Saturday (Day 135)

Swam (1:33 approx)

Temp: 86º F
RPE: 8
Weight: 175

First open water swim. First race start, first swim event ever. Lots of firsts! Did the Tallchief Open Water Challenge. I did a 2 mile swim. It took me a little bit less time that I thought it would, but still a long time – about 1:33.

It was a lot of fun. My proudest moment is when I swam into the second slowest guy on the course. I think by that time he and I are the only guys still left in the lake. Anyway, I’m heading toward the buoy, he’s heading away from it, and somehow, in the midst of this not small lake, thousands of yards of open water all around us, we collide and  head butt! Go figure.

Some of the things that I learned are that it is important to practice sighting – maintaining your swim pace while raising your head to look for buoys and/or obstacles. Never even occurred to me ’til I was talking to Denise, the race director, the Monday before the event. I also learned that the fastest swimmers are usually the ones that swim in the straightest lines, and that it’s disorienting when you swim into a canoe or kayak who’s helpfully trying to guide you back into the race path and, finally, that if you’re dead last, you get your own personal kayaker.

The other thing I learned is not to panic or freak out. Faced with all that brown water and no swim lanes, at the start I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. First time in over a year that I’ve been in a lake to actually swim and that was through an event sponsored by TAT. Then I did freak out and quietly bailed after about a couple of hundred yards out into the bay where we were swimming. This time I just focused on counting strokes and that seemed to help a lot.

Anyway, I’d really recommend the event. Denise did a great job, the event was well organized, the course was well  marked and laid out, the water was calm and protected making for great swim conditions, and the kayakers/canoers  out on the course were great – especially the guy in the white kayak – whom I will forever after think of as my own personal kayaker. Once it was clear I was dead last he stayed with me the whole way and gave me encouragement the whole time “doing great, almost home, there it is, etc.” If he should somehow read this, thanks. I tended to use him to mark my path, I tried to stay about ten feet off his side and that seemed to keep my position.

Talked to some swimmers from Ft. Worth and they actually had practice sessions for doing the buoys stroke stroke, roll onto your back as you turn, roll back as you straighten out. Oh, and man, the hamburgers were delicious too!