Woke up at 4am and immediately started on my prerace meal: sweet potato, protein powder, quinoa flakes, with maple syrup and salts. I made this and my other puree meals Weds before we left town, this was a good idea to keep in mind. Also coffee, some internet reading to stay distracted. Then the timing chip, something I always focus on doing asap race morning. I felt oddly calm. No nerves?! But I felt clear headed and ready.
With the two wetsuits and 5 gear bags I had a lot to carry. I happily remembered to grab the EFS bottles from the fridge. I gathered my race bags into a black garbage bag (brought in case of rain) and started to head out, but not before DH asked if I had my shoes. Oh damn, now I need to check... lol... race morning OCD.
It was still dark out, but such a quiet and clear morning. The temps were perfect, I was only slightly cool in shorts and t-shirt. The site was also calm, being such a small race there wasn't a lot of people. No loud music, no big crowd, so my mind stayed on task. Loaded the bottles on Frea, hung my T1 and T2 bags on the wooden racks, set my SN bags under the tree...looked into the changing tents, talked to my group, munched half a powerbar. Soon enough it was time to suit up and head to the beach!
At the beach I we had a final meeting, I took a gel, and we had a chance to warm up a bit. The suit felt perfect and comfy. The sky was overcast and there was a light misty fog over the lake so my smoked goggles obscured my view a bit. A drone flew overhead and took pictures. TH, G, IT, and I group high-5'd. I moved off the front of the small group of swimmers. And then we were off!!
SWIM 2.4 miles in 1:36:44 (PR!) in a two loop swim, mass start, triangle counterclockwise course.
12th out of 18 females, and 3rd out of 4 in my AG. Dammit I need to swim faster!
My goals for an OWS are usually the same: survive, stay calm. I don't push the pace so as to avoid making me feel panicked or causing me to inhale water. The calmer, the better. So that's the goal here.
Out to the first buoy it seemed I was in constant contact with other swimmers. How can such a small field of less than 100 have so much congestion!? And was it the congestion or the lake causing the light chop washing over my face? After the first turn, it cleared up. The far off buoys were hard for me to see and I had brief flashback to my DNF swim in June. Nope, that's not today. I'm good. Keep going, settle in. I was feeling pretty good and thought about trying to speed up. That ended soon enough after I inhaled some water. Second and last turn before the turnaround and another flashback -- I couldn't clearly see the next buoys and I kept swimming to the left. Remember the practice swim -- there was a light push from the current! I started correcting to the right, but was still going left, correct right, moving left, correct right....oh man this was getting into my head. I felt like I was swimming in circles...going right but not going right. Calm down. It's all good, just sight more often! It was around this time I first felt the wetsuit chafing at my neck. Finally turned at the turn-around, and overheard the pre-race meeting for the half distance athletes. They were starting 1 hr after we did, so I figured it was about 45 mins into my swim? I had to get going so they didn't run me over!
Turns out there was some chop out to the first buoy. Turned there and CRAMP in the right calf. I didn't stop for it, just kept going and was thankful for all the ankle bank training I did. It wasn't much, OK maybe only a few laps, but it was the same feeling here. I knew the cramp would work out. It did, but returned! Worked out, then returned again! All along this stretch to the 2nd buoy is was cramps, so bad at one point that I could feel my foot locked into a club-foot like position! Rounded the last buoy, determined to not get off course from the current.
Second time in this leg I stayed on course, and the half athletes were starting to pass me. And I think they helped me stay on course as I had more to see and sight along. This last leg went great, still having cramps though and I could only hope that they resolved by the time I needed to stand at the beach. In the end, I was OK enough to stand up and start up the beach. And check my watch: 1:36 is a PR!! OK not by much though :)
Overall, the swim was conservative but great. I stayed calm, fixed minor problems, dealt well with cramps, and was glad I picked the full sleeve suit.
T1: 5:56 Up the sandy beach, past the stippers (worried they'd pop an ankle on me), past DH, and pulled off the suit easy enough at the bike racks. Another benefit of being slimmer -- the suit slides off better. Volunteers grabbed my T1 bag, I had an organized transition. My tent volunteer was Deb, I chatted with her while she rubbed sunscreen on me. I kept thanking her, so wonderful to have this help! Potty break, then off to Frea!
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