Pride and Perspiration

I participated in the DCB Adventures Open Water Swim at Tempe Town Lake today. I signed up for the 5000 meter swim, though I'm not sure why considering I've not had a swim workout longer than 3000 meters since August 29. But it sounded good at the time of registration and I'm not one to back out of a challenge.

So the way that it works is I start with a 1k swim (swum with the participants of the 1k swim). Then I exit the water during the 2k swim, and re-enter the water about 45 minutes later with the 4k swimmers. My initial plan was to jump in with the 1k swimmers and then just keep going. I wouldn't have an official time for my swim, but since it was just for fun I didn't think that I cared. I'm not sure who activated my competitive gene 5 years ago, but thanks! I think.

So I start my 1k swim. As with all open water swims I went out too hard in the first 150 meters. But then as I sighted the first buoy, I realized that I was near the front of the pack. So I continued to push the pace to see what I could do. I was zone 4 pretty much the entire 1000 meters. As I neared the last 200 meters I tried to pick it up cause the guy that had been drafting off me the entire time was trying to pass. I had nothing left. Picking up the effort only gave me a side stitch and made me want to vomit. He eventually got around me in the last 50 meters but oh well. If he had that much energy left at the end to sprint past me he clearly wasn't giving it his all. I, on the other hand, did. I decided at that point to get out of the water and take my prize for 2nd place female. (Woo hoo!) I'm totally not meaning to brag here, even though I am, but I am a consistently good swimmer. That makes me feel really good considering I've only been swimming since 2005.

So then I had a 45 minute break during which I drank a little Gatorade and chatted with my friends who had arrived to do the 4k swim. When it was our turn I lined up again for round two. I knew I needed to go out slowly otherwise I'd never make it through 4k. I took it nice and aerobic. At the end of the first loop, some joker who I'll call pink-capped-small-penis man was trying to start something with my husband who was about 100 meters ahead of me. Apparently the Skirt Chaser had passed him and this guy grabbed hold of his leg and pulled him under. SC told him where he could stick it which was about the time that I noticed the altercation. Pink-capped-small-penis man looked like he was about to take a swing at my guy (seriously? what are we, 5?) and about that time I start screaming. I think that ever since his accident last year, I am very overprotective of him. I worry that someone will kick his implant and cause him pain, or worse, break the bone again. But to pick a fight in the water is beyond dangerous. I don't think that people realize how easy it would be to drown someone without even necessarily intending to do so. I little bit of rage taken too far... scary. I'll get off my soap box, but Pink-capped-small-penis man, whoever you are: you should be ashamed of yourself and you should have been disqualified.

After that I might have picked up my pace a tad with the adrenaline and all. Second loop was uneventful. Third loop, my arms began their slow process of falling off. By 2500 meters, I was really feeling the fatigue. I think it is mostly because I haven't swum in a wetsuit since August. I reminded myself that I only had a mile to go. Easy peasy. When I hit the last loop I counted down the meters. Buoys were placed every 150 meters so my countdown went like this: 1000, 850, 700, 550, etc etc etc until finally I was in the last 50 meters. My stroke was so poor at this point that my deltoids were burning. (You are not supposed to use your deltoids when you swim, the effort should come from your lats. So that's how badly my stroke had broken down!) My husband was out of the water about 10 minutes ahead of me. He said he could see me, but convinced himself that it wasn't me because my stroke looked like shit! Once he realized it was me, he knew how tired I was.

All in all, it was a fantastic day. Got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while. Got to do an epic swim, actually tied for my longest swim ever! It was a beautiful day and all my friends who are getting ready for IM in 2 weeks were out there testing the waters. I can't wait to cheer them all on! I know I'll never do another distance like that without preparing. But, I feel like I'll be ready for my birthday swim in 5 weeks. Did I already mention my birthday swim plans? Well the secret is out. 100 x 100 = 10k Birthday Swim. That's 6.2 miles of swimming. I've got a few weeks left to wrap my head around that one. Yikes!!