Nationals

Swim – 1500 meters, with two-thirds of it upstream. “Severe flooding throughout the area” was the race director’s message at 5AM… in addition to “army corps suggest too strong of a current to be in the river.” Imagine a muddy, flooded, dirty, fast moving river with logs, cups, HUGE dead floating catfish, and anything else the rain over the past several days had washed down into it. As I stood on the side watching the trash sail by while waiting for my wave, I really wondered if I could even swim as fast as that current was moving. So did many others. My waved was called to warm up. 90 people in my wave (the biggest wave, representing nearly 10% of the race). I jumped in and instantly noticed that I could not see ANYTHING through the water. You could only see dirt/debris particles moving past your face in what reminded me of how the stars looked when the Star Ship Enterprise was entering warp speed (just a mass blur of stuff). I could not see my forearm in front of me as I took strokes upstream for warmup.

This was an in water start (i.e. in the water, not touching the bottom, and trying to not get washed downstream before the horn blew). The horn sounded, 90 people starting kicking and slapping the water JUST like the mass triathlon starts you see. It looked like a crazy mosh pit you’d see at a rock concert, except in water. I was right in the middle of it facing my biggest fear. Not once did I get nervous or lose control of my breathing. Absolutely an incredible accomplishment for me! Partly because most of my wave dropped me within five minutes, but I did survive the male 30-34 age that caught me and swam over, under, and around me.

We first swam downstream for about 200 meters to the first right turn. When I checked my watch at the turn buoy, I noticed that I had swum that distance in under 3 mins (very FAST). Once we made the right turn to cross the river, the current began to wash us downstream. To make it to the next right turn buoy on the other side of the river, you had to swim at a 45 degree angle. 150 meters across – 7 mins. YUCK. That right turn put you directly into the current for roughly 1,000 meters. We had two large course marking buoys then the last right turn buoy so I mentally (and then physically) divided it into 3x350 segments. As I made my way to the first buoy, my arms were burning and my heart rate escalated. I felt as if I was going NOWHERE. After 15mins of effort, I made it to the first buoy. A grabbed hold for a rest, as did many others, and looked around the course noting several people giving up. After what seemed like no time but was probably more like a couple minutes of rest, I headed for the second buoy. As I made my way to the next buoy over the next 20 minutes or so, a lot of things went through my head: let’s quit, no way am I quitting, there’s someone else quitting and getting into a boat, where’s a damn kayak to hold onto, did that old lady really just fly by me, I can’t quit because they gave us an awesome backpack that I really want to use, ok I’m quitting and this is pointless, no wait I am facing my fears and who CARES about my time. Then finally I latched onto the second buoy.

With only about another 300 meters or so to the last right turn buoy to cross the river, I was exahausted. I’m a terrible swimmer anyway and the current took everything out of me. My half-ass stroke was now looking full-assed. Anyway, I decided that there was NOWAY I was quitting. No matter how long it took me to finish this swim, I was NOT going to get a DNF. This was now more about a personal goal of overcoming my open water racing fear than anything else. I pulled upstream for about 10 minutes when I looked back to see that I couldn’t have been more than 125 meters or so from the buoy I’d just left. I kept fighting, I kept thinking of my mom who was about to undergo open heart surgery again and if she could endure that pain, then I could swim this. I kept fighting and pulling my way to the turn buoy. Once I made that right turn, the current washed my body, and many others, down. DAMN! WHY? So again fighting at a 45 degree angle just to swim strait across the river. I, and many others, were completely worn out by this time and it was all we could do to make it across. The current had ended up washing us downstream so much that the last 25 meters was swimming directly into the current up the side of the river bank JUST to get to the swim exit. DONE! I felt like I had accomplished the biggest thing in my life. I did what should have taken me less than 30 minutes in 1:20:55.

Bike – The bike as a decent course with only a couple inclines forcing my speed below 10mph. Even with the SIX 180 degree U-Turns (and not to mention after the most challenge swim of my life), I still managed to average 20.3mph. I should have been closer to 22, but hey, I’ll take that given how tired I was.

Run – The run was harder than expected; it had three very steep short hills that I actually walked up. I wasn’t going any faster up them running, so why not take a break and walk them right? I finished the run in an 8:37 pace.

In all, it was a great event for me. I got to race (race behind) with the country’s best triathletes. I got to experience what will be the WORST swim of my triathlon career (as I do not expect anything any worse). I did not finish last in my age group either… next to last. 4 DNFs in my group too. It’s been 6 days since this race, I still haven’t swam, I probably won’t until next week either.