IMWI Swim

SWIM: 2.4 miles in 1hr 40 mins 43 sec. Water temp high 60's. Clear still weather. Rectangular course with long lengths and very short sides. Mass start in deep water. 2 loop course, staying in water between loops. Counterclockwise swim with the first leg along the shore under the Monona Terrace buildings.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us".

First order of business was to get dressed. Get the wetsuit, goggles, and cap on. I was nervous about the wetsuit rubbing my neck, so I put enough BodyGlide on for 3 races. There must have been a pile of it there. I kept watching for anyone I knew to talk to, amidst the 2900 athletes milling about, with race personnel and family too. A crowded, but quiet chaos.

Once dressed, I went to drop off bag #1. My family could retrieve it for me during the race so I could have it at the finish line. Happily I found DC during this time. And PS. And then I calmed a bit. Now we just had to wait. All the pro athletes entered the water first for a 6:50am gun time. Then all 2900 of us had to file through an inflated arch with a timing mat. This way the race officials would know how many entered the water and be sure everyone came out.

Waiting. Waiting. The line moved slowly. We were a pack of neoprened cattle, being herded off to the lake. I can't believe how calm I was. But by this time there was nothing else to worry about. Nothing else I could do to prepare. This was it.

We finally made it to the water, and I seeded myself to the back of the pack. I swam out a bit towards the halfway point across the start line. Unlike in Kansas, I was able to pee in the suit this time. All the training was coming into place. :)

The National Anthem played. The announcer got us ready. The spectators cheered, we cheered. Then U2's Beautiful Day came over the speakers., and when the song came to the loud guitar riff and main chorus, the cannon sounded.

"It's a beautiful day, Don’t let it get away"

IMWI 2010 was underway. OMG!

I knew the swim start would be chaos, and it lived up to the promise. Arms, legs, torsos, heads, splashing, churning, bubbles EVERYWHERE. Although I started towards the back I hit the back of the pack soon enough. Swim a few strokes, stop to sight, swim a few strokes, stop to sight. This went on for the entire first length of the swim, about half a mile. Amazingly enough, I wasn't kicked, hit, or knocked around too bad at all. In fact, it was kinda fun.

I kept to the outside of the pack as well. While this probably meant I'd swim much more than 2.4 miles, I figured it was a good trade off. I could fight my way along the buoys or have some good open space around me. I chose the latter. Also in my plans was to stop if I wanted to, rest, look around, and get my bearings. I reached the first turn, and heard Moo-ing. We were told at the welcome dinner that the kayakers and safety personnel at the first turn liked to be moo'd at. This meant I was at the first turn already! MOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Round the turn, swim a short distance, then another turn. Now another long ~half mile swim. I had mostly clear water around me, but I was still being bumped around. After the 2nd turn, someone hit my right calf and whether coincident or not, it cramped! WHAT?! OK, no panic, this has happened in training. Float a few seconds and let the leg hang. Don't flex it yet. It seemed way too early to cramp, I worried this was a bad sign for the rest of the swim. The leg relaxed after only 30 seconds and I took off. This back half of the swim course seemed awfully long. I suffered a bit mentally, hitting a low attitude for a few minutes. I think it was because there was nothing to see on this leg of the swim. In the first long leg, the Terrace building slid by in my field of view marking my progress. On this leg I just saw sky, which doesn't show change or progress. But I just kept at it, figuring each turn of the arms brought me one more step closer to the finish.

Finally the 3rd turn approached and went by. The 4th turn (the start of the 2nd lap) came slowly. I checked my watch at the 4th turn: 47 minutes. My longest 1.2 mile swim time. Ever. I chalked it up to the rough start and kept going. Once again the Terrace was in view. I was smiling at a few points. I was doing it!!! I was going to finish this swim!!!

It seemed a long time to the 1st turn. And I was starting to swim towards the right, which meant I was getting tired and my form was suffering. As this was a counter clockwise swim, this put me on a heading off course. I needed some mental kick, so I started counting strokes. Count to 10, sight. Count to 10, sight. A few rounds of this, then a voice yelled at me. I popped up to see a kayak right in front of me! I was off course! The kayaker was wearing a stuffed cow hat with horns. I told him that I just swim over to say that I liked his hat. He laughed, then pointed me off, wishing a good race.

Focus on straight lines! 10, sight. 10, sight. Finally the 2nd turn. Only one more long straightaway!! I figured that it was equivalent to only 10 laps in the 50m pool, just like I practiced. Maybe 20-25 more minutes! It was right about here that I inhaled some water. I sputtered and coughed a bit before continuing. That was the only time during the swim that I did that!

This stretch went on even longer than the first time I did it. The buoys were numbered, #1, #2, etc on to #8 before the 3rd turn. I focused on one buoy at a time. I talked to them in my mind. "Heeeeerre buoy #3, come to momma, come here you!". One by one, they slid by. At 2 points in this length, each calf took its turn at cramping. Both were short lived, but both stopped me a few minutes. One kayaker yelled to see if I was OK. I gave a Thumbs Up. I'm nearly to the last turn of this swim, no way I'd quit now.

Finally the last turn. Now the homestretch. I resisted looking at my watch. This wasn't about time, this was about finish. This last leg took the longest. I didn't think I was even moving at one point, the finish arch seemed to hang in the distance and never came closer. But it did. Slowly. Suddenly I was surrounded by other swimmers--they had been swimming along the buoys and I had avoided them all by swimming wide. (At no point during the entire swim was I close to the buoys, I wonder just how far I really swam?). Now as everyone homed in on the finish arch, I was crowded in the swim, bumped, hit, pushed around. As before, I pushed back and held my space, but now I was tired and ready to leave the water. I wanted out!

Soon enough, the boat ramp was underfoot. It's dizzying to stand all of the sudden, but I'M DONE! The clock read 1hr 40 mins. WHAT?!? 53 mins for the last loop. Really?!?! I was elated and saddened at the same time. No matter now, what's done is done. No use crying over a slow swim.

SUMMARY: What a rush, the mass start was described to be like a pack a piranas and after seeing a video I'd have to agree. What did I do good? I just kept going and I stayed very calm. I didn't let the mass of other swimmers get to me and I didn't take the hits and bumps personally. Just kept plugging away at the course. What can I improve on? My form and my efficiency. After fixing those, I'll get some speed. I kept turning off course and wasn't confident enough to swim in the pack for very long.