Preparation
Euhm what preparation .... After being sick right before my last race, and feeling the impact of the same on the bike and run part of that race I wanted to add a race to my schedule to redeem myself. I think I signed up about 4 weeks before the race, after not having trained to much for 2 weeks after my previous race, just enough for 3 weeks of hard training and 1 week of taper. No injuries during that short time span worth mentioning, no equipment changes neither. As always I read some race reports to get an idea about the race in past years, they basically all said the same: cold swim, climbing on the 2nd half of the bike course and 10 k uphill during the run. Goal going into this race was to take it easy on the swim, easy on the first half of the bike leg and not break down in the 2nd half of the run.
Location
I selected this race as it was close by and wasn't to far out on the calendar, as well a friend highly recommended the race. I mean just look at the pictures of the venue and you will understand why.
Swim, T1/T2 and finish line are all located at Lake Logan, near Canton, NC. So from a logistics point of view this race is pretty easy. The swim is in Lake Logan, no current worth mentioning but very cold water near swim exit. Bike course is one big loop to the north of Lake Logan with a serious climb in the second half, run course is a 2 loop setup leaving from Lake Logan, 5 k up and 5 k downhill basically.
Stay
Drove up to the race venue to pick up the race number on Friday afternoon, we were just in time to capture a bit of the pre race meeting as well. Stayed in the Best Western Smoky Mountain Inn near Waynesville, about 25 minutes from Lake Logan. Think it was one of the closest hotels to the race venue, so pretty short drive up to the lake on race morning and stunning mountain views from the hotel. They even had little gift bags for the athletes participating in the race! Always much appreciated if hotel staff puts an effort in like that. Checking out at 4 am on race day was no problem at all, very friendly staff all the way, highly recommended.
Swim 0:32:26 AG-5/18
- Finally did some warm up before the swim! Only took me 9 previous races to try that ☺ Short 5 min warm up jog maximum, before I had to rush to the swim start to not miss my wave.
- Got into a good rhythm pretty much right away, no fogging issues with my goggles, but before reaching even the 2nd buoy I figured I was having an issue with my left goggle. Little by little water was seeping in and soon I had to close my left eye all together. Swam a bit like that but it was far from optimal so I just stopped for a second to clear the water from the goggles and off I went again, don't think it cost me to much time, and basically I didn't had any other choice at that moment. Might just need to strap those goggles tighter next time, and train more with them, as for now I kept them for race day.
- The swim course was clockwise, so with me always breathing on the left I had to adjust quite a few times and sight regularly. I actually saw about nooobody during the swim, just because I always breath left, I try to train on it, but just feels forced / not natural to me. On the first turn buoy I got a kick to my chin but nothing serious and didn't had any impact on my swim. Swimming back to swim exit I knew the water was going to get cold, and yes it was, really made it hard to breath for a moment when trying to adjust for it. Luckily it's really with like 50 meters to go tops.
- AG 27% is not great compared to my previous swims, but only 2 minutes slower than 1st, so not to bad.
T1 0:02:56
- No wet suit stripper option, but didn't really caused me any issues to get out of my wet suit. Pretty short run out of the water to the bike, smooth transition overall.
Bike 2:37:39 AG-2/18
- Race reports and bike profile were pretty clear, the second half of the bike course was hard. So headed out trying to save something for the 2nd half.
- Right out of T1 there was a slight climb, and right away I had mechanical issues, chain was not dropping to the smaller chain ring up front. While looking down trying to figure out what was going on I even managed to get of the road coming to an abrupt stop. I decided to just roll with it for now and see how it would go further in the race. But soon I realized that the inclines were of such a type that I would blow my legs up if I kept riding in the big chain ring. Even stopped to try to see if I could fix anything, but in the end I found a marvelous solution: I just tapped the derailleur with my right food when I wanted to switch to lower gear, changing to big chain ring was not an issue, it was far from optimal having to click my shoe in and out every time but far better than staying in the big chain ring. Issues wise that was not the end of the story, at some point in the race I didn't see anybody in front or behind me, and I didn't see an arrow or volunteer for what seemed miles and miles, so I actually stopped, turned around and header back thinking I went wrong somewhere. Luckily a guy was catching up on me and he told me we were going in the right direction, so I had stopped and turned around for nothing. I even had to stop a 3rd time as a bottle jumped out of its bottle cage and I didn't want to be an a** and just leave it there. So all together lost quite a bit of time with all these stops.
- Even with all these issues I felt pretty good on the bike, and I loved that climb in the 2nd half! Even after the climb I felt good and pushed through to the bike finish. Because I didn't knew how long the bike leg was going to take with the climb I added an additional bottle on the bike with my regular mix so I didn't had to take any from the aid stations as they only had water for this race.
- 2nd AG time, 10 minutes slower than 1st, not to bad given all the stops!
T2
- Smooth transition although I took the wrong run out and had to circle back. No sun blocker volunteers so I better ran fast or get burned badly!
Run 1:41:21 AG-2/18
- Basically 5 k up and 5 k down and that twice. Tried to get into a good rhythm during the first climb not blowing up but not going slower than 5 min/k neither. Managed to do that and pick the pace up a bit on the downhill. I was really curious to how I would feel the 2nd lap as last race I had a total breakdown. In the beginning of the 2nd lap I was lucky that an athlete starting his first lap passed me, and I just tried to hang with him and at the same time trying not to blow myself up. That pacer helped quite a bit and I managed to keep him in sight all the way up. On the way down I managed to close the gap and even had something left to sprint to the finish line. No cramps and felt strong through the end of the run so that on itself was already a success.
- 2nd AG time, 3 minutes slower than 1st, so not bad at all.
- Nutrition: same proven strategy for me - GU at mile 3, 6 and 9. Licking Base Salt every k and grabbing at least one cup of Gatorade every aid station.
Overall 4:54:22 AG-2/18
- Very happy with my overall race, especially because I didn't fade away / cramped up on the second half of the run. No PR, but I wasn't expecting one anyway because of the hilly bike and run course.
- Swim: not to eventful, but coooooold at the end! Good but not great swim. Looking at the AG% certainly not one of my best swims. 5th out of the water, 2 minutes after the 1st.
- Bike: saved up for the 2nd half of the course, loved that climb! Felt strong through the end. 2nd AG bike split. 10 minutes longer than 1st.
- Run: tried to save up the first lap, and was able to push harder the 2nd lap. Happy that my legs felt strong till the end. 2nd AG run split. 3 minutes longer than 1st.
Some lessons learned
- Nutrition plan works! (Again, so stick with it!)
- Going for a short jog before the swim start worked, felt like I could get into a good rhythm right away on the swim, where I normally need to start slow and build up.
- Try picking up the stroke pace on the swim, felt more like a relaxed afternoon swim than a race swim, arms can rest the rest of the way anyway.
- Trust your legs on the run, try pushing it a bit harder during the first half of the run, see if legs hold on till the end.
- Don't panic on the bike course when you don't see anybody in front or behind you, just keep chugging along and a volunteer / arrow will show up indicating the direction.
- This non Ironman branded race was way smaller compared to the Ironman branded races I have done so far, but it certainly has its charm.
- I so wanne do this race again! loved the venue, the mountain lake swim, the bike and run course, hopefully I get a chance to go back and try to beat my own time.
Result
- Swim 0:32:26 AG-5/18
- T1 0:02:56
- Bike 2:37:39 AG-2/18
- T2
- Run 1:41:21 AG-2/18
- Total 4:54:22 AG-2/18
Tags: HIM Lake Logan race report, race report HIM Lake Logan, Half Lake Logan race report, race report Half Lake Logan
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