Open water swim challenge

Yesterday was my first ever swimming only race. First. Ever. Yesterday was the first time I would enter the water, swim and then be done. Weird. The race was part of a series put on by OSB (bri and marty’s coaching company) and the FS Series. I volunteered to participate thinking I need all the open water practice I can get and probably more importantly to score some brownie points with the coach! (not sure if that worked…) anyway to further the fun I decided to get bobby to swim in the race as well. i mean who doesnt want to get up early and jump in a lake?? When I asked him about it he kind of looked at me as if I just asked him to drink nail polish remover, but he didn’t say NO so signed him up. Perhaps not something most wives would do, but whatever. Its not like he is going to drown. Bobby was a swimmer. A good one, as I’ve mentioned before, and actually used to do triathlon back in the day (before I did). Lately though he’s been more of a gym rat so the cardio is not quite in tip top shape… ok lets be honest, he's strong as a horse but his cardio is crap.

So Sunday comes and we pile our stuff in the car. I brought my bike since I planned to do a long ride afterwards. Also thrown in there was my wet suit. Word on the street was temps were going to be legal to wear it so you betcha I was putting that sucker on. I did hear the comment that “real swimmers” were going sans suit, but we all know I am NOT a real swimmer so no harm done. Turns out it was about 50/50 polyester to rubber. A few of my fellow masters swimmers were there so it was nice to see some familiar (if not super fast!) faces. Marty did a quick swim clinic at the beginning and then we all made our way out past the dock to start. It was basically a triangle swim with 4 buoys to sight from.

So the race starts and immediately it’s the most congested I’ve ever been in a swim. Bodies seem to be everywhere (there were only 120 people total so I’m not sure where they all came from!) but now I truly understand (or maybe not even ) the IM starts. Had I done this a year ago I totally would have paniced, but I stayed calm and just swam, trying to avoid as much contact as possible. Looking back I might have tried to surge ahead to get out of their way but I wasn’t thinking to clearly at this point as the traffic was highly unexpected. so i just delt with it and tried to not get any road rage....

So I swam. Trying to give more than the normal effort I put out in a swim (which usually leads folks to say ”what were you doing out there?”) and get into a steady rhythm. I felt like I sighted a lot better on this swim and maybe only veered off slightly at a few different points. My biggest weakness (ok ONE of my weaknesses) is my non-ability to find feet to follow. Not sure if I’m not looking in the right place, or even what I would do if I found some.

Rounding the third buoy coming back I tried to pick up my pace a bit and maybe catch some people in front of me. I did and even passed one or two. Over all it wasn’t a bad swim for me and I feel like my time (29 and change) is on the right track. I ended up 4th in my AG (stupid AG) and didn’t get the coffee mug.

I was surprised to get back to the finish and not see bobby waiting for me. I was even more surprised when I went to get a towel and walked back to the finish and still didn’t see him. How could I miss him in less than 100 people? Apparently because he was still swimming. He came in 7 minutes behind me and to say I was shocked is an understatement. Bobby used to swim circles around me. But lately as I mentioned he hasn’t been putting in the lung building work outs (by lately I mean years!) he said he was spent by the first buoy and his pride kept him from flagging down the kayaker! But he finished a long race. So that makes both of us happy.

After the race we hung around and chatted a bit then I took off on my bike for a long ride. bobby went home and crashed with a plate of eggs and a pile of movies.
Thanks to OSB for putting on a great event. The next one isn’t until the end of august, but you bet I’ll be gunning for that coffee mug!

bri gaal and me. 2 very lovely ladies. ha!



me and bobby post race. see now he is happy -- its over.