Swimrun Lake James 2022 race report.

Back to the beginning! Swimrun Lake James 2018 was our first ever swimrun. And Lake James 2022 would be our first time to do the same swimrun 3 times! Which was an easy decision, because as we discussed during all 23 miles of the interminable 8 mile run leg, Lake James is one of our very favorite swimrun races.

Team Adorkable's 2018 debut at Swimrun Lake James! I have SO MANY NOTES on this photo.

But I'm getting ahead of myself!

Though we have gotten together twice already in 2022 for "training camp weekends", Swimrun Lake James (hereafter sporadically SRLJ when I remember) was our first official swimrun of 2022!

February Georgia weekend (left), March Catalina weekend (right)

We had a few goals for this race! Our usual goals: Have fun, stay upright, finish the race still liking each other. Check, check, and check. But also some more technical goals!

First I guess I should mention that we qualified for Otillo World Championships 2022. How's THAT for a lack of fanfare, on one of the biggest things we've ever tackled in sport?

I won't really go into the hows and whys of that here, since this is a SRLJ race report, but I mention it because pretty much everything we do between now and September will be some sort of preparation for Otillo WC. Safe to assume THAT race report will be as epic as the race itself.

At Lake James, we were doing some shoe- and wetsuit-testing. Trying to figure out what shoes and wetsuits we prefer for various conditions. Trista was trying out the ARK Ornö X wetsuit, her favorite wetsuit, in some warmer water and warmer air temps. I was doing the same in my ARK Utö wetsuit, a slightly less warm wetsuit, but my current favorite in my wetsuit stable. Who has a wetsuit stable? Who have I even become? (I've become Trista, is who I've become. I'm good with that.) In reality, I will likely also wear the Ornö X at WC, assuming the conditions are somewhat normal for WC, but my current Ornö X doesn't fit me well, and the Utö fits me better and is more comfortable, so I have to test what I actually have!

For shoes, we're basically going through every HOKA trail shoe that is currently being made to see what we like and what works for us under what conditions. I suggested we wear the Zinals we recently purchased, because they're ORANGE and our bibs and swimcaps were ORANGE, but Trista suggested maybe we use metrics other than color for our decisions. Whatever.

Look how pretty they were in Catalina, though! (featuring bonus ChipperShoes)

In the end, I wore my Torrent 2s, which are my current favorites, and Trista wore her Challengers, which are her current favorites. We'll see if those end up being our WC shoes or not.

This is riveting content, isn't it? Sorry.

Kristen, Amy, Trista, Fatima, representin' the Boyz at the shakeout.

The MAIN thing we were testing out for the first time is a new nutrition schedule. A recent Löw Tide Böyz podcast suggested trying to eat every 30 minutes, which is more frequently than we historically eat.

Sidebar: It's really handy that the LTBz are ALSO doing WC when we are, because they're doing a lot of focused interviews and discussions of All Things WC, which is INCREDIBLY relevant to our interests currently. We're absorbing it all as if it is being produced just for us.

Love Love Love how popular the LTBz shakeout runs are! So many new friends!

In endurance sports, I usually eat every 40 minutes. In really long endurance sports, I usually eat every 40 minutes for the first few hours, and then realized I'm HUNGRY, which isn't good, and eat more frequently, but often without an actual schedule. In swimrun, Trista and I have historically eaten our first calories about an hour in, then panicked because that was too long to wait, and then eaten 3 gels in 20 minutes, then lost track and not eaten anything for 90 minutes, etc. It's really hard to keep a set schedule when you're switching sports so often, and maybe you hit one of your feed times during the middle of a long swim. So we were seeing if we could (a) manage to keep track of time enough to eat every 30 minutes, and (b) see if our stomachs would tolerate feeding that often.

And I'll just go ahead and spoil this one now. The answer is: Mostly!

I think we ate as many gels as one would eat in the amount of time we were out there if one ate every 30 minutes. We didn't always nail it exactly on time. But Trista kept us on track nearly every half hour to eat, and the few times we missed being exactly on time, she noticed shortly after, and we went ahead and ate to make up for that. I was glad Trista kept us on schedule, because I was very tempted when we missed one to just.. skip that one and start again at the next half hour. But she made sure we ate one even if it was late. Which was terrible, because sometimes it meant only 15 minutes between 2 feeds, which our bodies and brains did NOT love, but we never had any energy deficit the whole race, because we stayed on top of our calories. Will that still be possible in a race more than twice as long? TBD!

But the super good news is neither of us had any stomach problems from taking in calories that often.

The super bad news is that's a LOT of gels, and we need to figure out how many we're going to carry and how many we're just going to depend on aid stations to provide. I'm very glad that WC has Precision Hydration gels, because I think I like those better than the Huma gels that were on course at SRLJ. I just can't with that texture. Blurgh.

Okay. Sorry. That's a lot of words and we haven't even started the race yet.

Race morning!

Envol athletes, cheesing pre-race for Coach Nicolas.

It started out relatively chilly (mid 50s), but promised to warm up to around 80 with full sun. That's the weather we'd had for our shake-out the day before, and it was warm. And we hadn't been wearing a wetsuit for the shakeout. I started out fully cabbed up and zipped up, but Trista unzipped her wetsuit halfway and said I should remind her to zip up before the first swim.

The long course teams gathered up for a 7:30am start, and it looked like a pretty sizable group of athletes, which is great, but unfortunately not many female teams, which is less great. There had been 5 female teams registered, but one had dropped, so only 4 left. We knew who would be 1 and 2 (though not which order) (uh, and it wasn't us, trust me), so we knew we would be battling it out for last place with Team Wombats (which is definitely not their team name, but also is absolutely their team name). The Wombats are our friends, Meredith and Fatima, AND our housemates for this trip, and are similarly lacking in ego, so there was no competition among us, just heated conversations over who would manage to be slower. We even mentioned the possibility of just sticking together, but that sort of thing is nearly impossible to control once the race starts, so we didn't really make a plan, just put it out into the world as a possibility.

Team Wombats carboloading on Race Eve!

And we did stick together, for the whole first run! This was the first time the Wombats had raced together, since we just met and befriended Fatima in Catalina earlier this year, so it was really reassuring to see that they were similarly paced for the run, and later find out that they were a great match for the swim, as well. (Trista is an amazing swimrun matchmaker.)

Adorkawombats like big buoys and they cannot lie.

Trista and I started out tethered, and remained tethered for everything but the 8 mile run and the last run, which is another thing we're constantly practicing. It worked out really well, though somehow over the years, responsibility for the tether has moved from Trista to me. I think she hopes it happened so slowly that I didn't notice, but I DID, TRISTA. S'fine.

We all just settled into a nice easy pace and chatted our way through the first mileish run, remembering how this all worked. Very quickly we got to the bridge, which meant we were very close to the first swim! I know we've done a lot of swimruns at this point, but for some reason, the first swim in every swimrun feels like the first swim in your very first swimrun. So many things to do! What order do you do them?!

I have this history of having the tether below my buoy strap for the first swim, so that when I go to put my buoy in, the tether is pushed down and is too short and it's really awkward and uncomfortable. I never remember to check that before the race starts. So when we got close, I realized I hadn't thought about it when I connected the tether, so it was probably wrong, and I unclipped the tether and re-did it correctly. Except a few minutes later, when I went to put my buoy in place, I realized.. it had been right the first time, and I had to put it back how it was.

I swear, no matter how many of these we do, we always start out Team Shitshow. (And.. then continue being Team Shitshow the whole time, who am I kidding?)

But then we got to the water, and as the Wombats paused on the obvious trail behind another team who was easing into the water slowly, Trista cut to the right to hop off the shore into the water. No waiting! Super efficient and professional! Goggles were already on, paddles on the hands, buoy between the legs, pressed lap on the watch, we were off super fast. Flawless transition, so rare for the first swim.

And then Trista lifted her head up right as I remembered: I forgot to remind her to zip up her wetsuit. We looked slightly less professional as she flipped over on her back (still tethered to me) and tried to zip up her wetsuit while floating there, looking for all the world like an injured otter.

But then! THEN we were off!

This swim is always the coldest, and it was a little chilly, but probably low 60s chilly, not anything like the first two times we did Lake James. Very comfortable and manageable, and we cruised past a lot of teams as Trista powered her way through that swim and I tucked in behind her feet.

We exited the water at the area I have dubbed Amy's Folly, because it's where I fell the first year we did Lake James. On camera. And I will never, ever live it down. We go through that area twice at the beginning of the race, and I am always SUPER cautious, because I'm not sure my ego could handle a second fall in the same place.

Trista insisted I actually include the video here.

As we hit the first aid station, I realized the one thing I had forgotten: my cup. Fortunately this wasn't a cupless race, so it wasn't a problem.

Then a series of short swims and runs, lots of ins and outs for transition practice, and finally back to this aid station again from a different direction. We met up with the short course/solo athletes who were finishing their first swim and hitting this aid station for the first time, which I don't remember happening in the past, even though it didn't probably did. So that was kinda fun/chaotic!

And then The Enemy. The big run. An 8 mile run leg in the middle of the race. We've never had a problem with it, but we're generally pretty complainy about it. That's just.. a lot of contiguous running in the middle of a swimrun.

Turns out we really need that mental and physical practice, though, because Otillo World Champs has a TWELVE mile run in the middle. So this was very relevant to our current training.

As we rolled out of the aid station to begin this long run, we got comfortable. Caps and goggles came off and were stowed. Paddles came off the hands and onto a carabiner at the belt. Wetsuits were unzipped. We untethered, and I spent some time trying to sort out the best way to contain the tether when it was not in use. Ultimately I coiled the whole thing up and shoved the coil deep into the side of my wetsuit, and that seemed to work.

And then we just settled in for the long haul. This run is beautiful, through tall trees and on a soft forest trail (which Trista says is too wide, because she prefers her trails single, not double). It's not technical. It is hilly.

We had been leapfrogging a bit with the Wombats, but we met back up on this run for a while, which was fun. Meredith and I are both aggressive hill walkers, but Trista thinks this is a bunch of bullshit, and if she's gonna walk, she's gonna get the benefits of walking. I pulled ahead of her a few times on hills, and had to fall back to stay at her side. (Even untethered, we never race apart from each other. What's the point of having a partner if you're not WITH them?)

When quizzed on why she was walking on a part that wasn't necessarily very hilly, she said very sincerely, and I quote, "I just like walking." And then I couldn't stop laughing about that for the rest of the race.

Meanwhile when we'd get to a downhill, she'd barrel down that thing, leaving me in her dust. Pineneedle-dust. We have very different strengths, but somehow it all seems to work out! Just means, you know, we never get to really USE our relative strengths. Ha. (Team Least Common Denominator!)

Trista and the Wombats (can't wait for the release of their new single) cabbed down a few miles into the race, but I was doing okay, and didn't want to deal with that hassle. This run is pretty much entirely shaded, and without the sun hitting me directly, I could handle the warm in a wetsuit.

Some time after the halfway point of the 8 mile run, the Wombats started to pull ahead of us, and eventually they were so far ahead they were out of sight. 4th place for us, then! Nice to have that pressure removed entirely.

At the second (manned) aid station, we stopped for a drink, and found the aid station manned by The Tingler! (Not his actual name. We're incapable of calling anyone by their actual names.) We exchanged hugs and greetings and then headed off into the pathless woods for the main bushwhacking section. A couple minutes later, I asked, "Wait, why was he at the aid station? He doesn't live here! He lives in Knoxville!" Eventually we found out Team Tingle was supposed to race, but it didn't work out, so they came to volunteer. The Best.

Shortly after we hit mile 8, Trista cabbed back up, and we put all our gear back in its appropriate spots, preparing for the first long swim. I know some people have the same dread for the two long swims at the end of the race that we have for that 8 mile run, but this is our happiest place.

What follows are about 15 transitions between swim and run, with mostly long swims and mostly short to extremely short runs. This is the part where you can really get in trouble when the water and the air are cold, because you spend so much time in the water, and so little time running to warm up. This is the Hypothermia part of the race, in cold weather. But not so much this year. Again, the water was chilly, and there were some really cold patches, but those cold patches lasted 3 seconds, then back to warmer patches. Trista said she could feel her hands and feet the whole race, which rarely happens in swimruns, and never before at Lake James.

I didn't even notice at the time that Chris Gerard (who probably doesn't even know he's a Tingle) was taking photos!

One of the many muddy, climby swim exits, after scaling over a downed tree. SO FUN!

Photo also by Chris Gerard

The long swims were magnificent, as usual, and we were never threatened by any boats or jetskis, despite it being a gorgeous day to go boating on the lake. We had a few incidents where we were blind swimming, just heading toward a buoy and hoping that by the time we got to the buoy, we could see what we were aiming for on shore. Fortunately Trista kept us on course even when she couldn't see our exit for a while sometimes. We passed back a lot of the teams who had passed us on the long runs, which always has me cheering for Trista, underwater.

On one of the tiny 0.05 mile run islands, we ran into the Other Tingle! (Note: This Tingle is not actually a Tingle.) She had a whole spiel to recite to us, after we smothered her in gross lakewater hugs, and I half listened to it as I slid down an embankment into the hole in the ground underwater that cripples me EVERY SINGLE TIME. Her speech mentioned we should be careful. I should have paid more attention.

But it was fine, and eventually we made it back to the Tingle aid station again, this time being formally introduced to the REAL Other Tingle (probably actually the Primary Tingle, honestly, though now it's beginning to sound a little like they're a vampire clan?)

Over the last few legs, we had started coming out of the water closer and closer to the Wombats, until eventually we all met up at the aid station and started running together.

And we stayed together for the rest of the race! Which was so, so much fun, and from now on we want to do all our swimruns as groups instead of as partners. This may be challenging for the World Champs, but surely they'd make an exception for us, right? Surely. It's like Survivor, where we each get to bring one Luxury Item. Trista's will be Meredith and mine will be Fatima.

After the last long swim, the traditional Sadness started to set in, because after that swim, the race is nearly over. And sure, after so many hours, we were pretty ready to be done, but we were having So Much Fun, we didn't want it to end. Meredith and I, aka The Ones Drafting, managed a paddle high-five during the very last short swim, to celebrate it being the last swim.

And then we emerged for the last run to the finish line. The first year we did it, the finish line was just a little 30 second run up the hill. With this newer course, the last run is almost 2.5 miles, which really helps to cure the End of Race Sadness, since somehow that 2.5 miles takes FOREVER.

But our little gang just chatted and enjoyed ourselves, at least until Meredith tripped over something and supermanned herself down onto the trail. She was fine, and said so immediately upon hitting the ground, which evidently was Trista's cue to start laughing hysterically. She was almost incapable of running, she was laughing so hard. She kept apologizing, and saying "I'm sorry! I just laugh when people fall!" It took her a few minutes to settle back down.

I was actually really paranoid about falling during this last run, because it's probably one of the most 'technical' runs of the race. Lots of rocks and roots. Which you'd figure, being from Texas, where all of our trails are pure rocks and roots, I'd be awesome at. You'd be wrong. Actually, you'd mostly be right, but I'm awesome at them at my own speed. Here I was running at the back and trying to keep up with the group, which meant I didn't see things until I was right on them, and I was running a little faster than I was comfortable with on that sort of trail.

It didn't help that a men's team came up behind us in that last section. I said I was keeping to the right on the trail, so pass us at will, but they said we had been passing them all day on the swims, and they were happy to just stay behind us through the end. Which is silly, given that they'd just caught up to us on the run, but they were adamant about it. And then one of THEM fell, fortunately not taking me out with him when he fell forward. We made sure he was okay (and Trista kindly didn't laugh as hard at him as she had at Meredith), and carried on, but now I was REALLY paranoid.

But we made it through without incident. Earlier in the race, we had pondered what would happen if we all stayed somewhat together throughout the race and I had side barred to Trista about what we would do if we approached the final run leg as a foursome. Did we have any interest in making an effort to try to pull ahead of the Wombats? She agreed that she wanted no part of a sprint finish with our friends. Although our teams spent most of the last run together, it eventually wasn’t even an issue, because in the last few minutes, the Wombats pulled ahead of us, and it just happened naturally!

Of course, as we came around the corner, once the finish line announcer could see the Wombats, they announced that this was the SECOND place female team, followed by the THIRD place female team!

(We actually knew this was a possibility. The super fast, pro ladies are training for the One Water event, and wanted to do this training with their male team member, so for the sake of fairness, they removed themselves from the female long course contention. But we didn't know they pulled themselves for sure until that moment when we approached the finish line.)

And so Team Wombats was 2nd place female long course, and we were Team Third on a Technicality, er.. Team Adorkable was 3rd place female long course! Also dead last, since there were only 3 female long course teams!

Herbert got chicked in 1st, We're Not Wombmates (FINE, that's their actual team name) in 2nd, Team Adorkable in 3rd!

But not actually dead last. 9 teams finished behind us, from men's and mixed. Which is why our work is not done, recruiting more women into the sport of swimrun!

Look how much fun we have! Come play, ladies!

Trista and I spent a lot of time on the drive to Lake James from the Atlanta airport, the night before, and the majority of the race trying to think of a clever finish line antic. We enjoy doing them, and we know people like them and are eager to see what we do, but man, it's hard to keep coming up with things! We have given ourselves a huge obligation for every race, and it's a lot of pressure!

Fortunately we had a whole team to crowdsource an idea, and since we had 4 people, we decided to create the world's smallest Spirit Tunnel!

Which became even BETTER when that male team parked themselves behind us. I said under my breath to Trista, "If they're just gonna sit there on our ass for the rest of the race, you better BELIEVE they're gonna be part of our Spirit Tunnel." And they were great sports, and happily participated! It was ridiculous and fun and chaotic, just like we like it.

🥰🥰🥰

What a great race. In the middle of the long run, Trista said she thought Lake James was her favorite swimrun, and I completely agree that it is the best swimrun course. (I am completely besotted with the nature of Orcas Island, so I think Orcas is the PRETTIEST course, but that's a different contest.) Clearly it plays to our strengths, being so swim-heavy, but it's also just a tough course. The swim entrances and exits are not easy or kind, and there is all sorts of sliding and rope-climbing and dirt-smearing and tree-scrambling. So many opportunities to give someone a helpful shove or a helpful hand up, whether they're on your team or not. The volunteers are so helpful and encouraging. The trees are so tall and majestic. It's just wonderful.

Team Adorkable with the amazing RDs responsible for this amazing race!

And we actually got a finish line party this year, because while 80 degrees with full sun isn't ideal swimrun weather, it's ideal finish line party weather, and we got to sit around eating our weight in pizza and drinking beer while chatting and cheering on the other teams.

I feel like this photo is Peak Adorkable.

Great race. Great day. Practiced a lot. Learned a lot.

LOVE our new ARK peace paddles. 🥰✌

And now we put our heads back down to train in anticipation of our next swimrun: Casco Bay in July. (With maybe also a really stupid non-sanctioned-swimrun training event in June. Stay tuned!)

Lake James 2018: 5:11:05

Lake James 2021: 5:04:39

Lake James 2022: 4:56:59

With different conditions and subtle course changes, etc, it's probably impossible to really compare times across different years, but no it's not, we're totally getting fitter and faster! Go, Team Adorkable!