Ironman Florida- The Swim

The cannon went off and I walked into the water. The 2,200 of us on shore watched the pro's go out ten minutes earlier and saw that you could walk the first 100 yards of the course. Apparently the tide due to winds, pushed a lot of sand up towards shore. You could not have walked that far out two days previous. As you can see in the picture, people are walking then swimming then walking again.

I seeded myself towards the back and to the outside. The first loop was tough for the first out due to the sheer number of bodies. It was not the washing machine I expected it to be, but did get my far share of body blows. What really surprised me is how much zigzag was going on with people.

As I had experienced in my practice swims the cross over between lanes was very choppy. The waves were not really bad at this point but there were some trouble sighting the buoy due to the swells. Coming back to shore was also a fight with the sea. The beauty of the ocean swim in such clear water is that you could see the bottom of the ocean from 400 yards off shore. So much like a swimming pool you had something to look at and see your progress as you moved over the occassional jellyfish or school of small pompano.

A 50 yard jog out of the water, a 100 yard jog across the beach and another 100 yard jog through the waves had me back into the swim lane. The second loop was much more choppy going out. I noticed the wind had blown a buoy out of line so I cut between it and sighted the next one. This put me on the inside of the course for a bit.

I was a third of the way through the cross over when I saw a boat coming towards me. A man was in the bow yelling at someone in the water. I assumed he saw someone cut the buoy or perform a dangerous act like fist punch another triathlete. A few strokes later I came to two swimmers in the water helping steady a man who was unconscious and face up in the water. I thought about helping but the boat was already there and with the two in the water I would be a hinderence. There are conflicting reports I heard from Carol that he died on the shore. She thought it was me and was very concerned.

The swells during the cross over reached three feet. There were moments where I distinctly remember having one arm and both feet out of the water while my head and body were in it. Lots of moments where my feet were kicking without resistance because they were airborne. Swallowed a lot of water here but still was mentally just plugging along, like the tugboat that I am.

The return to shore was tough for me. The current kept trying to pull me back and when I got off course I felt like I was swimming along the shore more than to it. Just another screwed up swim in this aspect. The last 200 yards was two strokes forward, one push back by the water and felt like I was going nowhere.

I think this is accurate for my situation because I have worked very hard at my pull under the water. I have a technically clean stroke but my pull through the water is weak. A stronger swimmer probably never noticed this back current.

Coming out the water was such a relief. I knew the swim was my limiter and to finish this leg beat every demon I have carried for the last several months. I can finish an iron swim in time. There is much room for improvement but lots of time for that.

Tri-hubby (Mr. Tri-Mama) was a stripper and when I ran to him to pull my suit he was filming me. I realized he wasn't going to do anything and he was yelling, "Girls. Girls. Girls." So I yelled, "Where's the pretty girls" and four of them began to pull my wetsuit off of me. Little did I know that Mistress and Mo along with our friend Michelle were less than a yard from me yelling for my attention.

The water was warm compared to the air temp and as I ran through a breeze way to transition a very hard and cold wind greeted me. The changing tent looked more like a triage center in Bagdad than an elite compound. Most of the men had already been through so I had lots of support to dress me and collect my things.

I was dissappointed with the sunscreen people. Why at every race do these people need to be the most uninspired and lackadaisical volunteers? Talk about common man. I had to prompt my teenager to liberally apply the spray over my head and backside.

A quick trip to the porta-let, just in case, grabbed the Valdora and got an ear and eyefull from the family on the way out of T1.

My plan was to be on the road when two hours hit. I was only five minutes behind that. All things considered I was very happy with this time as I did not over exert myself on the swim. I didn't push it or get beat up.

With one discipline down and looking at a cold and windy 112 miles ahead of me, I exited transition with hope. Little did I know I would be giving as well as recieving...