Open water swim #4
Because my first attempt at Lake Del Valle was disastrous -- I was of course expecting nothing more than that...yeah, so much for positive thinking...but I was going into this open water swim with some good thoughts: I did do well in Aquatic Park and the last couple of weeks I was able to complete my weekly swim workouts as prescribed by the coach -- so there was some light at the end of the tunnel...but that light got quite dim as I stepped into the murky Lake Del Valle for the second time.
I have to say, the water was not as cold as it was the first time...but it was cold nonetheless. Equipped with my swim "booties" the cold water didn't affect me too much as I walked into the lake...it was when I stuck my face in the water that I experienced deja vu -- not being able to breath properly with each stroke, hyperventilating, gulping air, stomach full of air, not being able to burp... wait, isn't this the exact same thing that happened to me last time I was in this stupid lake?!?! One of the coaches kept trying to get me to calm down and take some strokes, and I kept telling him that I wanted to swim but the uncomforatble feeling of a stomach full of air was preventing me from breathing properly. Finally after about 15 mins of struggle-swimming (yes, that's the technical term for my type of swimming, lol!) I was able to let out a loud and long overdue burp...and when I let it out, one of the coaches said "was that you?" -- yes, that was me, and boy did it feel great! As soon as I let that burp out, I started swimming, like nothing was ever wrong. I swam back to shore faster than I swam out and felt as comfortable as I did in Aquatic Park -- amazing what a burp can do to build one's confidence!
So, to rate this swim attempt -- I would call it a partial success. The swim out was a struggle-swim, but the swim back to shore was a success! (Aha moment: it is possible to burp while you're in the water -- just wait for it!) ;-)
Santa Cruz Half Marathon (yes, that's 13.1 miles)
After the swim at Lake Del Valle, Jimmy and I drove to Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful day and the forecast for Sunday, the day of the marathon, was 90 degrees! For triathlon training, I really hadn't concentrated much on running, just because I knew I could run long distances, so I wasn't too worried about the running portion. The longest distance that I've run during triathlon training was just about 5 miles. But because I was cross-training with the swimming and cycling, I wasn't too worried about running a half marathon. One of my running buddies from TNT, Veronica, ran the half marathon with me -- it's great running with her because we're the same pace and it's always nice to run with someone on race day.
The day of the race, it was a beautiful morning, the sun was out -- it was going to be a hot one! And sure enough, by about 9am, it got quite hot -- so hot that at a couple of the aid stations towards the end of the race, I was dumping the water on my head rather than drinking it! And one of the workers the aid station had a garden hose and was hosing runners off as they ran past -- brilliant idea -- it was much needed! During the race, the scenery was beautiful all along West Cliff Drive. We paced ourselves pretty well and finished in the time we expected. It was definitely a great race, one that I will likely do again. 13.1 miles = done!
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