Holy Open Water Nightmare! It was everything bad that I have heard or could have imagined for myself. First, I get in the water before my wave starts, and the water is very cold. I try to swim a little, and when I put my face in the water, the air just will not come out of my nose! Then, when I turn to breathe, all I can manage is a desperate gasp. OK, now I am beginning to get uneasy, because this is my first open water swim, and I am wondering if I'll be able to breathe. Did I mention that the water was quite murky? I was lucky to be able to see my elbow in the water. So now my wave starts, and of course there are people crawling all over each other, so that just kills my "technique". I find some room, and try to start swimming easy, but I just can't do it. A grand total of twice during the swim I took more than about 10 strokes without sighting. Both times, I found myself WAY off course to the right! (Remember, it's a counter-clockwise loop). Crap. So I resorted to an awful lot of breaststroke, but with my head above the water at all times, and a lot of sweet spot back-kicking. The latter was more to calm my nerves than to catch my breath.

Bottom line is that I never felt comfortable in the swim. The murky water, the proximity of the other swimmers, not knowing which direction I was heading and not knowing how far I had swum or had to go all got to me way too much. It still frustrates my two days later! I had swum 500M in the pool in 9:50, and in the race it took me 13:34. No good at all.

I have another race in two weeks, so that will be a chance to redeem myself a little. First, I will be prepared for the sights (or lack thereof) and sounds and feels of the open water swim. That alone should help. Second, I am going to add about 10 minutes of blind swimming to each of my swim workouts - that is, I close my eyes and try to make it down the lane without hitting the ropes. The will hopefully help me learn what straight feels like.

Long run from the swim finish to my bike. Spent a little too much time getting my shirt on over my wet body. Also, my sunglasses, which I left on my helmet, were fogged over, so I wiped them on my towel - probably unecessary.

Considering for Sprint races not donning the shirt at T1. This is the second time that it got stuck, so I am going to see if I can practice with it (in the shower, I guess) and make a decision.

Race pace was hard, but it felt ok. I was hoping to average 20 mph, and I wound up with 22, so that helped me gain the time back that I lost in the water. From about mile 6 on, me and a kid were keeping pace with each other, while another couple of riders would pass us, or be passed by us. Very few people came from behind and passed me and stayed in front of me, but there were a couple who did.

I spent virtually the entire race in the aero position. Only on the turns did I come out, and it was comfortable the entire time. I never had to come out of the saddle for relief, either.

The bad news is that I was assessed a 1 minute penalty for drafting. I am not sure why I was singled out, but I need to pay more attention to my position relative to the other riders. I may have broken the specifics of the rules, but I am certain that I never received any benefit from drafting.

Watch my position relative to other riders to guard against drafting. I bet they got me for getting passed, then not falling out of the drafting zone for long enough before attempting to re-pass.

T2 cam very quickly. The race literature that I had read listed the bike leg at 15.6 miles, but I had only 15.3 on my computer when we came to the end. I had big plans to come out of my shoes while still on the bike, but was unable to do so because I wasn't ready for the end. I mean, there were screeching tires there because no one was ready for it! I had practiced coming out of my shoes prior at the end of my rides at home, and felt ok doing it, so I was disappointed that I was unable to do it in the race.

Thereafter, I did ok in tearing my helment and bike shoes off, then slipping my socks, shoes and visor on for the run and away we go! Took a couple drinks of water, and my mouth was much better on this run than Athens.

Be better prepared for the end of the bike.

This run was a little harder than I expected. Average pace of 7:20 was a little slow - I was hoping to average less than 7 minutes. Funny thing is that the mile splits were screwy. First mile was 6:37. Second mile, which did not feel appreciably slower, was 8:18. Third mile was 6:10 (again, didn't feel a whole lot faster than mile 2). Last 2/10ths were in 2:20. I suppose that their markers were a little off.

But the point is that I still need to get a little faster on the run. I am sure that I can go a little faster in Texarkana.

Not much. Maybe try to maintain my pace through the second mile a little better.

Nothing. Drank some Powerade and visited with Danielle and the girls. Waited for Chris to come across the line!


Swim problems.


Look, my goal for the race was to finish in less than 1:25, and I finished in 1:22:31. I bested my goal, so I am pleased with that. However, I am frustrated by my performance in the swim, and the only thing to do there is to get more used to it, right? I be better prepared next time, and I will surely do better.

Overall finish was 105 out of 395
Age Group (30-34) was 12 out of 52
Clydesdale was 5 out of 31.