2007 Rogue 1 Mile Open Water Swim - Race 1
I'm still in a slight state of shock at my performance this morning. I came in second place in the women's division and third overall (men's and women's)!!! I'm completely astounded and excited!
Let's back up, though, and start at the beginning. I woke up this morning and my shoulder was feeling much better. I ate a couple apple wedges, some organic rice krispies with soy milk and a half a glass of juice, took a shower, put on my skeleton swimsuit and we headed out to the lake.
At the race site, I picked up my packet and swim cap and we meandered around a bit. After a bit, I put on my wetsuit and we headed out to find a place where I could get in and warm up. The water wasn't too cold (a few degrees warmer than Barton Springs, I would say) and I felt good on my warm-up swim.
The race started a little late as they got everyone together and explained the course. Some buoys seemed to keep blowing away. It was overcast and cloudy and I was a bit worried about chop, but it actually didn't end up being bad. It wasn't a treading water start; we were in water up to our thighs.
Then the race began. It was a loop course and we had to do three loops. The time went quickly and my mind was pretty blank for the race. I had planned to find someone to draft off of, but I was pretty much on my own during the first loop. I could see people ahead of me and I thought it was about 4 or 5 people. I couldn't tell. On the second loop, I noticed someone ahead of me going about the same speed. I sped up a bit to catch her.
I managed to catch her and stay with her for the rest of the second loop and nearly all of the third loop. I made plans to pass her on the home stretch, but I wasn't sure when I should try to pull ahead. Then, as we rounded the last buoy, she turned wide and I was on the inside and suddenly we were next to each other. We swam next to each other for a bit, then she dropped back and drafted and I realized I pulled out too soon. We still had a ways to go - maybe 200 meters or so.
She was right on my feet and every now and then I could feel her hand brush my feet. I tried to speed up and pull away, but she stayed with me. I picked up my turnover and kicked harder, but I was running out of energy. Finally, about 50 meters from the finish, she surged ahead. We were next to each other again - neck and neck. I tried to push ahead again, but I just couldn't do it and before I knew what was happening, she had stood up and was stumbling onto the shore. I followed, just seconds behind her.
On the shore, we stood breathless and I realized that the woman keeping score (it wasn't chip timed, she just wrote down our numbers and times off the race clock) was telling us that we were the first women out. I had to ask and clarify because I couldn't believe it. I thought there were a few people ahead of us. There was only one - a guy. The woman who came in first gave me a high five and we congratulated each other. I recognized her earlier, but couldn't remember her name. It turns out she trains with Texas Iron too. Her name is Ali.
So I came in second in the women's and third overall with a time of 28 minutes (Ali's official time is 27:58 - seriously, we were pretty much together coming in). There were probably 20-25 people racing and over half of them were women (probably close to 15). Roger said it was very nerve racking to watch us race since it was so close.
I had hoped to post a slightly better time, but when we got out, she told us that the course was slightly long so we went a bit over a mile. That aside, if we assume for a minute that it was exactly a mile, 28 minutes is a pace of 1:44/M (One minute, forty four seconds per 100 meters) which is the same pace I did my last 300 yard time trial (in the pool) at. It's also interesting to note that I swam my first open water swim race of 800 meters (pretty much exactly half the distance) in pretty much the same time (27:33) so I'm almost exactly twice as fast as I was a year ago.
After the race, I stumbled around looking for where I had left my sandals on the shore. As I was looking, one the race organizers came over congratulated us and exclaimed that it was a great race and it was very exciting to watch. Roger told me that they were using me as an example of good drafting technique for the beginners that had taken a beginner clinic that morning (they were then going to swim an 800 meter race after the mile swimmers were done).
Roger gave me a hug, even though I was all wet and I continued to stumble around a bit in a daze. I grabbed a banana and some pretzels (they had a great spread of food) and then decided to get out of my wetsuit. I talked to Ali a bit and one of the race officials came over and told us that there wouldn't be awards for this race, but that the top 5 women and top 5 men in the series of 3 open water races would win prizes. I'm already registered for the next two races. I feel really confident I can be in the top 5 women if I pull off the kind of race I had this morning at the next two races.
Let's back up, though, and start at the beginning. I woke up this morning and my shoulder was feeling much better. I ate a couple apple wedges, some organic rice krispies with soy milk and a half a glass of juice, took a shower, put on my skeleton swimsuit and we headed out to the lake.
At the race site, I picked up my packet and swim cap and we meandered around a bit. After a bit, I put on my wetsuit and we headed out to find a place where I could get in and warm up. The water wasn't too cold (a few degrees warmer than Barton Springs, I would say) and I felt good on my warm-up swim.
The race started a little late as they got everyone together and explained the course. Some buoys seemed to keep blowing away. It was overcast and cloudy and I was a bit worried about chop, but it actually didn't end up being bad. It wasn't a treading water start; we were in water up to our thighs.
Then the race began. It was a loop course and we had to do three loops. The time went quickly and my mind was pretty blank for the race. I had planned to find someone to draft off of, but I was pretty much on my own during the first loop. I could see people ahead of me and I thought it was about 4 or 5 people. I couldn't tell. On the second loop, I noticed someone ahead of me going about the same speed. I sped up a bit to catch her.
I managed to catch her and stay with her for the rest of the second loop and nearly all of the third loop. I made plans to pass her on the home stretch, but I wasn't sure when I should try to pull ahead. Then, as we rounded the last buoy, she turned wide and I was on the inside and suddenly we were next to each other. We swam next to each other for a bit, then she dropped back and drafted and I realized I pulled out too soon. We still had a ways to go - maybe 200 meters or so.
She was right on my feet and every now and then I could feel her hand brush my feet. I tried to speed up and pull away, but she stayed with me. I picked up my turnover and kicked harder, but I was running out of energy. Finally, about 50 meters from the finish, she surged ahead. We were next to each other again - neck and neck. I tried to push ahead again, but I just couldn't do it and before I knew what was happening, she had stood up and was stumbling onto the shore. I followed, just seconds behind her.
On the shore, we stood breathless and I realized that the woman keeping score (it wasn't chip timed, she just wrote down our numbers and times off the race clock) was telling us that we were the first women out. I had to ask and clarify because I couldn't believe it. I thought there were a few people ahead of us. There was only one - a guy. The woman who came in first gave me a high five and we congratulated each other. I recognized her earlier, but couldn't remember her name. It turns out she trains with Texas Iron too. Her name is Ali.
So I came in second in the women's and third overall with a time of 28 minutes (Ali's official time is 27:58 - seriously, we were pretty much together coming in). There were probably 20-25 people racing and over half of them were women (probably close to 15). Roger said it was very nerve racking to watch us race since it was so close.
I had hoped to post a slightly better time, but when we got out, she told us that the course was slightly long so we went a bit over a mile. That aside, if we assume for a minute that it was exactly a mile, 28 minutes is a pace of 1:44/M (One minute, forty four seconds per 100 meters) which is the same pace I did my last 300 yard time trial (in the pool) at. It's also interesting to note that I swam my first open water swim race of 800 meters (pretty much exactly half the distance) in pretty much the same time (27:33) so I'm almost exactly twice as fast as I was a year ago.
After the race, I stumbled around looking for where I had left my sandals on the shore. As I was looking, one the race organizers came over congratulated us and exclaimed that it was a great race and it was very exciting to watch. Roger told me that they were using me as an example of good drafting technique for the beginners that had taken a beginner clinic that morning (they were then going to swim an 800 meter race after the mile swimmers were done).
Roger gave me a hug, even though I was all wet and I continued to stumble around a bit in a daze. I grabbed a banana and some pretzels (they had a great spread of food) and then decided to get out of my wetsuit. I talked to Ali a bit and one of the race officials came over and told us that there wouldn't be awards for this race, but that the top 5 women and top 5 men in the series of 3 open water races would win prizes. I'm already registered for the next two races. I feel really confident I can be in the top 5 women if I pull off the kind of race I had this morning at the next two races.
Comments
Post a Comment