Pre-Race
I arrived at Plymouth harbor at 5:30 am to a chilly morning with a gusty breeze, a far cry from the warm, calm mornings I had experienced pre-race in Colorado! I began setting up my transition area, but after 5 minutes I decided to pull on my full sleeve wetsuit to keep warm. It was almost 90 minutes until start time but I wasn't the only one making that decision and it was the first time I didn't find myself feeling too hot while wearing a wetsuit out of the water. I finished setting up quickly, simplicity is the key to transitions in my experience, limited as it may be. I chatted with my neighbors a bit and with my friend Nicole, who was doing the Iron Distance Aquabike.
I hydrated, had a bagel and some gummy bears, popped some Endurolytes and just generally tried to pass the time until I boarded the bus to the swim start, which was a half mile or so away.
Once aboard, the sound of nervous chatter emanated from every seat while we waited to get under way. As the bus began to move however, the whole bus fell silent as we realized we were taking the first step on a very long journey.
The swim was in Plymouth Harbor, predominantly along the jetty. The tide was all the way out and when we jumped into the water and swam the few strokes towards the starting buoy, we found we were able to stand up while we waited. After a few seconds of standing, I remembered all the crabs I had seen in the harbor and decided to float instead. A few second later, the competitor next to me yelped and jumped. "I just got pinched by a crab!" A lot more people were floating after that, while the crabs wouldn't do any damage, they would certainly hurt.
Soon enough, the horn sounded and we were off! My ironman had begun!
I had forgotten just how salty the ocean was, swimming in the Res and in pools had softened me up and I was spluttering a bit from the water that got in my mouth whenever I breathed. With the tide so low, my fingertips were brushing the silt as I swam, a pleasant thought considering how much junk was in the harbor. Some competitors were so flummoxed by the shallowness that they waded through the really shallow sections.
The swim was going... well, swimmingly... as I moved along the jetty. No waves, no chop... it was pretty awesome.
When I came to the end of the jetty, there was a gap between the end of the jetty and the turnaround buoy and hitting that gap was like swimming into a brick wall. Here the wind had fair play and was whipping up a lot of chop, combined with the incoming tide, waves were in the vicinity of two feet in height, making sighting almost impossible. I had never swam in such conditions before and was having trouble catching my breath as I swam freestyle and had no idea if I was going in the right direction. After a very brief internal debate, I switched over to swimming the breast stroke which made it both easier to breathe and to see. After rounding the buoy, I headed back but was making even slower progress trying to return to the shelter of the jetty than I did on the way out to the buoy.
After what felt like an eternity, I regained the calmer waters of the jetty and made my way back to the starting buoy, switching back to freestyle right away. Soon I was around the starting buoy and making my way to the buoy at the end of the jetty.
The chop beat me up again but this time, as I rounded the buoy, I didn't head back the way I came. Instead the course headed for shore and I rode the wind and tide driven chop towards the dock beside the Mayflower. At this point I was flying through the water, passing buoys before I even knew I was near them. Then the dock was in sight and I was climbing from the water...
Goal time 1:30-1:45
Actual time 1:28:33
No comments:
Post a Comment