The Swim
I was nervous about the swim this year. Not so much the chaos of the swim just the fact that I did very little swim training last year since I only did one sprint distance race and my longest swim this year was 58 minutes. My best time for the IMCDA swim was 1:34 so 58 minutes really isn't long enough. But I reminded myself that the swim reallly was the easiest part of the race two years ago. Would it still be? I also was nervous about very rough water that was experienced by racers last year. And what if my calves cramp? Would that be the end of my day? I still have some problems with calf cramps thanks to this race two years ago.
I stood on the beach and looked at the crowd. I was at the back of the crowd and just a little to the right of center. There were many people to the right of me and actually they looked like they were lined up with the boats that watch the race. They would have to go to the left at an extreme angle to get on course. That would be a serious problem.... I chatted with another guy who said that a slow swim is his strategy for finding his bike in T1. Ha, Ha, but I had to agree that my bike is usually sitting alone when I get out of the water.
The gun went off and we wished each other well and have a good race, see you out on the bike, etc. And "please don't kick me as you pass me in the water," I added. We walked down to the water. I was slightly nervous not terrified. I was less nervous now than I was when setting up my gear an hour earlier. The swim start was just like I remember it: very crowded with a few people on my legs and me on the legs of other swimmers. I breathed to the right and ducked to avoid a woman's arm. That happened last time too. With reflexes like that I should consider boxing. Two years ago I said that the IM swim (and the run for different reasons) are a little like a boxing match: you know someone's going to get beat up, you just hope it's not you or one of your friends.
I had to do quite a bit of head up swimming at this point to avoid the other swimmers. We really weren't going anywhere though. It was like the start of a huge running race. You don't run, you walk. I didn't want to have my head out of the water because obviously you can't swim very fast, and I can feel the strain on my back and hamstrings when I tread water or try to breaststroke in a wetsuit for too long. I didn't want my legs to get tight. If my hamstrings cramp it will be a very long day. At the team dinner on Thursday night I mentioned that I don't sight straight ahead, just left and right. Let me clarify that just a bit. I do look ahead but I don't sight off of the horizon. I do bilateral breathing so I can watch to the left and see the buoys and crowd and when I breathe to the right I see how many people are near me. If the majority of the crowd is on my left and nobody is on my right then I'm probably swimming toward the Spokane River and I need to move to the left. Also I can tell how many people are around me based on how violent the water under me is. Even though I wear earplugs, I can hear and feel the crowd if I'm near the bouys. If it's peaceful and feels like I'm swimming in Five Mile Lake then I need to go left. Just like the mosh pit at a rock concert, it gets more violent the closer to the center you get. Now that I'm older and wiser, I stay out of the mosh pit at rock concerts, but I still haven't learned to stay out of mass start swims.
What I needed to do at this point was get away from the people hitting me from the left. Remember all the people on the beach lined up to the far right? Now they were swimming almost paralel to the beach in an attempt to get on course and slamming into me in the process. Two years ago I didn't have this big of a problem with the "right side swimmers" cutting in. I used to enjoy the chaos and adrenaline of the swim. This year I just found it frustrating and annoying. I resolved that I would never do this again.
I made my way around the turn bouys at the far end of the course. There was boat wake out here (there was in past years too) and I could taste the fuel in the water. Yuk. I rounded the second bouy and swallowed a full mouth of water. No chance to spit it out either. I did that two years ago in the exact same spot! I coughed and gaged but it was too late and the water was already down.
The last part of the first loop was still crowded but I did find some space to swim. But now the negative self talk started. I knew that IMCDA was the only ultra distance event that I have not been happy with. Both years that I did it I got crushed. A DNF in 2005 and in 2006 calf cramps and nutrition/stomach problems that caused more physical pain and agony than I had ever experienced (well, since the race in the previous year). I will never forget those two races. I have had fairly good midpack success at other run and bike ultra distance events but not IM. Why? The answer is simple I figured: the other events don't involve swimming and you can't be a poor swimmer and have a good IM race. This is going to be a very long day.
Just ahead of me a guy was on his back trying to do backstroke. But he wasn't doing backstroke he was doing some sort of a crazy forearm spinning thing. His shoulders weren't moving just his arms from the elbow down. It looked like he was doing a backstroke drill and going nowhere. And his bent leg kicking was splashing a lot of water in my face. This was really pissing me off. Last week Patty Anderson said that she won't swim in the back of the crowd because of all the people who can't swim straight. She was right and I now understood her point.
I finished the first loop and looked at my watch: 45 minutes. Wow. That is the same time as my first lap two years ago and much better than I thought it would be. Very nice. Maybe this swim isn't so bad after all.
The second lap was more spread out. I swam for about ten minutes then stuck my head out of the water. I said hello to the guy next to me and noticed that it was cloudy and darker than at the start of the race. My legs were a little tight and I could feel the groin muscle in my right leg. I don’t know if someone grabbed that leg but it was stiff. I wasn’t too tired but I started to daydream at this point.
Until I reached the first turn bouy, that is. I could feel the water get rougher and I looked up to see a kayak just a foot from my face. "Go to your left," he told me. I looked to the left and saw that I wasn’t that far from the bouys and I was still on the edge of the crowd. 'Dude you go to the right and get out of my way', I was thinking. 'I'm doing just fine thank you very much'. They pushed us all into a tight group and the violent crowded swim started again. Dang! There were so many surfboards and kayaks just a few feet away. They looked like alligators at a trout farm. One was even in the middle of the swim pack. I don't remember this many lifeguards two years ago, but it's good that they are there (at the edge of the pack that is. Kayaks in the middle of the pack create problems.) I wonder if this is because of the rough water last year, or have more swimmers been getting into trouble at IM events? Have there been any fatalities in the water in the last two years? Bill would later tell me about his mishap with a lifeguard on a surfboard.
On the return leg I started daydreaming again. I was tiring but still comfortable. I had my head down in the water and saw something strange looking flash in front of my face. My heartrate redlined in fear. I popped my head out of the water and realized that it was just my arms in my black wetsuit doing their usual stroke. I had been looking at churning water and black-clad arms and legs for so long that I was losing focus.
I exited the water tired but pleased: I swam a 1:35. I walked up the steps and to the first wetsuit peeler I saw. They had a tough time getting my wetsuit over my ankles since I only used lube on my neck and not my ankles, but they still did a good job. They stood me up and through no fault of theirs, my right hamstring cramped. Crap. This might be a very long and painful day.
*to be continued.....*
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