I wasn't sure what to expect from this event. Marty had printed it out and suggest I give it a try. So I signed up. (the theme of this year, not sure what it is I'm signing up for, looks fun / challenging, so going to sign up)
It was another event where I was going by myself (well not ever really by myself because God is always with me, and sometimes easiest to hear Him when I am doing these things on my own.)
Even when you are with a ton of people, it's still you and your thoughts. These last few weeks have been excellent for my mental focus to think about what my plan is, executing the plan, and reflecting on how it went.
(Nutrition in green again)
I woke up to give myself enough time to eat 600-700 calories before the start of the swim. I had 4 cups of applesauce (200 calories), 2 scoops of Melissa's protein (about 100), and a banana (90) to drink I had coffee in the car on the way (60), then I decided to mix 2 scoops of Carbo Pro into 8oz of Coconut Water to get the rest of the calories in (250) total 700 calories
Felt good and easy to digest
10 min before the "race" I had 1 - 100 GU Vanilla gel pack w/ caffeine (given to me by a fellow swimmer because I forgot mine in the car)
The word "race" was in quotation marks like that because it did not feel like a race at all. It felt like somebody was having a BBQ at their lake house, invited a bunch of people, and decided that everybody was going to go out swimming.
The swim took place on pretty Diamond Lake in Cassopolis, Michigan. You have to park your car on the main island, and then take a barge across the island. Once you get there, packet pick up was one table long, and the athlete area to get ready was on somebody's porch :) The race start was off of the boat launch from her deck. :)
I was good on nerves as I'm usually a wreck before open water swims. I spoke to Coach Kris on the phone and she told me to pick up the arm cadence/stroke count every buoy so was going to try and focus on that. We get out to the start, there were MAYBE 10-15 of us, the race director blows a whistle and we were off. 2 - 2.5K loops- I was instantly alone in the water- as everybody swam ahead- something I'm used to so wasn't a big deal. The water temp didn't feel too bad compared to CDA last weekend. Looking back, I made this mistake in MOWS last year, but I was going way too easy. I don't know if I was nervous about getting too tired too soon, but focusing too much on my stroke, as I tried to stretch out every stroke, but on the way back from the out and back we hit some chop, not terrible but made it more challenging and tough to find a strong pull- I also found myself pausing a lot to sight- something I didn't do as much in Wildflower because I would get disorientated and couldn't stay straight. I was horrified to look down at my watch at the end of the first loop to see that 1:48min had already passed for 1.5 miles that was SUPER slow. My 1.2 at Wildflower was 54min so that means that I added 66min to 0.3miles?? What?? I didn't take a gel because Melissa told me not to, but I'm glad now that I didn't bother fussing with all that, time I couldn't afford to use any more time. As I was rounding the turn around, one of the kayakers shouted to me if I was on my 2nd or 3rd loops- I told him my second and he yelled back to "get it going" because I wasn't moving in the water. The slower I was the stronger the chop got and the more difficult it was to see the buoys. I swallowed a bunch of water as I would get slapped down from the chop, but my stomach was good! I stopped my watch when I rounded the buoy at the start. When I got out of the water I was beyond disappointed. to see that it took me 3:44:30. That's a long ass time to be in the water in less than tropical temperatures. My Garmin also said 4.87miles! Those things are often off, but could be a good indicator for how all over the place I was.
All I could think was "get me warm" so with help (everybody was super nice btw) I peeled off my suit and threw on my sweatshirt, I was super thankful for the sun out today. When I got out of the water, they were already giving the awards and all of the BBQ was finished and they were already cleaning up. There was some pasta left so I had one scoop of mostaccioli in red sauce and a mini bagel with crunchy peanut butter on it.
People were commenting that it was a tough swim so felt a tiny bit better but spirits were low. I get back to the car and mix some of Melissa's protein in water for more food. I get out of my wet underclothes and start to feel better as I start the drive home.
I found my eyes getting heavy on the drive so had to stop. Got some unsweetened ice tea and some freshly popped butter / salt popcorn- (emotional choice Melissa :/ but it was delicious.) It kept me awake and helped. I wanted to cry over my popcorn but the tears never came. I made another stop to get gas and make sure I wasn't sleepy and looked down at my phone to find texts from Coach Kris, Melissa and Lynn and felt grateful that they were checking in. I spoke to my sister briefly and told her it was a tough morning without going into detail. After I hung up, that's when the tears came. Not even sure what I was crying about, probably more about the fact that it didn't go the way I wanted and this can be an emotional sport. They were quick, and didn't go into a "poor me" attitude. I was probably also tired. It's also when I'm by myself I'm more likely to get emotional. I got myself together and called Lynn and we just chatted without judgement so that made me feel better.
CDA is going to be choppy. CDA is going to be cold. But I know I can get out of that water in 2hours. After reflecting I think I just went to easy, the same mistake I did at MOWS last August. I need to do like Chrissie says and "smash" myself during training too, treat it like a race day. I need to go out way harder and rest only when I need to catch my breath. I think without thinking about it, I think I'll tire out. If I tire out, it'll be towards the end, and I know that I'll swim through it, but I can't afford to take so long in the beginning. 1hr 48min for just over 1.5miles is RIDICULOUS and NOT going to cut it. . The focus these next to weeks is going to be as much open water as possible. I have the stroke, I know what to do, I know what my body needs to do and look like to be most efficient, I just need to have the physical and mental endurance to be able to execute and sustain it.
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