So in that great tradition I'm going to post my race report from Islander Aquathon, which I took part in tonight. Be prepared. It is very detailed. Scan away!
The course: 1k swim followed by 8k run. So, an almost Oly distance, minus the bike, basically.
I was really nervous about this race, because, well, I always get really nervous before races. But also because the last swim I did - both for race and training - was ChelanMan. And, a) that was a long time ago, and b) boy, those were some waves. They really freaked me out - everytime I came up for a breath I got gobsmacked in the face. Grabbed hold of a boat 3 times. But I did finally haul myself up on that shore. Oh, and c) longest swim distance I had done in a race.
It was an evening race, kind of unusual and kind of fun. My family was able to come with me to cheer me on, which was a sweet bonus.
Pre-race I am not very nice to be around. I am a total case of nerves getting there. I am able to relax only once I am in transition (the spot where you leave all your stuff for all the legs), with my wetsuit on, and everything set up. Even if I have lots of extra time before the race. I just become incredibly mono-focused. This race was no different. Happily I was ready to go and even dunked in the water for a few strokes for the race meeting.
The race meeting is right before the race begins. The race director gives you important information like which buoys you are supposed to go around, which side to go around them, how many loops the run course you should do. This is sort of helpful information. I wish I had listened more carefully....
This race, like many, had multiple distances. I was competing in the long distance. Long swimmers - men - started first, then long swimmers - women - followed three minutes behind. This is called a wave, and is much appreciated since it cuts down on the thrashing from everyone starting out all at once. The shorter course swimmers started behind us.
I felt good starting out. I felt relaxed, and I tried to keep it that way. It doesn't bother me too much to get bumped and touched by the other swimmers. I caught the first buoy of 3 very quickly! Rounding that buoy each time (we had to do the loop 2 times) was when the waves hit. Not big waves tonight. Just enough to catch a mouthful every once and a while. It brought up the panic of the last swim. I relaxed, I flipped to my back, I relaxed, I did breaststroke. It worked, both times around. I still felt that panic rising, but I was able to calm myself. Success!
You had to run up on to the beach and back down again for the 2nd loop. Leif caught some pics - VERY hard to do when everyone is in wetsuits, googles, and swim caps. Thanks, honey.
I noticed on the 2nd loop around that there weren't many swimmers left out there. I thought, really? I felt like I was swimming pretty standard for me, which is not really fast but not super slow. And I reminded myself to focus on my own race.
The other thing you have to do in a triathlon/open water swim race is 'sight' - that is, you have to keep looking up to check you are still swimming in a straight line toward the buoy. You can very quickly waste a lot of energy zigzagging the course if you don't. And tonight, everytime I started to get a rhythm and start to feel good and strong, I would think, nah, I'm sure I'm swimming pretty straight, I'm going to ride this rhythm and wait for a while longer to sight. (you know where this is going don't you?) I didn't veer completely off course, but I was frustrated at having to choose h between getting a good swim rhythm going with my head down, and then having to interrupt that to sight.
There is something about swimming in a race that just sucks it out of me. Something about the combination of nerves, being in essentially a pitch-black, soundless medium in which you are racing, and the limited oxygen all makes for a very tough mental experience.
Racing up to transition, I was pleased. Wow! I can do 1k and not collapse! My swim time was 25:03. Interestingly, the ChelanMan, which was 1/2 the distance but SO. HARD., my time was 23:53. Conditions matter a lot.
Switched out to my running gear and took off. It was nice not to have the dead-legs from a bike to run transition.
The course was 3 loops long. This is where it would have been really helpful to have listened to the course directions. I had no clue, nor had I walked the course before. It's mostly mental, to have a sense of how much longer, but mental matters alot. So I felt like I was running 'blind' until the very end, when I heard 'final loop to the finish'.
The run went great, other than that mental blip.
I ran it my recent, first 10k very conservatively. Now I knew I could do that distance, so I decided to move at a faster clip. Again, I felt like was at the complete back of the pack. Strange, since I have mostly been in the middle in races. I finally decided that since it was an evening race, it probably attracted mostly more elite athletes. It is really inspirational to see those folks whiz by you. In triathlons, they mark your age group on your calf, so you can play with 'racing' others in your age group, or be wowed by someone in the 60year old age group.
I felt great coming into the finish line. My run time was 46:43, which I am very pleased with. I shaved a minute from my 10kpace time (ie tonight I ran an average of 9:24 a mile, whereas in my 10k I ran an average of 10:25 a mile).
My total race time was 1:13:43. I came in 10 out of 10 in my age division, and 110 out of 125. It wasn't my imagination that I was at the back!
However, tonight's race I will remember the heavy older woman, who was the last out of the water, and heading out on her final, slow loop as I was celebrating with my family at the finish line. The race had a pretty tight timeline for ending, since it got dark. She didn't make the cut-off, and as I was leaving after the awards were given out and the race clock had been taken down, there she was, in the growing dark, lumbering her way toward the finish. Good for you, woman in the yellow jersey. Your grit and determination and focus inspired me tonight. I hope you felt as in awe of yourself as I and the fellow racers who saw you did. Good for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment