Build your White Lake Half plan
Your coach opens with the White Lake Half set for May 1, 2027, asks about your week and your fitness, then writes every session of your 70.3 triathlon plan. Free, and you can start as a guest. About 27 weeks to go.
Start your White Lake Half plan- Formats
- Half, AquaBike
- Terrain
- Flat
- Taper starts
- April 19, 2027
White Lake Half distances
- Half 1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run
- AquaBike 57.2 mi
Course
The White Lake Half course
Everything happens at The Grand Regal at Goldston's Beach, where transition, the start and the finish sit together on the shore of spring-fed White Lake. The 1.2-mile swim is two laps of a 970-meter triangle in clear water with no currents over a white sand bottom, with a short beach exit between laps.
Read the full course notes
The 56-mile bike is two flat loops on smooth rural roads that stay open to traffic, with rumble strips along some edges and bottle handoffs at miles 16, 28 and 44. The 13.1-mile run is flat too: two out-and-backs north on White Lake Drive toward Highway 701, inside a coned lane, with aid every 1 to 1.5 miles and little shade. The course closes 8.5 hours after the last swim wave, and the White Lake Spring International and Sprint triathlons race on Sunday of the same weekend.
- Terrain
- Flat
- Formats
- Half, AquaBike
- Race-day conditions
- Water temperature is posted by 9:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the race; under USA Triathlon rules amateurs may wear wetsuits at 78 °F or below, and pros must wear them at 71.5 °F or below. Around May 1, NOAA 1991–2020 normals for nearby Elizabethtown usually run from lows of about 52–54 °F to highs of about 78–79 °F, so the morning start is cool and the run warms up. Start the run with a hydration and cooling plan, and wear sunscreen.
What to train for
A flat course rewards steady power, so the key sessions are long rides in the aero position: build to 3 to 3.5 hours with 2 x 30–45 minutes at half-distance effort, pedaling continuously since there are no descents to rest on.
Add weekly bricks of 60 to 90 minutes on the bike straight into 20 to 40 minutes at goal half-marathon pace, and do some of them in the heat of the day.
Swim continuous sets of 2 x 1,000 meters or longer, sighting every 6 to 8 strokes, to make the two-lap swim feel routine. With little shade on the run, practice drinking on the bike every 15 minutes and taking fluid at every run aid station.
Sample week
A sample White Lake Half training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Swim, 1 h: drills and technique
- Tuesday Key session
- Bike, 1 h 15 min with threshold intervals
- Wednesday
- Swim, 1 h: steady intervals at race effort
- Easy run, 50 min
- Thursday Key session
- Run, 50 min with tempo segments
- Friday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Saturday Key session
- Long ride, 3 h, then a 30 min run off the bike
- Sunday
- Long run, 1 h 30 min easy
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the White Lake Half
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course is flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week. With the race on May 1, 2027, your taper starts around April 19, 2027.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a 70.3 triathlon season for the White Lake Pro-Am Half Triathlon on May 1, 2027. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
White Lake Half training questions
How long should I train for the White Lake Half?
Most athletes give a 70.3 triathlon sixteen to twenty weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The coach counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
What is the White Lake Half course like?
Flat. Everything happens at The Grand Regal at Goldston's Beach, where transition, the start and the finish sit together on the shore of spring-fed White Lake.
How cold is the water at the White Lake Half?
Water temperature is posted by 9:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the race; under USA Triathlon rules amateurs may wear wetsuits at 78 °F or below, and pros must wear them at 71.5 °F or below. Around May 1, NOAA 1991–2020 normals for nearby Elizabethtown usually run from lows of about 52–54 °F to highs of about 78–79 °F, so the morning start is cool and the run warms up. Start the run with a hydration and cooling plan, and wear sunscreen.
When should I start tapering for the White Lake Half?
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course is flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week. With the race on May 1, 2027, your taper starts around April 19, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a White Lake Half training plan?
Start as a guest and save a free account later. Your coach writes your 70.3 triathlon plan and adapts it every week as you log your training. No card.