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| Athlete's secret: I am so glad we can't wear a wetsuit so I can pee during the swim |
The Swim
Tires are inflated, aero bottle is secure, nutrition is in place, bike is racked at 813, I have bites all over my body, I feel good, breathe.
Holy shit there are a lot of people. The dolphin observation docks were crawling with athletes making their way to the water. There were about 10 minutes to get 2300 comfortably positioned. I use “comfortably” loosely. We made our way to the far dolphin pen and found a rack to stand on. As we waited, we watched and I was thinking, I wonder what he is thinking, I wonder what she is thinking. Then I had an idea for a movie. “First minute of Ironman.” It would be a 60-minute movie with sixty different characters, all sharing their thoughts during the first minute of the race. I decided that I would go with, I am ok, this is ok, I can swim, just paddle, keep paddling, I am ok, keep paddling, breathe, repeat. We decided to find out start positions off the platform, and got situated out in the water. Wishing each other good luck with huge smiles and loads of energy was cut short by the horn. That horn. That triathlon horn. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love to hear it because it’s finally the start of the race, but I definitely feel a lot of anxiety the few minutes before. This horn was not the regular triathlon horn; this one was more like a siren; athletes, rev your engines!
I started to swim and had Niva beside me for a good 200m. I think we were trying to give each other thumbs up while swimming, but if you ever try it, you will see, it’s like that classic coordination test where you have to pat your head and rub your belly.
The two days prior to the race we did a practice swim on the course. The current reversed, so we didn’t know what to expect. Swimming behind 1,500 people however, seemed to make any current irrelevant. The loop around the orange buoys was smooth and considerably faster than the practice swims.
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| Athlete's secret: I looked at this picture at least 15 times pre-race |
I don’t know when or how, but some dude got between Niva and I and we wouldn't see each other again until the bike. It actually saved the embarrassment of being pegged, "the girl who was trying to give thumbs ups on the swim." The swim was much more calm than I expected. I started out towards the back of the group, so that I didn’t get swam over, and that suited me just fine.
A few times I looked for people to drag off of, but it never felt right and I prefer to carve my own pathway, so I stopped trying after a while. That’s not to say that other people did the same. I had so many people repeatedly smacking my feet that finally I gave a dolphin kick to get a person off me. I had been tapped about 15 times in a row and they weren’t backing off. So I kicked. I didn’t connect with the swimmer, but just gave them a sign to back off. We swam towards the orange buoys, keeping them on our left hand side.
Soon enough I ended up back at the dolphin decks and he swim was half complete. I looked at my watch, 39 minutes. This didn’t seem real. Have I ever swam 1800m, breathe, in 30 minutes? 38 minutes divided by 1800 m, breathe, = 38 x 60 = 40 x, breathe, 60 = 2400 ... breathe, = who cares, breathe, It’s fast. I could hear the announcer and music on the deck. I imagined Carol with the camera, smiling, excited to see what it looks like when 2,300 swimmers in orange and green caps start swimming at the same time. Little did I know, back at the docks, they were getting a dolphin show. Carol was taking her job seriously.
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| Athlete's secret: I think my sister was the PERFECT cheerleader |
The swim along the stretch of yellow buoys slowed down. I was ok with this however, I was thoroughly enjoying the swim. Visibility was 100% and I had fun trying to get the divers attention. At every 200m or so, there was a diver just hanging out on the bottom. Needless to say, I gave my fair share of ok signs, and I think I smiled a lot during the swim. The swim in from the far yellow bouy was fast. I played a game with myself. Knowing that there were only about 6 yellow buoys, I started counting down from 10.
I learned from my practice swims NOT to look at the far buoys. There are two reasons for this. First off, you can seldom see them. Second of all, the relative distance between you and then has you at a virtual stand still; they don’ get closer fast enough to the impatient swimmer. The yellow buoys seemed to be racing by and soon enough I could see the dolphin deck. I could hear the cheers and announcer. Little green and orange caps were exiting the water and so was I. As I looked up at the clock and saw 1:23 my smile doubled. I was alive AND I swam 3800m in 1:23. This was fantastic. I made my way to the transition bags and grabbed blue number 813. On my way to the tent, I would meet Carol and the camera. Stopping for a brief photo shoot, I dashed my way into the tent with so much enthusiasm in my heart.
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| Athletes's secret: Before today I had never swam more than 3000m |
I LOVED that swim, and I couldn’t wait to get on the bike.
Part II: The bike coming December 5
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