Saturday, July 26, 2008

Humble Pie II: Open Water Swimming

This morning we had a mini-triathlon to get an idea of what race day will be like (minus the 7,000 other participants...). So, we all headed down to Ohio Street Beach to 'race.' We were told to get there by 7:15am, if not earlier, to set up our spot in the 'transition area.' I'd never been to this location, so I paranoid-ly left at 5:30am because I didn't want to be late. I got there painfully early at 6:08am. So I waited... by 6:55 no one else was there yet and I was getting nervous that I was waiting in the wrong spot. I finally spotted a fellow TNT-er and we stood for a few minutes before we saw a different guy that said 'our group is over there...' in a little grassy knoll off yonder. I take "Ohio Street Beach" to mean the actual beach.. but who am I? So I was kinda cranky that I didn't get the time I wanted to like mentally prepare as I set my stuff up-- I still had a few minutes but the location issue threw me off. So I set up my towel rather haphazardly. The whole idea is to set things in a super organized way that will enable you to dawn whatever equipment you need as quickly as possible when you are transitioning. I'd never transitioned before so I had no idea what order to put things in. I watched a seasoned triathlete and did a poor imitation of his towel. Then I went to retrieve my wetsuit. Oh, wetsuits. I wore one exactly four years ago and it was great. This one-- not so great. It's meant for racing, so obviously it's going to be tight. But I was not alone in my lack of attractive-ness... even the skinny mini's had backsides the size of Texas in those things. I worried that my continental backside would hurt someone!

OPEN WATER SWIMMING. Holy holy holy holy cow. We walked into about our knees, it wasn't too cold which I was happy 'about-- those wetsuits do a good job (at one point I was even like 'man, I'm too warm!'). Then one of the TNT coaches shouted "OKAY GO!" We were to swim seven and a half minutes out, and then come back for a 15 minute swim (very mini triathlon...). So even though we were in knee deep, people just like flopped on their bellies and started swimming... I chose to wade in to my waist as I didn't want to scoop the bottom of Lake Michigan with my stroke. Then I noticed I couldn't breathe. My wetsuit goes all the way up to my neck, past where my clavicles meet and it feels like it is pushing on my neck and choking me. I lifted my head up sputtering. I could get a breath in sort of, but when I put my face back in the water to breathe out through my nose, I couldn't! So when I would take my three strokes then turn to breathe again, I still had the air from the first time stuck in there. VERY DISTRESSING. I kicked and flapped... stood up a couple of times, coughed and coughed and coughed, and tried to keep going in a Dory-esque fashion ('Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....) 'I am going to be the one to drown. All these yahoos can swim in open water, but I am going to drown.' I pulled my my face up and coughed some more then looked to my left where another TNT-er was with her face out of the water, too. "I can't even breathe in here!!!" I shouted to her. I was so grateful when she replied "ME EITHER!!!" Somehow knowing that I wasn't alone in my respiratory distress was comforting. I decided I needed to get comfortable breathing while I was horizontal-- for some reason that was when everything went awry in the inspiration/expiration process. So I kicked on my side for a couple of seconds with my face out of the water so I could breathe freely. Once I realized that I could breathe while being horizontal, I tried swimming like a swimmer again. It took a couple minutes, but I got into somewhat of a rhythm. I could breathe at least; a step in the right direction. There were no major issues from there. I just felt like I wasn't going ANYWHERE. At one point I saw the bottom of the lake and I thought 'Victory, I'm done!' However as I looked up, I realized I was just at the retaining wall... still very far from the shore. Any technique I'd used in any pool, any sort of power I'd ever had in the water was absolutely gone. Between my FULL ARM wetsuit (that was a mistake!!!) and the wavy and murky water... I was hardly efficient and probably went like 400 yards in 15 minutes. It was a first, though... can only get better from there. We have another opportunity to practice this Wednesday at a group training, and hopefully I'll get out there a couple more times before race day.

So out of the water I had the joy of tearing off my wetsuit as I scurried to our transition area. Many non-TNT-ers looked as we all stampeded up the beach. I am so grateful for my teammates as misery does love company. I wiggled out of that wetsuit and threw on my TNT dri-fit shirt. I'd worn my 'triathlon shorts' and my swimming suit under my wetsuit so all I needed was a t-shirt. Once my shoes, socks, and helmet were on, I was off.

If you have ever been on the Lake Shore Trail, you know that Saturday mornings are CRAZY crowded. The coach had prepared us for this aspect, saying this training session was for the transitioning experience, not necessarily to go as fast as you can. (Psh). In that, he was essentially saying 'be safe on the trail, it's crowded.' And he was right. I was reminded of the Shamrock Shuffle, a 5k run in the city. It is SO crowded that instead of experiencing the euphoric endorphins brought with exercise, one (I) gets extremely angry because there are people in the way preventing optimal performance. That was seriously frustrating, but I really couldn't do anything about it, so I tried to use my irritation for something positive-- (what? I'm still not sure). We biked 15 minutes out, then came back for a 30 minute ride.

Once off the bike, I removed my helmet and strapped on my mock race number. They wanted us to feel exactly what we'd feel on race day in regards to equipment and what not, so they gave us our race belts and a mock number. The belt is an elastic band that clips together and you snap your number onto it. The last thing I need around my waist is an elastic band, my word! Whatever, I didn't win the spandex war, so I knew I probably wouldn't win this one, either. So I strapped it on and started running. Ten minutes out and ten minutes back for a total of 20 minutes. The run was fairly uneventful. I've noticed in the few times I've run right off the bike that my kneecaps go screwy. I have Patellar Femoral Tracking, so they essentially move around when they shouldn't. My right one has been giving me the most trouble which is surprising since I recently broke off part of my left knee. It does make me nervous as the race will be a significantly longer bike AND run... but we'll see. I'll pre-medicate with Advil and what not.

I finally finished. It was pretty warm and I was a lot more tired that I expected or wanted to be. During the run I remember thinking 'I don't know if I could run 6.2 miles right NOW much less if I'd just biked 25 and swam 1!' So I learned that even though I feel like I'm totally ready, there's still training to be done and it needs to be done OUTSIDE. The heat is such a big factor and when I workout in a wonderfully air conditioned gym, it's more comfortable, but I'm setting myself up for FAILURE. I also need to figure out how to eat on the bike and to stay hydrated. I don't have a water bottle cage on the Iron Horse, so I'll have to figure that out because I will need to be drinking during the bike in order to have any sort of fluid/electrolytes left for the run. I am a sweater.

As I downed Gatorade after the run two conversations stand out in my memory:
1) Random Man: "Did you see the lifeguards telling people to get out of the water? The E.Coli level is too high."
--EW! OMG THAT IS SO DISGUSTING. I was swimming in E.Coli laden waters and I want to shower myself in bleach. I definitely swallowed water in my near-drowning escapade. I feel so DIRTY! I showered IMMEDIATELY when I got home and scrubbed!!!

2) Herky-Jerky-Hip Coach: "...Did you have a rough night... you don't look so good. You look really tired..."
--- Sometimes there are just those people who always say the wrong thing. It is true though, I didn't look super hot. I decided to go without mascara for the first time since like 6th grade and my eyes were super blood shot and puffy from my goggles. Not a pretty sight, but also not what one wants to hear... ever.

I rode my bike back home and when I got home I had the worst stomach ache ever. I was super nauseous and belched a couple of times... I thought I was going to ralph. 'That E.Coli is fast acting...' I thought to myself... Then it grew to sharp abdominal pains as I panicked about the terrible timing as I don't have insurance yet and I didn't know if they'd let an E.Coli clad nurse work again-- ever. After I showered I went straight to my room and started typing this bad boy and have slowly started to feel better, but I don't know, something funky is going on in my abdomen.

All this before 10am! Crazy. Next week: open water swim (yucky!) on Wednesday, then the South Shore Triathlon on Saturday. Keep donating! When I feel better, I will write about the person who spoke before this morning's escapades, very very touching story about how he's been affected by blood cancer.

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