Cement ship at aptos. We swam around it a quarter mile.
"How to avoid being eaten by a shark...do not go into the water if you're bleeding-at all, from anything, anywhere in your body...A shark can home in onthe source of the blood from far, far away. Don't swim in water near seal or sea lion colonies...don't go swimming at dawn, dusk, or night...and don't make any any jerky movements, eiher, such as splashing, kicking or tussling with your buddy. All of those send out signals that say wounded prey...worth investigating."
So basically we were just shark chow; swimming in the ocean in the early morning in our wetsuits looking like deformed sea lions. My wave started at 7:50, but I had been there since 6 am. It was the first time I had ever set up transistion in the dark, the moon was still up! And it was cold. I had my sweatshirt and pants on over my tri clothes and I was hopping around shivering, trying to get warm.
transistion in the dark
Setting up transistion and waiting for the race to start
Elaine, Judith and I grabbed a spot together at the racks, and started setting up transistion. I tried to eat something, but all I could manage was a fig newton. I was nervous about my early morning swim in the ocean and nothing wanted to stay down.
After setting up transistion, it was too cold to stand around chatting, so I went for a run around the parking lot to warm up. That seemed to help calm me, then on my second go around Elaine joined me. Kurt and his mom finally showed up, just as we were struggling into our wetsuits. I usually get too warm and sweaty standing around in my wetsuit, but this morning it felt great! After suiting up, we headed down to the beach to listen to the pre race instructions and to get into the water.
Elaine, Judith and I waiting for out waves to start
Cold. Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold....There is a moment when you get into the ocean and your wetsuit keeps you dry, and everything is fine. Then the water comes creeping in, right up your back and you arch up, shrieking "IIiiieeeyyyyyyyeeeee!!!!!!" I can't believe how cold the water was. Ironically we were taking our warmup swim. There was nothing warm about it. I kept thinking of Lynn Cox, the cold water swimmer. She swam the english channel without a wetsuit, and when that wasn't enough, she swam in the arctic ocean wearing nothing more than her speedo bathing suit. I guess the human body can adapt over time, but I wasn't planning on shedding the wetsuit any time soon.
7:50 AM Swim
Lining up with the other yellow caps at the beach I had it all planned out. I was going to take a running start into the water, dive into the waves and swim like a dolphin, leaving the pack behind. That's exactly what happened if you count jumping into the ocean, being smacked by a wave and getting saltwater up my nose, as the rest of my wave group took off leaving me behind. Just once I would like to swim like I knew what I was doing. At any rate, I got settled in, and slogged my way towards the first orange buoy. Did I mention how cold it was? Several times now, hm? Okay. Well, it was. I tried to take in the majestic beauty of the ocean, tried to be in the moment, but basically I kept thinking "Swimming sucks. I hate swimming. I'm cold and salt water tastes bad." At least I wasn't afraid. I did look up at one point when I got past the pier and saw cranes lined up on the cement ship. They looked like a birdie cheering section, watching the proceedings below. I hoped I didn't look like a huge fish. I managed the swim pretty well, I wasn't overly tired, it just took longer than I wanted. I have to admit I did pause to take a look at the lifeguard on the surfboard. He was really cute-Baywatch style.
T1
I did not run out of the ocean and across the beach, tearing off my swim cap and goggles as I headed towards transistion like I had pictured in my mind. As a side note: nothing in my races resemble anything close to what I imagine. Instead I staggered. My feet were cold! And I wasn't about to run up 152 (152!!!!!) steps into transistion. I managed a brisk walk instead.
The steps leading to transistion from the beach
My wetsuit stuck to my ankles, my fingers were so cold I couldn't tie my shoes properly, and I couldn't get my shirt over my wet skin. T1 did not go so well.
Bike:
Finally got on the bike and headed out of the parking lot. I had been looking forward to riding this course again after Elaine and I had been on it the past Sunday, because I felt good about climbing the hills. They called the course challenging because there were two hills; an 800M descent and a 1000M descent. I've been spending a lot of time on my mountain bike lately so I wasn't worried about making it to the top, and I was very pleased when I climbed them easily and even passed some girls. To keep a good pace ( and to amuse myself) I decided I would chase down and pass any and all girls in pink tops. My first challenge was a girl that came out of transistion with me. She was a fast rider who pedaled during the downhills too (something I know I should do, but don't) and I spent most of the course just barely keeping up with her. I finally dropped her on the last hill, and lucky for me it was close enough to the end she didn't catch up with me. Ironically I saw her again driving home from Santa Cruz. I recognized her bike racked on the back of the car. And yeah, I passed her again, cause sometimes I'm like that. :)
coming into T2 on my bike
T2
Much smoother transistion. Not as much stuff to change into. It felt weird putting on my running shoes. My feet still hadn't thawed out.
Running out of transistion
Run
Despite not being able to feel my feet until I reached the turnaround point, I had a good run. I wasn't tired, nothing hurt, and I was finally able to enjoy running by the ocean. I passed the ship in the way back in, and saw the surfers with their boards getting ready to go out. I still can't believe I swam all the way around the ship! The finish line for the run was uphill which was not much fun, but I got to the top with no walking. I finished at 1:34 which put me 44 out of 106 and 10 out of 18 in my age group. Which makes me about average, right in the middle of the pack.
Finish line!
I had a great time. I'm definitley going to do the Mermaid tri again next year.
My undying gratitude goes to...
Elaine and Judith for being great training buddies. Wildflower 2006, right?
Kurt for being a great cheering section and sherpa. I promise I'll get to the laundry now.
Sarah, and Karen, and Elaine and Judith for letting me run at Rancho with you. It helped a lot!
Kathy, and Lee and Kate and all my other bootcampers for believing that I could do this.
And my favorite bike god, Brian, for getting me to the top of Fremont Older. It made a difference. Next year buy a watch, okay?
So that's that. I can't believe it's the end of the tri season already. I had a great summer and I accomplished so much more than I had ever hoped for when I started out.
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