Race Report: DCB 2.4 mile open water swim

I had signed up for this race as a tune-up for Ironman Arizona (IMAZ), which is next weekend. As we were driving up, I kept telling Zac "I don't want to swim today." Swimming is not my favorite of the 3, and open water (OW) swimming is REALLY not my favorite. We got to the race and I told Zac, that I had swam 1:47 at IMAZ last year, so hopefully I would be out around 1:40. I told him 1:30 was real aggressive, and I wasn't going to swim that fast today. It's still taper time, and I didn't want to kill myself.

I got in the water with about 5 min until the gun. Got in and swam around and headed towards the back. Found a nice little spot of open water, and there was only about 5 people behind me over my left shoulder. The gun went off, I started my watch, and started swimming.

I was in with a ton of people and definitely had more contact this time around. This time I didn't pop my head up when people crashed into me. I just kept swimming forward, sighting only about every 6th stroke. I kept counting to 6 when my left hand brushed my thigh, then took a quick look and back to swimming with my head down.

When the gun goes off, people usually take off and I'm left behind. Not this time. I was in with people the whole way. They said it was 500m in between each buoy. So I just concentrated on making it to each one. I got to the green turn buoy and was still with people! Not only that, but many had green caps! (Guys were in green, girls in pink). Not long after the turn I found some calm water and was swimming along when some guy to my right decided right then and there he wanted to be on the far left and totally cut across the front of me. Grrr. Whatever buddy.

I concentrated on keeping a strong stroke, and turning a bit further to breathe. This helped with not taking in as much water. And this is the first OWS where I didn't have a gagging fit right in the middle of it. Often I would need to stop and cough and hack until I worked alot of the water out of my system. Not this time, so that was great! I just wanted to stay calm and comfortable. My whole goal was not to push it and swim at a nice, comfortable pace.

We got back to the bridges, and when we passed under the train bridge I started to get tired. My arms were starting to ache and get heavy. I told myself this was the only time I needed to use my arms, and to keep going. Then I remembered something Coach Colleen said. "When you get tired, kick." Oh yeah, those limbs I had been dragging behind me could actually be used for something! Besides, this was about the time in IM that I would want to start kicking harder to get bloodflow to the legs to get ready for the bike. It felt like it took forever,but I finally made it to the last turn buoy. I headed south and could see the ramp in the distance. And I still had people around me! And some were in green caps!

The last few hundred yards felt like they took forever, but I kept going. I went back to counting to 6 and sighting. Concentrating on the counting seemed to help when I got tired. Suddenly I could hear Dave Benjes over the loud speaker. I coudn't hear what he was saying exactly. Something about 15 and 19, so I figured those were people's numbers.

I swam straight to the water helpers, and they pulled me up to my feet. Benjes was there on the ramp and said "1:18!" as I looked downand stopped my watch, which also said "1:18."

"What?!" I yelled back.
"1:18!" he said.
"NO WAY! No WAY!" I said.
"Yes way! 1:18!" he yelled.

I was in total shock. Never would I have imagined I swam a 1:18 in a 2.4 mile swim. The look must have showed on my face, because all the camera people were there taking pics. And it was crowded! I actually came in with a crowd of people!

Of course, Zac wasn't expecting me, so I wandered over to where he had his chair setup in the grass. He was totally surprised to see me,especially after I told him my time. "Well, so much for 1:30!" he said.

I got some food because I was starving, and my stomach had started to growl while out on the lake. I saw Michelle and Scott and they were so happy when I told them my time. Michelle kept saying "You are definitley ready for IM!" I headed down to where Kyle was with the Justice clan, and waited for Holly to come in. I know she was worried about the IMAZ swim cutoff time. She came in WELL before the cutoffand 4 min faster than last time! And she wasn't blue, which was a plus. I was so glad to see she made it with an awesome time, as that has to be a good confidence boost for next week.

So next week at IMAZ I will be thinking of this swim and following the same strategy. Just stay calm and comfortable and concentrate on the stroke and make it to the next buoy. I guess I'll have to revise the times on my cue sheet now! It's funny because Shari had always said "Just get out of the water sooner and you'll make it" in regards to last year's IMAZ race and the bike cutoff. Well, I think this qualifies as "sooner." :)