Musselman

Racked and ready to roll!

Goal:  Beat last year's time of 8:28

Result:  8:18

I wasn't very excited about doing Musselman a third time but signed up anyway to avoid the FOMO that was sure to grip me if I missed a Team Z road trip. My whole attitude leading up to the race was pretty lackadaisical. My biggest issue was a fairly small one:  whether to bring my road bike or Stella. M'man has hills and false flats, but nothing too severe. So I opted to bring Stella.

Swim

Lake Geneva

Goal:     Under  47:19

Result:  50:27

I really enjoyed the swim. It wasn't a wave roller coaster like last year, but it still had some rollers to keep things interesting. We seemed to be fighting the rollers head-on on the way out to the first turn buoy, and I felt like I was having to work a little harder to move forward.

The final stretch of the swim

I managed to keep up with a small group of swimmers, but stayed to their right to avoid contact. When we turned into the canal, I didn't feel the same "current assist" we had last year; the water didn't seem to be moving at all. But it was nice and clear--loved it!

I finished 3 minutes slower than last year, which is ironic given all the extra swimming I've done this year to prepare for the Bay. Have I actually gotten slower? How is that possible?

Bike

Before the storm

Goal:  Make the cutoff

Actual: 4:03:33 (made it by 3 minutes)

As soon as I rode out of the park it started raining. A few miles later it wasn't just casually raining, it was thunderstorming. We were getting hammered! I've ridden in the rain before, but never like this. I kept seeing flashes of lightning quickly followed by booming thunder. As crazy as it sounds, I actually enjoyed it. Nothing like throwing in a weather hazard to keep things interesting!

Eventually the storm slacked off to just plain old rain. I tried to stay aero as much as possible and hammer the hills. When I turned onto Swick--the road with the worst hill--I was surprised by my reaction. The Swick hill didn't look so bad ass anymore! Seriously, after the Garret Gran Fondo and the Wisconsin Training Ride, this hill looked tame!

With one hour to go until the time cutoff of 12:30, I still had12 miles ahead of me. The rain had stopped by now. All I had to do was keep my speed above 12 mph to make it.  Totally doable.

Still, those last 12 miles were no picnic; they included some false flats and hills....just enough to drop my speed below 12 at times.  So I pedaled as hard as I could when I wasn't on a hill, trying to go as fast as possible to make up the difference. My legs were really feeling it.

I cruised into the park with about 3 minutes to spare. Had I started the race at 7:15, like last year, I wouldn't have cut it so close. (Yes, I'm bitter.)  As I crossed the timing mat, one of the volunteers asked if I was going to "continue on."  Hell yeah I was continuing on! What a ridiculous question.

Run

Goal:  Under 3 hours

Result:  3:16:37

I was happy to have made the bike cutoff and now it was just a matter of getting it done. My legs were trashed, but I knew they'd loosen up after the first few miles. Heading out of the park I ran into some fastie Zs cruising toward the finish line. It was good to see familiar faces!

When I turned off the main road in town, I was all by myself. Mile after mile, it was just me. No one in sight ahead of me, no one passing me.  And this is when the negative thoughts started creeping in. I tried to cancel them out with positives, but this time it wasn't working.

The thing about Musselman is that only the people in the first swim wave get a full 8 hours to finish. For everyone else it goes down by 5 minute increments per swim wave, and I happened to be in the last wave that went off at 7:30.  That meant less time to make the bike cutoff, less time to make the finish line. The bottomline: I had 7.5 hours to get this done....and I knew that for me,  it wasn't possible.

It isn't this way at all 70.3's. Take Eagleman, for example.  According to the 2012 athlete's guide, the last swim wave goes off at 8:30 and the race officially ends at 5:00, giving the people in the last wave 8.5 hours to finish. Same with Vineman 70.3.  The last wave goes off at 8:38, the bike cutoff is a generous 5.5 hours later and the race ends at 5:08!

I realize everyone winds up in the last wave at some point. We all have to deal with it. So while it may not seem fair, I get it that someone has to go last. If I don't like it, I don't have to participate. And this time around, that's precisely what I was contemplating.  For the first time since I started triathlon, being last or close to last really bothered me...and I started thinking I was done with it all.

Let's Finish This Thing!

Well, whether I was done with triathlon or not, I had no intention of quitting the race. My mental state sucked, but I was still moving forward. A couple of miles from the finish line I finally saw another runner, walking it in.  When I caught up to him I said, "Come on, let's run together. We have less than two miles to go!"

Mitch was in a bad place --he told me he had had a bad day and was hurting. His swim sucked and he'd flatted twice on the bike. Now his knees were hurting and his energy was zapped. But he had DNF'd this race last year and he was just happy to be closing in on a finish this time around. This would be his first 70.3 finish...and I could tell he was proud. 

My problems suddenly seemed to disappear. I had enjoyed the swim, hadn't had any flats on the bike, and I wasn't really in much physical pain during the run-- it was all in my head. Now I was in a position to help someone else, someone who was suffering more than I. The run took on new meaning as I focused on making these last two miles a bit easier for Mitch.

 

I gave him a pep talk and told him "my team" would be waiting for us at the finish line to cheer us in. I told him Team Z is there for everyone, right down to the very last finisher, and they would be there for him too.  

Sure enough, "my team" was there-- ringing cowbells, clapping, screaming, and cheering us in.  The official finish line, clock, and timing mat were gone and the volunteers were busy dismantling what was left of the finishers chute, but we had our own human finishers chute to run through, courtesy of Team Z. Mitch dropped back as we approached that final stretch, letting me go first. I turned around and waved him forward, making sure he knew that the high fives were for him too. 

After running beneath a canopy of arms, Greg was waiting with our bling. I took the medal and kept running to the spot where the timing mat and official finish line used to be. I turned around and saw Mitch. The look on his face was priceless. It reminded me of my own first 70.3 finish. 

This is the part of the story where I'm supposed to say that all of the negative thoughts faded away after such a rock star finish; that would be the perfect happy ending to this story.  But I wasn't feeling it. I had beaten last year's time by 10 minutes, so why did I just want to cry? It wasn't like me to be this negative.  It used to be that just finishing was enough. Why couldn't I be happy with that now?

The Ironman Loser Effect

I gave it some thought and came up with this:  After making the cutoff at IMAZ, the thought of not making a half Ironman cutoff really bothered me.  As a news director once told me, you're either on your way up or you're on your way out. And if you've already been to "the top" --an Ironman finish line-- then there's no more up to go, right?  So  maybe you're on your way out. Maybe you're done with triathlon. Or maybe you're just suffering from The Ironman Loser Effect (yes, I just make this stuff up LOL).

The Ironman Loser Effect typically strikes the year after an Ironman. You aren't in Ironman shape, so you feel like a loser. You're not as fast as you were last year, so you feel like a loser. After making the ultimate cutoff, you're not okay with missing "lesser" cutoffs....because you don't want to feel like a loser. You're wondering, why bother? What now? 
 

I couldn't shake the feeling during the ride home. I'm guessing I'm just burned out. Maybe I need a break? I've already done 13 races and biking events this year and it's only July. Perhaps I went overboard in my effort to avoid the inevitable post-Ironman letdown.

The Happy Ending
Every story needs a happy ending, right? Well, here's my happy ending. After I got home, I emailed the race director and asked for my swim and bike splits. I mentioned that I finished in 8:18 and just wanted to figure out my times. He not only gave me my split times, he posted them along with all the other results...giving me an official finish time! I didn't get a DNF by my name...And it turns out, I didn't finish last.  I actually beat two people in the 35 - 39 age group. Even though they had slower times than me, they both had official finish times because -- you guessed it, they were in an earlier wave, the 7:15. 

Ah well, I guess all is well. Time to crank up the Tussey training!

Tussey Teaser

June 24, 2012

The view from Tussey Mountain

Clearly, Gran Fondo-ing on the ridiculous hills of Garrett County wasn't enough, so Priscilla and I had signed up for a Tussey Teaser trail run the following day. After finishing our fondo's and cheering at the Z tents for the longer riders, we hit the road for State College, Pennsylvania.

The Bear Meadows Made In The Shade Tussey Teaser would be a challenging run over some of the same trails the Tussey mOUnTaINback 50 Miler covers. I really wanted to see the mountain and get some experience on the trails....and P Diddy is always game for a good road trip, so we spent the night at the race hotel, the Ramada Inn, woke up the next morning and drove to the mountain. 

The race was so small and low key that we initially drove right past the start line-- which, by the way, consisted of some flour sprinkled across the road. 

Let's get this party started

There were about a dozen runners and most looked like serious bidness!  While PDid and I were all geared up with our water belts, race number belts, Gatorade, and nutrition, most of the other runners had none of these extras-- just their running clothes and shoes with their bibs safety pinned on the old fashioned way.

Priscilla even wore a bright 'caution orange' running top so search and rescue crews could spot her should she get lost in the wilds of Tussey Mountain! 

 Race Director Mike gathered us up at the start line and gave us a quick run down of the course. We had two options:  10 miles or 7 miles. I had planned on the 10 miler, but was secretly telling myself that it would be okay to do 7. P was doing the 7 and I was sure to be the slowest 10 miler, so I was giving myself permission to go short. The decision point would be 4.8 miles in.

Mike told us he had stashed some bottled water and cups at several points along the trail. The "major intersections " were marked with flour arrows pointing the way. For the rest of it we would rely on our cue sheets.

We ran about half a mile then turned left onto our first trail, a gradual uphill for 2 miles.

Look how shady it is!

The trail was actually a "fire road," so it was pretty wide and in decent shape. After the uphill we turned left for a nice, long downhill.  Then came decision time:

Do I want to run 7 or 10? Decision time!

I wanted to turn left and just do the 7....but I had come here to do the 10. What to do, what to do? I was feeling okay after the long downhill, but knew there was a big bad hill toward the end of the 10 miler. So, I could justify cutting it short to 7....I mean, I had just suffered through that gran fondo madness the day before. But I said I was going to do 10, so I turned right and settled in for the climb to come.  

Ha ha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next few miles dragged by. It took me over 1.5 hours just to run 6 miles! By the time I made it to the big bad hill at the 9 mile mark, I was sure Mike, the race director, had to be wondering what the hell had happened to me. And I also suspected that everyone else was long done with this race.                                                                                                                                              I texted Priscilla with my status and told her to tell Mike he didn't have to stick around. I still had a mile to go with 900 feet of altitude gain...and then another .6 to the finish line for a total of 10.6 miles.                                                                                                                                                          I tried to run walk, but my legs were dead and I was out of energy. It took me forever to get up that hill! How many hills like this would we have during the actual race?                                                                       

Meanwhile...back at the finish line, everyone had indeed finished the race, eaten Subway sandwiches, rehydrated, participated in a raffle drawing, hung out, and then left --and I was still probably 45 minutes from being done. P said they even came to pick up the single Port-O-John the race director had had delivered for the race! Oh the insult! I didn't even finish before they picked up the Port-O-John! Forget about keeping the finish line up--- the portable toilet was long gone by the time I finished! 

Needless to say, the race director was quizzing P about our experience level. You know, wondering if we had ever done "this kind of thing" before; asking coy questions about our running prowess.  Of course, P filled him in....making clear that we're not "civilians", that we had actually toed quite a few lines before our Tussey Teaser adventures. 

It took me 3 hours to finish 10.6 miles -- pathetic, I know. I could blame the gran fondo, but the bottomline is I need to do more hilly trail running. Still, we had a blast...and I was glad I got to see Tussey Mountain and get a taste of what's in store for the Tussey 50 miler. 

Let the hill repeats commence!

Gran Fondo-ing

Saturday,  June 23,  2012

When the race director uses words like severe, extreme, dangerous, and cruel to describe a Gran Fondo, you know it's going to be bad. But I signed up for the Garrett County Fabulous 44 anyway because....well....umm... I'm not really sure why. Because I hadn't done it yet? Because I thought it would be fun? Because peeps were doing it?

I can't remember why, but I suspect the Ironman Effect had something to do with  it because I signed up way back at the beginning of the year, when I was in race-sign-up-overdrive.

Here's what was in store with the Fab 44:

More than 4900 feet elevation gain over 44 miles. Oh joy.

The race started at the top of Wisp Mountain and the first few miles were downhill with some sharp curves thrown in. I tried not to ride my brakes or run into the hoard of bikers around me. Everything was fine until that first big uphill on White Rock. I started up the hill and things seemed to be going okay, but then the road turned sharply and got steeper. I pedaled as hard as I could but felt like I was going nowhere. I finally gave up and walked.  

Pathetic, I thought. And I started to wonder if I was in over my head.  

What if every hill on this entire ride is this hard? Maybe I should've dug my road bike out of the basement for this one.

I decided to try to keep it positive, buckle down, and get it done. Pretty soon I was on a ridiculous downhill --steep and twisty hairpin stuff.  I was hurtling down this hill trying not to ride my brakes (lest they blow a hole in my tire) but I couldn't slow down enough for the curves. Suddenly I was gaining on two other riders and had to pass them to avoid a collision. But there was another sharp turn coming up -- what if there was a car coming the other way? Luck was on my side and I somehow managed to make it to the bottom without wiping out.Whew!

I cruised into the rest stop around mile 18 to fuel up and regroup for the insane climbing to come. The rest stop was in a cute little town called Friendsville. It lived up to its name.

Our rest stop entertainment

A steel drum ensemble serenaded us in! Friendsville had quite the festive atmosphere, indeed. I loaded up on Coke, orange slices, and pretzels, chatted around and then hit the road.

Note the hula skirts on our friends in Friendsville

From Friendsville there's about a 6 mile climb, most of it a false flat, but gradually getting steeper as the road winds up to Bowman Hill. Bowman was the second "severe, extreme, dangerous, cruel" hill on this ride.  As the race website notes:

   "At 1.1 miles and 800 ft elevation gain it has to be experienced to be understood." 

I experienced it alright.

I was doing fine up the first steep incline. In fact, I even got a little cocky, thinking Wow, Bowman. Is this all you got? But Bowman got the last laugh-- an evil, snarling, wicked laugh as the road got steeper and just kept going up.

I finally caved and got off my bike to walk. But walking presented its own challenges. It was too hard to walk in bike shoes, so I took them off and headed up in my socks.

It must've taken me about half an hour to get to the top. I cheered for others on the way up...and noticed that EVERYONE was on a road bike. This only reinforced my doubts about tri bike riding on hills. Most of our rides have hills, so WTH?

Beyond Bowman the hills kept coming. My legs were really feeling it. It was also hot---not just hot, but OMG HOT. I managed not to walk until the final "severe, extreme, dangerous, cruel" hill. It was the final climb to the summit of Wisp mountain. Funny, it didn't seem this steep driving up the mountain that morning.

The Team Z Cheer Station on the final climb

I bailed before reaching the Team Z Cheer Station, took off my shoes, and started walking again. Alexis was blowing his vuvuzuela and offering to push me up the hill if I'd get back on my bike. Ha! Not a chance.

Once past the tent, the hill eased up enough for me to get back on my bike and I rode the rest of the way to the finish line. Whew! It had taken me 5 hours to go 44 miles. I don't EVEN want to know what that averages out to pace-wise.

When I got off my bike, I announced to all in my presence that I would not be doing the Garrett Gran Fondo again. Now, a few weeks later, I'm rethinking that.

It was the hardest ride I've ever done, no doubt, but it also took us across some beautiful countryside. It was a humbling experience too...and that can be good for the soul, every now and then.

So I'll file this one away in the "Never Say Never" file. I may not be back next year, but one year I will go back, and I will beat that Bowman Beast while laughing my way to the top!

The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim

Goal:  Finish!
Result: 3:35:14

First, the back story.

Not long after I moved to Washington, I read something online about the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim. I had just joined Team Z. Swimming 100 yards without stopping was a big deal for me, so swimming across the Bay seemed like an impossibility. But I clicked the FAQ's on the website anyway to see what it was all about. I ran across this section talking about the possible "dangers" one might confront during the swim:

"...cross currents, swells, chop, hypothermia if the water is cold, nettle stings if the water is warm, and collisions with the bridge supports or rocks surrounding the jetties, islands and causeways." 

It went on to say that one year only 15 percent of swimmers finished the swim due to a strong ebb current of about 2 knots.    

After reading that, I tucked the idea away in the "No Way Am I Cut Out For That" file. Still, I was intrigued by the crazy challenge of swimming across the Bay. Over the next 4 years I would revisit the idea every now and then, then file it back in its proper place.

But somewhere in the midst of training for Kilimanjaro and IMAZ last year, I had a conversation with swim coach Mark that prompted me to revisit my doubts about the Bay. He was about to do his 13th consecutive Bay Swim. When I mentioned my outlandish idea of attempting it, he said, "Sally, you can do that swim." And that was all it took for me to move the idea into the "Maybe Someday" file.

The Bay Swim lottery opened in October. With two dozen triathlons under my belt, Kili in the bag, and my Ironman attempt soon to follow, I decided to give the Bay a shot.

Fast Forward to June 10th. 

I'm riding the shuttle bus across the Bay Bridge on my way to Sandy Point State Park. I have absolutely no idea how this is going to turn out. Will I make it across? Will I miss the cutoffs? Swim out of bounds and get disqualified? Become exhausted and dehydrated? It was all a roll of the dice. But I had two things working in my favor:  my training and the weather. 

The weather was SICK! The water was close to flat calm and the wind wasn't even blowing. This was as good as it gets for the bay.

The training? Thousands of yards in the pool and 5 open water swims leading up to this day. I spent six months getting ready for this challenge...and now I was putting it all to the test. 

Surprise!

I got off the bus and headed for the registration tables. Little did I know that lurking somewhere behind a tree were two people, spying on me. As soon as the registration volunteer handed me my race packet, I heard a familiar voice.

No WAY! WHAT THE---?? I turned around and standing right there was Tracey---Kilimanjaro Tracey, as my media friends call her. She had flown all the way here from Hawaii to surprise me, green wig and all! There she was, standing next to Nicolas who also had said nothing about coming out to the Bay to cheer us on. I thought I was hallucinating. 

Tracey sporting a new green wig that Nicolas had fluffed for her.

Pre-Swim Jitters
I was fine until right before the briefing began. I started to get nervous....and for a few moments I even considered the possibility that I wasn't just nervous, I was scared.

What if my long zipper strap gets caught on something and strangles me? What if a pack of red caps swim over me and I drown? What if I catch some kind of weird, deadly disease from the bacteria lurking in the water? 

This is what working in the news biz will do to a person.

Let's Go!
Tracey helped me with my wetsuit and swim cap. I put a GU in my cap and another one in my wetsuit by my ankle. 

Swim Coach Mark, Dana,Val,Melanie, Scott, me. Let's Swim This Bay!

We had quite a few Zs swimming the Bay this year.  About 15 minutes before the start, we walked across the timing mat and over to the beach. Most of us positioned ourselves right in the middle of the pack. Fastie Mark went over by the bridge where the perfect people were. I couldn't believe I was about to swim this bay! This had been on my radar for years....and now I was standing there on the beach, ready to go. I glanced over at the spectators to find the green wig and cheer wand -- easy to spot. 

Gave Tracey and Nicolas a wave. The horn went off. I stepped into the Chesapeake Bay and started swimming! 

Mile 1 

And We're Off!

I managed to avoid a lot of contact during the Cuisinart Start by hanging back a little. Pretty soon I was swimming under the north span and into the swim "lane" between the two bridges. This would be my course for the next 3 or so hours. 

During the pre-race briefing, the race director had said to stay to the right during the first half of the swim, so I stayed to the left. I noticed that most of the swimmers ahead of me were doing the same thing. There didn't seem to be much of a current coming from either direction, but it gradually started to get a little rougher.

I saw a random orange buoy and hoped it was the one mile marker. Checked my watch:  39 minutes. Whew, so far so good. One down, 3.4 to go. 


Mile 2

Swimmers approaching at the 2 mile marker--the orange dot

 By now I'm swimming in the middle of the lane as I approach the channel. What if the race director was right about the current? After receiving so much conflicting advice on the Bay Swim, I wasn't sure who to believe. Having a buffer zone on either side of me seemed like the best tactic for getting across the channel.


The water got a little rougher as I entered the channel and it felt like I was slowing down. The doubts started to creep in:  What if I don't make this next cutoff? How pathetic would that be? I'm just not fast enough. I'm not strong enough. Why is that kayaker moving in closer -- is he about to pull me out of this race? 

Time to cue up my Mile 2 song and get through this channel! 

 
Mile 3

Looks far, doesn't it?!

This was probably my favorite part of the swim. We had some gentle rollers and I actually enjoyed the ride. I was pretty sure it was slowing me down, so I started to kick harder in hopes of plowing through it faster.

At this point I had picked up a kayak escort. I guess one of the advantages of being slow is you get the kayakers all to yourself....and I enjoyed the company. 

By the time I reached mile 3, I was pretty sure I was going to make it. Ah, what a nice feeling. 

Three down, 1.4 to go.





Mile 4

Photo Courtesy:  "Eye On Annapolis"

 Just when I started wondering if they were kidding about having a feeding boat out here, lo and behold, I spied one up ahead, parked smack dab in the middle of the lane! It was like a swim-up bar--- you just belly up to the side of the boat, grab onto one of the life preservers, and order your drink. Water and Gatorade were being served--and the Gatorade was actually cold! The cups were so small they reminded me of shot glasses.

I ordered up a water and a Gatorade and checked out the other patrons next to me. Everyone was in a good mood. That's the thing about back-of-the-packers:  if we're making forward progress, we're happy. We don't have the stress of worrying about actually competing, we just want to finish.

I passed on the Vanilla Wafers, pulled out the GU I had stashed in my wetsuit, downed some more water, made small talk with the other swimmers about how lucky we were, and shoved off. At least I can cross dehydration off my list of worries. 

My kayak escort said something about staying to the left. The current was coming in stronger now and would be pushing us to the right. I still had about 3/4 of a mile to go to the Mile 4 marker and I could tell I was slowing down in the current. Before I knew it, I was drifting closer and closer to the right span. If I drifted under the bridge, I would be disqualified. But my trusty kayak escort came to the rescue! He positioned himself between me and the bridge supports. To swim out of bounds I would have to swim  into his kayak first. 

This last mile dragged by. The current was more of an annoyance---nowhere near as strong as the Nanticoke River Swim. Chalk up extra points for me for doing Nanticoke!  

My ever-eager kayak friend kept offering me water, but I didn't want to stop, especially in that current. At one point I popped up and asked him where the turn off was. He said to just look for the big beach balls and the line of kayaks.

Finally I spotted them. OMG! I couldn't believe I was at Mile 4! Before rounding one of the beach balls I flipped over on my back for a second and looked behind me, up at the two giant spans. It's a view you only get from the water. Driving over the bridge won't cut it. Cruising by in a boat gives you the view, but not the feeling you get when you're actually in the water staring up at the giant structures that make up the two spans of the Bay Bridge. I couldn't believe I was doing this! Was I really going to make it? How was that possible? The Queen of the Slow Lane was about to finish the Bay Swim! I made a right, swam under the south span, and then took a left to follow the shore for the final stretch. 

Finish Line in sight! 
The water was warmer now and shallow enough to stand up. I paused and stood up for a second to say thanks to my kayak friend, then kept going. My arms were a little sore but I was surprised by how good I felt. I still had all kinds of energy! 


When I got close to the shore I could hear my fellow Zers cheering. It had to be over 90 degrees by now. They had to be exhausted. Some had finished their own swim across the Bay more than an hour ago. Priscilla had finished the One Mile Challenge hours ago.  And our intrepid surprise cheer crew had to be boiling hot in this heat--and that green wig--waiting for me to finish. But still they stayed and they waited. 

A volunteer was standing at the water's edge with an orange flag directing me into the finishers shoot. She was smiling and telling me I had made it. I was so happy, I hugged her! 


The best part of finishing the Bay Swim, other than getting out of the water and crossing the timing mat, was the ice cold Diet Coke Priscilla had waiting for me! After swimming for 3.5 hours with nothing more to drink than a few shot glasses worth of water and Gatorade, that Diet Coke totally hit the spot! 

As I was headed for the food table another swimmer gasped when she saw my Diet Coke! 
Her: "Where did you get that Diet Coke??!!"
Me:  "Oh...my friend gave it to me. Had it chilled and waiting at the finish line." 
(You know, I didn't want to gloat or anything, but some of us have friends who will do this kind of thing....other people aren't as lucky. Just sayin'.  ;p) 

That's the one flaw with the Bay Swim --only Pepsi products at the finish line. But they did have a nice spread of food for the finishers. The only thing I really wanted were the orange slices. OMG- so good!  

Finish Stats
Finish time: 3:35:14, about 10 minutes shy of the 3:45 cutoff. That's a 48:55/mile pace (pathetic, I know!). There were 16 women in my age division and I came in last. Overall, though, I was 7th to last. Whew!  At least I wasn't the last one out of the water. Wooohooo! Gotta celebrate the small victories.

Tracey gave us all these nifty 4.4 stickers

BRING ON THE BAY!!

 OMG THE GREAT CHESAPEAKE BAY SWIM IS TOMORROW!!! 

I'm so PUMPED! This last day of tapering is driving me crazy. Sleeping late and lounging around are hell! I'm going crazy. I feel like I should be running or biking or doing yard work or washing my car or SOMETHING! Instead, I've been lazing around, getting organized, listening to pump-me-up music, revisiting inspirational quotes from my IMAZ training days, and of course, hydrating.

I also came up with my playlist for the swim. Each mile has a specific song I'll be singing to myself:

 

MILE 1:  Bust A Move by Young MC

MILE 2:  It's Tricky  by RunDMC

MILE 3:  Can't Touch This by MC Hammer

MILE 4:  Till I Collapse by Eminem

.4 TO THE FINISH:  Good Feeling by Flo Rida

Tonight I revived a pre-marathon tradition:

On the night before the last 3 MCMs I did, I headed to Mama Lucia's for some pasta. Their food is so good. You'll notice the water coupled with a beer chaser--it's all part of my pre-race carbo-hydration strategy. I always get the pasta with light marinara sauce. It seems to have plenty of salt in it. Which makes me think of the weather.....

The forecast calls for temps ranging from 84 to 88 degrees during the swim. The wind? A mere 4 to 7 mph. Humidity will be in the 45% range. In other words, IT'S GOING TO BE PERFECT. I'm not sure what any of this means for the current....I suppose the current could still be ridiculous, but at least we shouldn't have a lot of rough water to deal with. 

I'll go to sleep tonight (if I can sleep) knowing that I've done all the training I set out to do....including those insane 7  -8,000's in the pool, the Nanticoke River 3 Miler, the Reston 5K + 1 miler, the ABC swim, the Sandy Pt. swim.... I'm not sure what more I could've done to prepare. That's 4 open water swims before the event;  5 if you count Rumpus.

I'm also feeling a lot of gratitude-- thankful for the support of friends like P, Tracey, and Janet...and for all the help and advice I've gotten from Swim Coach Mark. After tomorrow I can finally get back to the rest of my training. Yay for running and biking again! As for swimming, it'll be interesting to see whether this newfound passion I seem to have for swimming will stick after The Bay.

Bay Swim One Week Countdown!

June 3

THE GREAT CHESAPEAKE BAY SWIM IS ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!! 

Photo Courtesy of postcardfile.blogspot.com

Finally! After 5 months of training and thousands of laps in the pool, the Bay Swim is one week away. Time for a final open water swim. And what better place to swim than in the bay itself!

So Priscilla, Kathy, and I hit the road for Sandy Point bright and early Sunday. We had signed up for a WaveOne Swim Clinic that was meant to give Bay Swim participants a chance to swim in the bay before the actual event. 

The weather was nice and the conditions at Sandy Point were optimal. The water was about as calm as I imagine it could be and there wasn't any wind to create a lot of chop. The WaveOne folks had set up a 500 meter rectangular course marked by orange buoys. 

Dennis gave about a 10 minute talk, covering the usual topics:  mass start, sighting, currents, nutrition. It was pretty much the same stuff the Bonzai clinic covered, but when you're a first-timer like me it doesn't hurt to hear it again. 

I swam 4 loops in 47 minutes -that's about a 38 minute mile pace or 2:09/100 yard pace. Sighting was no problem and if there was a current, I barely noticed it. I felt like I could've kept going for hours! And that's a good sign, since the Bay Swim will probably take me over 3 hours. After all those 7 - 8,000 yard swims in the pool, I know I can go the distance. The weather will be the wild card. 

I'm as ready as I can possibly be! This is what it will look like at Sandy Point one week from today!

Photo Courtesy of News 21

The Arundel Breakfast Club

Round Bay

I stumbled across the Arundel Breakfast Club during one of my random online searches for info on the Bay Swim. They're a group of open water swimmers in the Annapolis area who train together for all kinds of open water events, including the Bay Swim.  Many of them swim the Bay every year, some going back 20 years.  

But the Bay is mere child's play for some of these people.  Six of them relayed the English Channel--swimming from England to France and back in 21 hours! They've swam around Manhattan, done St. Croix, Bermuda, Narragansett Bay....the list is long. In other words, there are plenty of reasons for a back-of-the-pack-first-time-Bay-Swimmer like me to be impressed--and even intimidated--by the ABC. 

So I was a bit nervous about joining them for a swim in the Round Bay area of the Severn River. Except for exchanging a couple of emails with swim organizer Maureen, I didn't know any of them... And I would be showing up by myself (as usual) and just hoping they wouldn't leave me floundering in their wake! I would definitely be out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to go because Maureen had said that after the swim they would be talking about the Bay, over breakfast of course. 

Pre-Swim Briefing
We lined up on a small beach in the gorgeous Round Bay neighborhood. Briefer Guy pointed to a kid who must've been about 17 years old and said we would all be following him. He came in 2nd in last year's Bay Swim. That's 2nd OVERALL. I noticed that he was the only swimmer not wearing a wetsuit.

Briefer Guy then described the "course":  swim out to the post, make a hard right, swim to the something-neighborhood....something about a boathouse, yada yada, look for the beach next to the jacked up sailboat....then aim for the tot lot.... back to the post... 

Tot lot?? What??     

I overheard a woman in a pink swim cap inform the kayaker that she would be the slowest swimmer out there. Great, another slowbie like me! I'll just try to stay with her! 

Severn River

And We're Off!

So off we go. I have no clue where this post is that we're supposed to be aiming for, so I just started following everyone out into the middle of the river. After a couple of minutes I finally see the post. I also notice that EVERYONE, including Pink Swim Cap Woman, is waaayy ahead of me!  Sigh.   

As I approach the post,  I notice that Pink Swim Cap Woman is cutting corners! She turned way before the post!   

Clever. I mean, it's not like we're in a triathlon and have to follow the rules! 

I made a sharp right and started heading in some vague direction, guessing that the neighborhood we're supposed to swim to must be the land up ahead. Pretty soon I had a kayak escort.  I couldn't seem to find Pink Swim Cap Woman, so I asked Kayak Woman what to aim for.  She said something about a sailboat...but then suggested I instead aim for the boathouse. That way, I could intercept everyone else as they swam the long way around. Perfect!

As soon as I angled for the boathouse, I spotted Pink Swim Cap Woman and followed her. Eventually we swam right into the pack! While they headed back out to the post in the middle of the river, Pink Swim Cap Woman and I stayed closer to the shoreline and intercepted the pack again as they swam the final stretch back to the beach. We totally cheated! But the timing worked out beautifully and I still got a good workout. I have no idea how far it was or how long we were swimming because I forgot my watch. Whatevs.

Breakfast Time!
We had a huge spread of bagels, pastries, fruit, yogurt, egg casseroles, coffee, and juice for breakfast. I made the rounds, trying to chat with as many people as possible and get their take on the Bay. Here are some of the highlights: 

Kathy:  Kathy is my age and will be swimming the Bay for the 10th time this year. She was fretting about not putting in enough hours of training. When asked about her training regime, she disclosed in a hushed tone that she had "only" been swimming 5,000 yards 3 times a week and 4,000 yards twice a week, with a long open water swim on the weekend, of course. Random guy chimes in that he's"way behind" her, "only" swimming 4,000 yards 3 times a week!

Seriously? I opted not to offer up that I've been putting in a whopping 2200 yards twice a week, if that, along with a long pool swim on the weekend! I'm oh so not worthy!! LOL 

Sue:  Sue is Pink Swim Cap Woman! She made it across the Bay on her first try in 3 hours, 11 minutes. On her second try she got pulled before the 3 mile cutoff due to the hellacious current. Sue is an inspiration. She just keeps chugging along.


Ed:  Ed was wearing a Nanticoke River Swim shirt. 
        Me: Oh, so you did Nanticoke?
        Ed:  Yeah. You?
        Me:  Yeah. What did you think of that current?
        Ed:   What current? There was no current. 
Turns out Ed was one of those fasties who was heading into the finish as I was heading out on my second loop. He was so fast he missed the current altogether!  LOL People like Ed will never live in my world. 

Random Guy:  I ask for advice and Random Guy advises me not to believe anything the race director says during the pre-Bay Swim briefing.  

Wait - what??! 

In fact, he said to do the opposite of whatever the race director says to do! If the race director says stay to the right --I should stay to the left. If he says the current is coming from the right, it'll be coming from the left.

Huh? And just when I was about to dismiss this guy as misinformed, 3 other  people chimed in and agreed that the race briefing is always wrong!  That's comforting. 

But my favorite piece of advice came from Old Guy. Old Guy has been swimming this bay for 20 years. He's seen everything. His words of wisdom:  At some point in the swim, take a time out to pause.....flip over on your back and just soak in the view:  the bridge spans towering above you....their magnificent steel supports....the birds cruising across a blue sky.... 

Yeah, that all sounds great. It must be nice to be so unconcerned about cutoffs that you have time to float leisurely on your back and soak it all in. If I ever do this race again, I'll enjoy the scenery from a face-up position. This time around, I think I'll just keep my head down and swim!