Okay, this swim did not go as planned, and did not go well at all. I had a total OWS nutzo freak-out adrenaline extravaganza with extra claustrophobia sauce on the side. What was so great about this freak-out is that I was totally unprepared for it. I mean, I've been swimming in the pool training for my first tri for about six months, and I've swum off an on for years before that, though swimming is still my weakest discipline. I've done OWS, as recently as last week. So I was more concerned all this week with the water temp and with getting all my gear to the TA on time -- and once I had done that before the swim start, I thought I had all the tough stuff done, and I wasn't expecting any difficulty. And THAT'S WHEN THEY GET YOU!

Swim start was fine -- maybe 50 or so in my wave for the sprint tri, and we were the first wave. I started back and to the right, trying to stay out of the way once the wave reached the left hand turn at the end of the course. I shouldn't have worried -- after about the first 100 meters, I started my gonzo OWS freak out, and I got dropped to the back of my wave pretty quickly.

This is the way I remember it: I started out okay, thinking mostly about my position in the swim wave, rather than the water temp or my swimming form or the course or anything else. And after wading with the pack a bit, we all dived in and started swimming. I got about 100 meters in doing okay -- good form, breathing on every fifth stroke, looking left at another swimmer to keep on course. And I was fine -- until I couldn't get quite enough air. Switched to every fourth stroke, trying to take a long breath in TI "sweet spot" every couple of breaths. Still couldn't breathe. Switched to every other stroke. Couldn't breathe. Starting to get a stitch in my side. Started to breath on every stroke. Went to breaststroke. Couldn't breathe, stitch in my side, and I started CHOKING when the water hit my face, even though my face was out of the water by now. Switched to backstroke, and tried to quit hyperventilating. Did that for a while, then tried to switch back to freestyle. By this point, I'd dropped way back into the trailing edge of my wave. But that wasn't the worst thing -- when I rolled back over to freestyle, I COULDN'T GET MY FACE BACK IN THE WATER. Just couldn't do it.

The rest of the swim was just me piecing together a minute or so of freestyle with a minute of breaststroke. I got passed by some of the next wave (women's sprint), and then by some of the next NEXT wave (men's international distance). But I was still hanging out with some of the last bits of my wave by the time I got out, and most importantly, I did get out -- I did finish, and I did keep swimming, and I didn't give up, even though I was totally freaked out.

Not freak out.

Forgot to put out SOCKS when I set up my TA! I'm a newbie, I need these. Had to fish them out of my backpack, put em on, drink some water, and go.

Hey, I thought that putting your race belt on at T1 to have it on during the bike and the run was the way to go. Seemed to be fairly few doing this -- I guess they'd wait to put it on in T2? Am I wrong here?

Remember sockies. Not freak out in the swim.

Ah, well, the bike. All I had to do was take my bike off the rack and I felt better. I love my bike. I love riding my bike. And so I got on the bike, and I just RODE. Nice. Loved it.

Was able to keep a nice cadence and speed through most of the first 4/5ths of the bike. Passed a bunch of people -- mostly because I was so far back in the swim, I assume. I also think I was passing a bunch of sprint duathlon people. Only got passed by one speedy guy on an Orbea, and he and I played friendly pass tag for a while before he dropped me on the final climb. I said something chatty to everybody I passed, and in general had a great damn time. Drank a full bottle of water in a few different takes.

Only problem came at the end when I was climbing a few small hills. The bike isn't entirely tuned right -- skipping a bit in the granny gears. I tried to get the LBS to fix it, they didn't so I've been fiddling with it ever since, and I still don't have it quite right. Coulda done a bit better with some bike sexpertise. Anybody got some?

This is where the guy on the Orbea caught me.

And as I'm climbing that last hill, I could look up and see the elite sprint guys crossing the dam on the run -- it was a bit disheartening. I was hoping to be closer to the FOMOP on this one, not in the BOMOP, but the swim just did me in. Well, I'll do better next time.

Tune the bike better. Remember sockies. Not freak out in the swim.

Kool Moe Dee. Everything's good. I was even taking it easy on this.

Not freak out in the swim.

Great run, great route, loved it. First mile was just over 7 min/mile, but I then didn't see the next mile marker so I didn't get a split. Fairly certain I was slowing down over the race, but I didn't care. I knew I was slow, so I was just having fun. Giving high-fives, talking to people, looking around, enjoying it.

Not freak out on the swim.

Met DW at the finish line, got some photos taken, (disappointed that there were no finisher's medals, just top places in each AG and race). Still, got some pasta, took a shower in the open-air showers, picked up my bike and got out of there a triathlete.

In celebration of that fact, I went to Fado's and had two pints of Guinness and a Trinity Steak Boxty.


Huh. I'm not really sure how to define what caused, or perpetuated, my open water swim freakout. I would make a guess that it was a combination of an adrenaline rush and the washing-tub effect. Everything else about the OWS I've done before -- swimming in a trisuit, swimming in open water, swimming fast, swimming CONSIDERABLY longer than this distance. The only thing that was impossible to simulate outside of race day is, well, the race -- the siren start, the adrenaline, the pack, the thrashing in the water. So, I freaked out.

I guess the only way to experience a swim start is to experience a swim start.

I'm going to do better next time.


HFP is pretty cool; I like them. The only thing that would have made this race better was getting it off on time; I still don't know what was going wrong.