Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon (Relay) - Swim

I had some struggles on this swim, but all in all, not too bad. The start entailed jumping off the pier. I had grand plans of keeping my head above water, but that did NOT happen. I all but hit the bottom, I went down so far, then I waited for a while, then started to rise back to the surface. It was only a second or two, but seemed like ages.

Once I got to the surface I realized the #*&$($ seal mask was already full of water. (NOTE TO SELF: If you think you should buy new goggles the day before a 1.2 mile swim -- DO IT!) The goggles proceeded to fill with water and probably every 150-200y I was stopping, popping them off my face to empty them, and putting them back on again.

Okay, back to the race. I felt like I had a great rhythym for the entire swim. I breathed every 2 strokes (I typically breathe every 4), and I think the increased oxygen really helped to keep my energy up.

I did some swerving here and there, with the help of the waves, but I never got terribly far off course.

I did take in a fair bit of water as I swam--a few times I managed to swallow the mouthful instead of spit it out--but nothing too bad. I only breast-stroked a couple times, and it was mostly because the sun was blocking my view of the buoys, and I had to get my bearings.

Once I rounded the final buoy, I motored as much as possible to the finish. The sun got in my eyes, and it was difficult to see the Gatorade bottle that marked the swim exit, but I got there. I was surprisingly out of breath, but I tried to run in the sand. It was EXTREMELY thick, and I was happy to get on the boardwalk area. The run to transition was pretty long, and I had a hard stitch in my side for part of the way, but it worked itself out and I was actually able to run at a good clip for the last bit of transition. Passed the chip to trixie, who was ready to go, and that was that.

Obviously more swimming would have made a difference to my time. I think I probably lost 4 or 5 minutes to the combination of goggles and sighting errors. It was fun to only be responsible for the swim though!

Passed the chip to trixie, and stood around in transition for a bit talking to a spectating couple and drinking some gatorade. Wandered down to the beach to find lisazapato, then sat on the beach until it was time to go back to transition. Amazingly we managed to see everyone we were looking for. The standing, sunning, and lack of food or drink did a real number on me though, and I've got a sunburnt face and calves that are rocks to show for it!


This is a great race. There were some hiccups particularly for relay teams--no one on the relay team had access to the post race food until the runner finished. For me, it wasn't a huge deal, but I can't imagine being the cyclist! I also had no access to post race drinks (needed your race number for that too). I think they could have better planned that specifically to relay teams.

Other than that, the post race food was quite significant, and they also were running a post-post-race party that we didn't stay for. The beach was LOVELY, and I think this is a great race to bring the family too. They can easily be occupied by the beach while you race!