Yesterday's open water swim wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring. I was pretty anxious, and when I realized how far in the water I was alone I got pretty dizzy. Some of that carried forward into the beginning of this swim. There was a pretty bad logic loop going through my head. "This is ridiculous. I've never swam this distance straight before. I'm already tired. I lost my form. Where's the rescue kayak? I feel dizzy. I'm only doing one lap and going home. Time to take a break. Do I feel better now? No? Keep going. This is ridiculous. I've never swam this distance before..."

About 350m in I found a pair of women's feet and concentrated on keeping up with her and using the draft. I started to forget about those thoughts and my form started coming back. It REALLY started coming back. I started getting a rhythm and actually managed to pass a few people.

Sighting was a little difficult on the return. Stupid laser eyes with their starbursts. Any time I looked toward the sun I was blinded. The buoys were on the side of the sun. Maybe low-light yellow goggles aren't the best choice for a sunny outdoor swim.

By the time I came in at the end of the first lap, I had absolutely no problems continuing. I got back in and just kept going. Nearing the halfway point of the second lap I hit the point where I felt like I could continue forever. I wasn't tired, I wasn't bored. It was perfect. I was actually disappointed for it to end.

I'd like to swim faster. But there really is something I have to do about this anxiety. Maybe just more practice, and more events. I'm sure after a while it will become second nature.

Cap and goggles came off fine, but my wetsuit got stuck again. The Body Glide helped on my left foot, but the right got stuck on the timing chip. I'm going to have to figure out a way to make that easier. Maybe I can tuck it under the suit, as long as it doesn't interfere with its function.

I struggled with my helmet strap. Newbie. Running to the mount line I pulled my gel off the top bar, squirted a shot, and put it in my back pocket.

I was a rock star getting on my bike. After spending a bit of time watching people do it yesterday, I did it pretty much just like them. I passed about four people between the transition exit and actually being on the bike. I hopped right on (didn't snag my shorts this time), and got my feet on top of the shoes the first try. Everything was good until I realized that I forgot to un-velcro the shoes. It added a fair bit of time the the beginning of my ride. Oops.

Placed 26 out of 66 in age group and 234 of 620 overall.

Un-velcro my shoes. Learn how to do up a helmet. Figure out how to get the suit over the timing chip.

I was tired from yesterday's ride, so my average speed suffered. There was a strong headwind on the northwest sections, which was pretty difficult to deal with. I didn't pass as many people as usual, which I took to mean I either had a better swim than the last one (and I was in a pack of stronger riders), or I was just tired. Or a combination of both. The ride back was freaking awesome with the tailwind (and a downhill). I got a chance to use the big gear, and averaged 43 km/h through one section!

My favourite passing maneuver is the one I'm going to call "the full 16 inches." I've been trying to figure how how I almost always build more speed on downhills compared to everyone I ride with. I know I'm not very powerful, but I keep up with riders that I probably shouldn't. This must mean I'm more aero. I measured the width of my shoulders and hips, and they're only 16 inches.

Since I have no aero bars, I've figured out this unorthodox tuck where I put my hands on the inside of the top of the drops (touching the stem), tucking my knees in to touch the top tube, nestling my elbows to my knees, and placing my chin on my hands. Even on the shortest hills I'm able to keep up with regular riders who are still pedaling (lightly I assume).

When the hill ends I use that rest and momentum to fly by one or two cyclists in front of me.

I ran out of water at the halfway point. I guess one bottle is not enough for an olympic on a hot day.

Not train double the distance the day before.

Rock star getting off the bike. I took my feet out of the shoes a little early, but it was okay. I tried to set up a clear shot to the dismount line, but someone slowly moved in front of my path to stop and unclip, and pushed me to the side. The officials were pretty vocal about letting me know to get off before the line. I don't think they knew I was going to stop or dismount like the rock star that I was going to dismount like. :P I guess they assume the only rock stars are at the front.

I probably hopped off the bike a little fast, and I nearly overshot the turn into transition. No wonder they were yelling!

I stopped and sat down to reapply my sports tape, but it had blown off in the wind and got tangled up. I took a gulp of water and left.

Placed 39 out of 66 in age group, 272 of 620 overall, and #1 in awesome!

Use an actual IT Band strap instead of tape. Not bother drinking water (if I had brought enough on the bike it wouldn't have been a problem).

This was much better than expected. Ms. Miyaki (Dr. Cindy from Absolute Endurance) is a superstar for fixing my IT band. I wasn't expecting to run much at all, and when I did I was expecting to hurt. And when I was expecting it to hurt I was expecting to add weeks to my rehabilitation. But that wasn't it.

I was able to pass a few people this time! There were a few where we went back and forth, but for the most part I didn't lose too much time. I still alternated between running and walking (apparently 13 times - I freaking love my GPS).

My IT band did not hurt at all. And it still hasn't started hurting yet. I'm so stoked it's not even funny.

My form was pretty good when I was actually running. I'm pretty sure that when I started this new style, I was striking a bit too much on the balls of my feet. I think that's where the shin pain has been coming from. I'm nowhere near landing on my heels again (ewww), but now I've shifted it a bit toward the middle of my foot. I think this is better. I managed to run like this probably 80% of the time.

There were even a couple points where I managed to get my first runner's high. W000! Although it might have had something to do with my soaring heart rate - it was hovering in the low 170s (well into zone 5). My excitement was probably a bit high.

The only issue was near the halfway point. I've never had a quad cramp up before, but it did. When I stopped to stretch it, the opposing muscle in the back started cramping. So I pulled over, stretched the rear muscle (pretty much by touching my toes, but off to the side), then when that felt better I pulled the quad back to stretch. It worked well. I could feel it was a little tight for the rest of the run, but it didn't bother me much. For a small period it felt like my IT band on THAT side started hurting, but I'm sure that was related to the cramping.

The finish was good. It's hard to eff up a downhill run at the end. I wish I could run like that all the time.

Final time was 46 seconds off from my personal best 10k. That happened only other time I ran 10k, 23 years ago. Ew.

Aside from train enough to be able to run this straight? Let's cross that bridge when that happens.

Crap, still haven't done it yet. I ate a sausage. It was hard to eat something that hot, yummy and fatty in the heat.


Obviously not being able to run the full distance. But now the swim anxiety is something to address. Of course tapering would have helped too. Also yet again I had a lot of GI issues to deal with, thanks to last night's cheese steak and this morning's bad cereal choice. I really need to sort that out somehow.