(Yum.. nice Lums Pond green water - great crap to swim in!)Sunday, June 7
So I think perhaps I have gotten my swim panic attack out of the way... I am all clear for Eagleman..
...today I did a women's triathlon called, "Diamond Girl"... it was shorter than a normal sprint tri...being only a 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, and 2 mile run...
...thought it would give me a good warm up for Eagleman ....and THANKFULLY I did it... because I had a boni-fied.. P-A-N-I-C .....A-T-T-A-C-K ....in the water... why.. ??? oh who the hell knows... . I can swim in the murky, choppy, jelly fish strewn Chesapeake for 2.4 miles but I sure as hell can't swim a freaking 1/4 mile in a smooth lake... sigh
So let's start back at the beginning... the water temp was 70... so wetsuits were allowed.... I stuffed the potato in the sack and got the blasted neoprene thing on.. it was a standing start.. .. no chance to actually “warm up” in the water... and BANG off we go... I am thinking this will be cake... and then I realize I cant exhale.. I am out of breath... and starting to hyperventilate...then I get UPSET that I am starting to hyperventilate...so I take a moment and doggy paddle around.. trying to get the heart rate down.. other gals are doing the same.. SO pathetic!!!..... I do a mix of God knows what and freestyle as my breathing is all out of whack... and I get out of water at 15.49... PATHETIC...
My friend (aka the cupcake)... was doing this event too... mind you she did NOT own a wetsuit and swam the whole thing in 70 degree water with just her tri suit... and she STILL BEAT me out of the water!! ...OH and yeah I think she had one practice swim to my three days a week since March swims... yeah ... nice...
So just for the record.. I do actually love to swim, I don’t mind open water not one bit.. murky water doesn’t bother me... nor do fish, live creatures (except maybe sharks)... waves, chop, none of that bothers me... perhaps the cold water.. maybe.. maybe that’s the problem.. but it really didn’t feel that cold.. I don’t know.. head case?
When I got out of the water I walked to transition.. this is a first.. I usually run but I thought I needed the time to keep the heart rate down and analyze WTF is going on... I had a super fast transition... and that included taking off the wetsuit.
The bike was my strength today... I knew if the course was flat I had a good chance of keeping up a very high rate of speed for 10 miles... I started off a bit cautiously,.. to see if my legs would perhaps explode but alas they did not... so after a half mile I started cranking it.... instantly I was moving along and passing folks... ... I usually am a great masher so my gears are usually high... I mash around in third and it was working..
Somehow I passed the cupcake on the bike.. not sure when.. she had gotten a head start but alas I did not see her.. according to her after the race she said I passed her and made it look easy... well I am glad I can make thigh crunching look easy... they have me down for 18.8 mph avg.. it was around 19 mph if you remove the time to dismount and run with bike into transition..
Into the second transition I go... and back out.. legs felt ok... shin a bit sore but it's only a 2 mile run... thankfully... la la la.. plodding away.. and the freaking cupcake catches me at turn around. So around mile 1... she is like a CHEETAH... I give her a heads up that there is a 43 year old just right in front of us and to catch her... I didn’t have much energy to try and battle head to head with the cupcake at this time..
I just felt really good that I was holding such a good pace after such a phenomenal bike... on the last sprint into the finish.. the cupcake was out of reach but I did sprint pass the 43 year old who I had been trailing... ending up 9 seconds behind the cupcake... WHEW DONE...
they have me down for running the last 2 miles at a 7.11 pace... no way.. course for run had to be short.. I know what I run and i wasn't running no 7.11 pace after that bike.. maybe a 8 or 8.11 pace but not a 7.11... but whatever...We checked our specs ... we both have to do much better in swim to be able to place.. once we get that out of the way.. I think we would have a shot.. we both did great in the bike and run...
Can we do it again?
