70.3 Ironman Texas- Part II (The Swim)
I got all my gear out Saturday night and packed my transition bag. I was still feeling pretty calm at this point and hadn't freaked out yet, which was good!
I got about 2-3 hours of sleep Saturday night. Nerves kept me from going to sleep and 4am comes quickly when you don't go to bed until after 1am or so. We got dressed, I choked down a bagel and some Gatorade, and we headed to the race.
I think I started freaking out a little while we were in the car. Our hotel was about 14 miles from the race, so I had a nice little ride to start letting my brain run wild with what I was about to attempt to do. I listened to my ipod of my workout music which helped me feel better. My body knows those songs well and what I require of it when I hear them:)
Transition opened at 5am and I went about the business of setting up my area. They had us packed tight in there, so there wasn't much space for all the gear. I pumped up my tires and tried to keep my hands from shaking....no such luck! It is awfully lonely racing by yourself. Silas wasn't allowed in the transition area and I knew I would be on my own from here on out for the most part. I chatted with the other women around me and was glad to learn most of them were freaking out a bit too!
Luckily Silas got to walk down to near the swim start and hang out with me for a while before my wave was called. I was just trying not to throw up at this point!! I watched carefully for others in my wave (light blue swim caps) to start pulling their wetsuits on and did the same. The tension was building and I knew I was about to get to the point of no return in this crazy little adventure I was on:)
I left Silas and am sure I looked like I was about to cry! I quickly made some new friends in my age group and we helped each other zip into our wetsuits, and chatted nervously while they herded us ever closer to the swim start. I made sure to stay to the back of the pack since I had no plans to swim fast:)
I felt fairly calm when the time came to jump off the pier and swim to the start buoy. The announcer yelled, "30 seconds to start," and I thought my heart might jump out of my throat!! Then the gun went off and I didn't have time to think any more. I just put my face in the water and started to swim. It took me FOREVER to find my rhythm. People were hitting me and I kept sucking in big gulps of salt water. I guess I was hyperventilating because I just could not get my breathing to calm down or regulate. Somehow I managed to swim the first 681 m with this crazy breathing. I rounded the first buoy and began the longest leg of the swim. About 200 m down I seriously considered quitting. I couldn't breathe right and I just wasn't sure I could make it the rest of the way. Then I thought about Silas waiting anxiously for me at the swim exit, and how disappointed I would be if I let him down. I also realized I had made it about half way at that point and should probably just keep going as long as I could. I was staying wide so I am sure I swam a lot farther than I needed to, but it was less crowded and I felt better. I focused on finding the next buoy and just swimming to it, and so on. Before I knew it I had gotten my breathing under control and was actually swimming comfortably! Too bad it only took 3/4th of the swim to get there! I felt the biggest relief when I turned the last corner and headed for home. I felt my hands hit sand, put my feet down, and couldn't stop smiling:)
I checked my watch and was surprised to see I was right on track for what I thought I could swim. I was aiming for 45-50 minutes, and crossed the mat at 48:42. I was working hard to get my wetsuit off so I forgot to look up for any pictures. The wetsuit strippers were very efficient and yanked the bottom half right off for me:) Oh my goodness....I seriously just swam 1.2 miles in the ocean!!!!
posted by Lauren at
7:31 PM
2 Comments:
It was so nice to run into you on the way to transition. Thanks for saying hi!
And I'm glad to see that we had the same exact swim experience. It was insane!
You did it and you totally rocked the swim! Yea for YOU!
Sorry that we never found each other. So many people and so much to do on race morning!
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