September 19th, 2007
Duke Liver Center Half Ironman Prep, Swim, and T1
I woke up about 4:30 and headed straight to the shower to try and wake myself out of my usual early morning stupor. Mornings and me don’t work well together. After a quick shower I fixed a bagel with peanut butter and ate it quickly as I got my water bottles out of the dish washer and mixed up a bottle of Cytomax and one with water. By the time I got everything together and down onto the car and in the trunk it was close to six leaving me only 45 minutes till I was supposed to be at the start line ready to swim even though my wave wouldn’t start till 7:04. Needless to say I was flying down the highway. I had a pretty good idea of where the course was from previous rides with Ron but in the darkness of six a.m. everything changes a bit. By the time I got to the park it was 6:30 and i pulled up the drive into the park where I was promptly told that the lots were full and I’d have to park on the road a mile away. Luckily I did see a spot that no one had claimed yet so I was able to park right at the end of the entrance. I saw several people still heading up to the start running just as late as I did. I came across a couple carrying in their supplies as well both pretty upset with the parking situation but they weren’t panicking which kept me a bit calmer.
I’m guessing I finally got into the transition area right around a quarter to 7 and quickly setup my blanket and racked my bike asking the nearby USATF referee if all my stuff was correct so I’d avoid any penalties. I ran out to get my timing chip and was told I needed my race number so had to run back into the transition then back again to get chipped up and have my race number inked on. I got back to my rack just in time to hear them calling for the white cap wave to check in. This was my swimming wave and the second one to start. So I had to strip down to my Zoot suit and head to the water while putting my cap and goggles on. The air was frigid and I found out as I headed down that the suit did end up being deemed wetsuit legal at the last minute. It turned out that a lot of people weren’t in suits and would be in the same boat as me.
While we were sitting on the boat dock I’m the only one trying to do my stretches and get loosened up since I was so late. I looked out at the course and the furthest buoy seemed a lot further away than .6 of a mile. The first air horn sounded and the black capped elite men and women took off. Then it was time for my wave of white caps, which were 34 and under, to get in the water. Turns out we had to sit out there and tread water for four minutes. I guess it wasn’t enough to ask us to swim 1.2 miles, at least the water felt great and wasn’t cold at all. A lot of the guys in the water were cutting up and making jokes. The announcer gave a 30 second warning then out of nowhere blew the horn and we were off.
This was my first open water swim and it really was quite a change. I kept wanting to get a practice swim in the lake but circumstances kept blocking the attempt. Next time I’ll definitely know better. It felt like I was swimming in molasses and looked about the same through the goggles. Without the lane lines, lane ropes, and visual cues normally found around a pool it was hard to judge how fast I was moving. I felt tired and worn out by the time I even reached the first buoy. I looked up and could see the white caps pulling steadily away from me. Except for one lone white cap next to me, breast-stroking which added insult to injury I felt like I was all alone. As far as thinking about quitting the swim accounted for all occurrences. I remember thinking, screw it, lets get out of this and imagined raising my hand and being pulled in. Then I imagined being the only one ferried in and kept going.
At almost the halfway point the swells were battering. I’d have my head come out of the water and then back in with each oscillation. I realize my view was skewed but it seemed like they were at least a couple feet high. I couldn’t see anyone anywhere when I looked up. Finally I ran into someone and I looked up to see a blue cap and hope springed eternal. I figured that I caught someone so I couldn’t be doing too badly. A few minutes later I felt myself getting hit again and looked up to see a swarm of blue caps. Turns out that the next wave, men 35-39, that started 4 minutes after me were catching and passing me. Also after looking back the same white cap breast stroker was still hanging with me. A very demoralizing episode. Between the next to last buoy and the triangle turn around point I looked up to find myself way out of line and in the way of oncoming swimmer as I had to make a sharp turn back to pass the buoy on the right side to be legal.
I made the turn and figured that at least the swells would now be pushing me back towards the finish, in theory at least. It ended up feeling like I was being pushed forward and then sucked back as each one passed. At some times I felt like I wasn’t moving at all and I would get panicked. I would stop and breast stroke and look around and not see much of anything in the way of swimmers. At about the second buoy on the way back I looked over to see the yellow caps, men 40-49, catching and passing me. Id alternate between being angry and feeling hopeless depending on when I’d look up. I would buckled down and concentrate on my stroke and feel like i was flying because id see a buoy and look up a few seconds later and then it’d be gone and it seemed like I was back at a standstill.
Towards the end I could see the dock and one of those giant blowing men air socks on the end of the pier beckoning us in. I finally got to the shore and felt my hands on the rocks of the shore. I looked up and I was about 20 feet from the exit so I had to swim over to it and then make my way up the boat ramp to some cheering from the crowd.
In a decidedly un-PC moment I looked back at the water and said, “Fuckin’ Hell. Fuck that shit!” as I turned back to the transition area. I heard several in the crowd giggle and laugh so I guess I said it louder than I meant to. Hopefully no one was offended but I didn’t care at the time. I got into the transition are and decided that if I was going to finish this race I was going to take my time. There was a relay racer standing by my rack waiting for his swim partner to finish and I joked with him that to start with I was worried about my transition time but now I was going to take my time. He laughed and said you wouldn’t have caught him out there. He also looked at his watch and said don’t worry about it that I had made good time. I guess he didn’t see my white cap I had already taken off. I finally got my helmet, bike jersey (loaded with salt tabs, gels, and balance bars), gloves, sunglasses, and shoes on and headed out onto the course wishing the guy well.
My swim time was 51:11 and my first transition time was 4:08. Tomorrow the bike and transition 2.
