The Mad Marathon Countdown is ON!

It's a mad, mad world and that's why I went rogue and signed up for the Mad River Marathon in Vermont, coming up on July 6th. Rogue, because Coach suggested I bump down to the half, given my training plan has me running only 14 miles by race day; but I secretly jacked up my training schedule so that I could run the full marathon as planned. Shhhh! Don't tell him.
 

A few months ago when  Silly Rabbit, AKA SRab, AKA Carol, told me she was doing this mad, mad marathon, I just knew I was mad enough to do it!  After all, it's billed as The World's Most Beautiful Marathon:

 You will be running through this extraordinary rural community on back and
dirt roads, with breathtaking views of the Green Mountains, challenging rolling
farmlands with tough climbs and descents, quaint villages, historic barns, covered
bridges and fields of our famous Vermont cows!

What's not to love?

 Well....

Lots of hillz -- in fact, this may be the hilliest marathon I've ever run! However, I endured 50 miles of hills at Can Lake, so I'm going to let the hills of the Mad River Valley be someone else's problem.

That's not to say it will be easy. Between long weekend swims and lots of travel, my longest training run was17 miles this past Saturday. So yeah, Coach was probably right about the mileage situation....

But I'll just keep telling myself it's only a training run....only a training run...

Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 2014

What a wild ride it was! The 2014 Bay Swim tossed me up and down, slapped me around and put up a good fight. In the end, the Bay won....but I'm not feeling defeated. 

 

The big take-away for me from this year's swim was that it's not "all about the current," as I had thought. The waves and chop can also take a toll on forward progress. But I was so focused on the current---especially after last year's swimming-in-place adventure---that I figured that's really all I had to worry about. And this year's swim was timed for maximum avoid-the-worst-of-the-current success. What could possibly go wrong?



Here We Go!

When I stepped on the beach at Sandy Point I felt well prepared for success. I was swimming faster this year, thanks to some strength training and probably the stroke-tweaking I got at the Sheila T workshop. And while the water wasn't as calm as last year, it didn't look bad. We seemed to be in for a perfect day on the bay. With the current hitting later in the swim, I was sure I could do this!



Z Bay Swim Crew

Adding to the fun -- we had a nice crew of Team Zers swimming!

The Rappin' Rabbits Will Rock It!

Team Rabbit was in the house, Tracey was back for her second Bay Swim, and  Janet, Rich, Carol, Mark, and other Zs and significant others had come to cheer us on!

Thanks, guys!

Here's how it went this year:

Mile 1 - The current was pushing us in the right direction as we swam for the bridge. I felt like I was swimming into some small rollers, but I managed to avoid much contact with other swimmers. So far, so good.

All was well as I turned left and began the swim between the spans.

Made it to the Mile 1 buoy in 38 minutes, right on track.

Mile 2 - This was the best stretch of water we encountered during the swim. I'm guessing it was slack tide because the chop seemed to calm a bit. It did pick up in the channel, as expected, but I wasn't feeling any current yet, unlike last year at this point.

The slack tide was with me at Mile 2

Mile 3 - It got rougher after the 2 mile buoy and just kept building. I started to feel the pull of the current and swam over to the right side of the "lane" to compensate. Approaching the 3 mile buoy I checked my watch. I had been swimming over 2 hours and my energy was waning. I decided that once I cleared the 3 mile marker I would move farther to the right and then stop for a GU.

This is where Kayak Escort Guy joined me. He was keeping an eye on me and another yellow capper who had been swimming nearby for most of the swim. It's always nice to have some company!

Mile 4 -  By now the chop had kicked in full force and we were getting some whopping rollers. Unfortunately, the rollers were coming from the same side as the current, so we had to fight both.

Where Things Got Interesting

One of the kayakers wrote this about the conditions in his blog:

While air temps and humidity were pleasant, the bay was choppy with strong currents, which was swept by brisk and steady winds that generated 1.5 ft chop and some 2.5 ft rollers.  

I was really feeling the current, but it didn't come close to the ridiculous current at Nanticoke or at last year's Bay Swim, so I felt confident I was going to make it. Yes, I would finish this year's Bay Swim! Redemption for last year's DNF! I just knew it. There was no way I wouldn't make it at this point -- I had plenty of time to finish and beat the cutoff. ETA would be right around 2pm (3 hours, 30 minutes). No worries.

So...I decided I would have time for a brief GU stop. I popped up and Kayak Escort Guy paddled over. He asked me my name and gave me a quick pep talk as I tried to hang on to the bucking kayak and take my GU. I knew this would set me back a bit as the current began sweeping the kayak toward the other side of the swim lane, but I kept it quick and knew that I could fight my way back into position. Still no worries.

But while the current was fightable, the washing machine chop, swells, and waves were taking a toll. Perhaps I didn't realize how much it was slowing me down because I was having so much fun! I was getting wacked by the rollers coming from the right. Lifted up and smacked down in the chop. OMG! It just kept coming! I was getting thrown around like a toy boat. It was a wild, rockin' ride and I loved it.

Between Miles 3 and 4

I knew I would be cutting it close so I kicked and pulled harder and tried to pick up my turnover and just punch through it. Yay for weak-side breathing practice because breathing to the right was proving too difficult. I was closing in on the 4 mile buoy -- it was just a few yards away. Yes! I was doing this!

Until I wasn't.

"Sally, Sally! We're getting pulled." I glanced up to see Kayak Escort Guy next to me and figured he was kidding, so I kept swimming.
 "Sally! Sally!"
"Whaaa??"
"You have to stop. We're getting pulled."
"Wait -we're what?"
"You missed the cutoff. You're gonna have to get out."
"Seriously? But the buoy is right there! I'm so close -- just a few more strokes.."
"Sorry. It's 1:46. The cutoff was at 1:45."
"But I'm almost there..."
"Sorry - they're saying you have to come in."

I checked my watch and sure enough, I had been swimming for 3 hours, 15 minutes. The 4 mile cutoff was at 3:15 into the swim (1:45pm). Rules are rules. Sigh.

A guy on a jet ski pulled up to give me a ride to one of the boats that would take me in.  I looked back and couldn't see any swimmers behind me. Glanced up ahead and saw a swimmer just beyond the 4 mile marker. A couple of other swimmers were fighting the current head on to get to the final left turn for the finish line. They seemed to barely be inching forward.

Keeping it real here, I doubt I would have made the finish line cutoff in the half hour remaining, given that final swim into the current. But I was pumped that the other Zs made it! Congrats to all!

What's Next?
When I got pulled during last year's Bay Swim, I immediately knew I would be back this year to try again. But, sipping a Gatorade on the fancy boat ride in this time, I wasn't feeling it.  I was thinking maybe my 3 year love affair with swimming was over. Maybe it's time to move on to other adventures....get back on the bike....start knocking off some continents on my marathon list....

But I've always said when it stops feeling like a big adventure, I'll stop doing it. And the bottom line is, I had a blast on my journey across the bay. I didn't make the finish line, but I had fun trying! Another Bay Swim adventure in the books.

Will I be back next year? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll let the lottery decide for me. Or maybe there's a nice calm lake swim calling my name...

Jim McD 1 + 2 Mile Lake Swims

May 25

Memorial Day weekend. Two weeks before the Bay Swim. That means it's time for the Jim McDonnell Lake Swim! Once again, I had signed up for the 1 miler followed by the 2 miler.

After the crazy currents of Nanticoke, a lake swim seemed downright tame. But I still managed to get a case of the nerves, thanks to the overkill training I got in the week before the Jim McD. 

Out of town the weekend before Jim McD, I was going to have to find a way to squeeze in a long swim when I got back. That Tuesday I flew in to BWI, drove straight to the FedEx pool, and swam 8,000 yards. 

8,000 yards = 320 laps = 4.5 miles. Shew! It took me 3 hours, 15 minutes, but I got it done.

Then came swim practice on Thursday at Stone Ridge,where we now have a whopping 3 lanes instead of the usual 2.  For reasons that have nothing to do with speed, I wound up in the fastest lane with 2  guys who were easily swimming a pool length ahead of me. My lame attempts at keeping up with them actually resulted in  my fastest 100s this year. But I was wondering if I would pay for it at Jim McD.

Turns out I swam my fastest Jim McD times yet. Here's how it ended up:

1 Mile - 38:50, a three minute improvement over last year
2 Mile - 1:26:25, a four minute PR

So, another Reston swim in the bank. Next up: the Bay Swim!