheer me on at the race!