Open Water Splash 5k - SwimOther

We stood around freezing our butts off. Eventually they were going to make us start so we stood in the water knee deep. F'ing freezing. Advertised as 75...found out later it was 68-70 depending on how close to shore you were. At the very least this is EXCELLENT Horsetooth practice but that didn't make me feel any better when the gun went off and I had to get IN that water. Melissa and I both took a few seconds after the gun went off to work up the guts to get in. At least it had stopped raining. Just REALLY overcast. The pack took off fast and next thing I know I'm like LAST. WTF? That NEVER happens. But this is a TRAINING race so I didn't want to go blasting off just to die. Immediately upon hitting the water my ankle started to hurt. Pretty bad. Like someone was stabbling it with a knife. So I took it easy for the first 500m loop. Did it in about 11:45? SLOW.

Anyway, after that first loop you had to do three 1500m loops. The ankle finally quieted down. I decided to try to do each loop faster than the last. First loop...took it at a 'concerted effort' pace. The same pace I was holding in the pool yesterday. Felt good (cold, but good). Mostly bilat breathing. Not too much of a problem sighting. Drifted off to the left a few times but usually straight. Had a lot of "I have to do this loop HOW many times?" thoughts. Bad...bad...bad...but finally made it around the first time in about 29:17 I think (estimating because I'm writing this without my watch on me!).

Picked up the pace for the second loop and started to pick out people to pass. There was a guy maybe 25-50 meters in front of me. He would be my first victim. I had some help catching up on the backside of the first loop because he stopped to check on another swimmer. I also popped up to check on this guy which made my ankle hurt. Finally passed that guy (why are they so hard pass?) about 3/4ths through that loop and also got lapped by some folks? Sucks. That lap took about 27:57.

Started the third lap and my goggles are really starting to hurt. They are kinda tight and I think about stopping to fix them but I have three more rabbits in sight and don't want to lose the time. So I step on the gas. Pass one person easily. The other two proved more resistive. I got up inbetween them for awhile which was nice for sighting. I just kept looking at one or the other for a few hundred meters. But I wanted to DITCH these guys. I had to work hard to get past them...like they sped up when they saw me or something. Goggles were REALLY starting to hurt and it was beginning to affect my vision. I had a really hard time seeing. Couldn't tell the difference between buoys and people in boats with lifevests. Bad. But I had just passed those two dudes and didn't want to stop! I thought they'd be right on my heels! I took a glance back as I rounded a buoy and I'd put SOME space between us, but not enough. So I didn't fix my goggles and the vision problem got worse. I had to stop and float a few times to see the last buoy. Once I rounded the last buoy I had NO idea where the finish line was. I knew it had a white banner over it and I could sorta see that. But otherwise, I was swimming blind. Goggles had dug in so deep they were starting to give me blurry double vision. Had to stop once to pull my swim cap down (it decided to try to pop off on me) but did it as fast as posslble and kept aiming in the direction of the finish. Turned into the finish area and must have popped up 5 times in the last 25 feet because I had no depth perception left and kept thinking I had reached it when I hadn't. Stood up and walked across the line (finally) . Third loop was about 27:53 but it included the last short extra leg from the big loop to the finish line.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, YES I got beaten by a pregnant chick.

Stood there for a few minutes before I could see well enough and wasn't too dizzy to walk. Too much time horizontal! Got my towel and shoes and went straight to the locker room. Stood under a hot shower for a minute just to rinse off then put on my clothes since Melissa had finished 20 minutes before me and was ready to go! Ate a bagel then we went for warming coffee and lunch.


Tired. Very tired. Just decided to up and do the race, so no real prep.


Good small race. Looks like it was pretty accurately measured. GPS came up with 3.04 miles. GREAT Horsetooth 10k prep for me. Horsetooth should be that cold or colder (65-70) and just twice as long. Adding the overcast and rain was just bonus training.