Race morning. TA opened at 5am and the swim started at 7:15,
so my alarm went off just after 4am. Coffee, banana, some peanut butter, I
think a Lara bar… my usual pre-race foods. I was pretty calm considering that I
felt like I was forgetting something critical. But no, just calm and cool!
Outside the weather was perfect. A great ambient
temperature, light winds, and what appeared to be a cloudless sky. It was dark
setting up in TA and I kept getting lost amidst the fencing, tents, and
sidewalks. This race seemed to lack the electrical feeling of my previous
races, whether it was because the race was smaller or because there wasn’t loud
music and announcing, I don’t know. I initially put my T1 and T2 bags in the
changing tent before learning that I could leave everything with the bike. That
was the only change I made that morning. Got my timing chip, waited in a long
line at the porta-potty, spent the national anthem putting on the wetsuit,
wanted to hang around DH but he sent me off (like he did in IMWI), then left
for the water. I was feeling great—awake, fresh, and ready to go!
SWIM: 2.4 mi in 1:37 PR!!! 6th out of 11 in AG, 25th
out of 42 in gender. 2-loop counter-clockwise triangle in low-mid 70’s quiet
water, wave starts, in water start. For what might be the first time ever, I didn’t
have to pee before starting the swim. I didn’t warm up other than swimming a
few strokes to get the suit wet and test my goggles. I could stand at the start
area but treaded water lightly to get my blood moving. When the wave started, I
was near the back but mostly in the middle. There were only 40-some female
athletes in the wave and I think the aquabikes started with us too, so it was a
decent crowd but nothing like an M-dot mass start. The only problem I found at
the start was that the little orange buoys were awful hard to see in the water!
I could only see one at a time, and I had to look—a glance up wasn’t enough.
I was bumped and jostled for most of the swim, unlike my
other IM in which I separated from the main field and had some space. This led
me to think that I was in the middle of my pack and maybe moving faster than
expected, as I thought it was increased speed that kept me from being dropped
from the wave. In the end, that wasn’t really the case. The field overall was
slower than the M-dot races.
Since I couldn’t see the buoys easily, the crowding was a
benefit. I looked for other swimmers to make sure I was on course. But I found
as things went along that I was swimming the straightest OWS yet, most every
time I looked I was right on course! This eased my mind, but I still just had
to know and sometimes just stopped to find the buoys in order to be sure I was
on course.
In this swim I realized why swimming is maybe such a
stressor for me. I can never take my mind off what I’m doing and just “forget”
that I’m swimming, like I do in biking and running. You can let this one go, my
mind keeps tumbling over location, heading, etc, and I don’t lose track of
time. I’m aware of every minute. That makes for a long 1.5hrs.
I did the first loop in 47 mins, but the first loop included
the swim out from the first buoy I think. Either way, it told me that I wasn’t
moving faster than expected and instead it was indeed a slower field. I’d had
some worry that the waves coming behind me would run me over, and some did, but
I kinda missed them on the second lap. Like I said, having the others around me
helped me know where I was.
Overall, this was a fantastic swim, even it if wasn’t the
1:30 I wanted. I was thrilled to see 1:37 on my watch! 7 minutes isn’t all that
much time, and I don’t think going faster would have helped me the rest of the
day.
T1: 6:29, 7th in AG and 24th in
gender. There was a decent run up the beach and I was actually able to jog,
none of the usual dizziness after swimming. I saw BN and IT on the way up, and
DH was at the arch at the top. I was apprehensive about using a wet suit
peeler, I wasn’t the yank would be good for the ankle but I took advantage of
them. Washed my feet, got to the bike, and just took my time getting ready. HRM,
chamois butter, jersey, sunscreen, gloves, wipe grass from feet…then jog out.
RM was at the exit with a sombrero!! Off we go!
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