Pre-Race:
I was surprisingly calm during the week leading up to the race. I only had briefly glimpses of freak outs. Well, that is until Friday night. My cousin Jennifer and her husband Brooks live in Naples, FL. I was so excited to meet them for dinner at Sharky's on the Pier which was right next to the swim start. We got there right at sunset. It was beautiful, but all I could see were the waves. They were huge! OK, not Hawaii surfing huge, but not the "no surf in the Gulf" waves I had been told about. These waves were definitely what I would call surf! My stomach went into immediate knots. Dinner helped...SOOO yummy...and an awesome time with relatives that I don't see very often. I tried really hard to put the waves out of my head.
Saturday morning was the practice swim. I was up early and ready to go. I needed this practice swim...I needed to work out the kinks and to get used to the salt water. Swimming in the Chesapeake Bay is awesome for open water practice, but it's not salty. So any time I get in salt water, I tend to freak out a little. I needed to have that freak out in the practice swim, not in the race.
The practice swim started at 8 and we got there at 8:05. Yes, I was really anxious to get in the water. I got my wetsuit on and listened to the guy with the megaphone describe the swim course and the practice course (which was really short compared to the real swim course).
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm not truly comfortable in any situation unless I'm talking. So to ease some of the nerves before getting in the water, I walked over to 2 of the guys in official race volunteer T-shirts and just started talking.
I didn't really have any questions...I just wanted to talk. So I asked about the waves. They were significantly smaller than they had been the night before...but the waves from the night before were still stuck in my mind. The nice men told me that because it was so windy that morning, the waves hadn't really settled...and that since the wind was expected to calm throughout the day, that race morning they expected no waves. YAY!!!
After several more questions and reassurances from the men, I thanked them for their assistance and walked toward the water. I took a deep breath to calm the nerves and walked into the water.
It wasn't as cold as I had expected...perfect temp for my sleeveless wetsuit. I just kept walking into the water until it was over my waist. I dove in and did some quick breathing bobs...trying to do everything Anne and Pam had taught me.
There was a sandbar about 100 yards out where the water was so shallow that you had to stand up and walk across it. I tried to dolphin dive, but it quickly got to shallow to do that. The water was below my knee when I stood up! Crazy. When I got across the sandbar, I encountered my first volunteer on a canoe. I stopped swimming and began treading water. She was an older lady, probably in her mid 70's, but very physically fit. We chatted for a few minutes before I swam on. Again, getting comfortable in my environment by talking!
I was in no hurry. I stopped and talked to every single kayaker, canoer and paddle boarder out there on the practice swim course. I thanked each of them for being out there to support us. I was amazed that most of them were older...then I remembered that we were in the retirement capital of the world...Florida. I'm just used to the swim support being so much younger than me.
I slowly completed one loop of the practice swim course. The guy with the megaphone had said you could do as many loops as you wanted. I was happy with my one slow loop. I had done what I needed to do...work out the kinks, get comfortable with the salt water and get my mental state ready for a good swim.
I got out of the water knowing that I could swim in this water. My only concern was how much water I had swallowed when I was trying to sight. Anne's swim clinic had taught me to sight like an alligator but I guess I was trying to breathe and sight at the same time. That results in a mouth full of water. I've heard of people having serious GI problems after swallowing a lot of salt water...I definitely didn't want that! Note to self - keep your mouth shut when sighting.
I got out of the water and Stephen was patiently waiting for me on the beach...and taking pictures of course! We walked over to Sharky's where there was a perfect area for me to sit and take off my wetsuit without getting it too sandy. Plus there was a shower where I could rinse off my wetsuit as well as my sandy feet.
As I was getting myself together, a young guy and his father walked up. They were talking to each other, but asking questions about the course. We struck up a conversation and I explained the swim course and the difference with the practice swim course. We chatted about the challenges of traveling to an event and they gave me some really good advice on flying with a bike. He has some kind of fancy case that he uses to pack his broken down bike. He says that the airline workers always ask what's in it and he says that it's sporting equipment...because it's a $100 charge to fly with a bike. Since it's broken down, it's technically not a bike, so the kid is telling the truth!
Stephen ran into the father during the race and found out that the guy was 20 years old, in college, and had been invited on several occasions to get his pro card! His father wisely advised him to finish college first. This kid is really going places in the sport of triathlon. I'd like to follow his career...can't remember his name though...that might take a little bit of research.
I guess I thought the practice swim would take longer, because Stephen and I ended up sitting around waiting for the packet pick-up to open. Finally it opened and I went to get my packet. We went through the expo and I was surprised at how small it was...I guess I expected more vendors like there are at the Baltimore Marathon.
After packet pick-up, Stephen and I headed back into the little downtown area of Venice. I wanted pizza for lunch...so we ended up at this place called A Taste of Italy. It wasn't the average pizza slice I was craving, but it was SOO much better. After a nice, relaxing lunch, we headed back to the race venue. I checked in my bike and then headed to the mandatory athlete's meeting.
I got there in time to hear the Q&A session with a panel of pros. That was really interesting...although Stephen fell asleep at least once. I guess you have to participate in triathlon in order to find a Q&A session with the pros interesting!
We headed back to the hotel...a nap was in my future after sitting in the sun for so long! Quick naps and then dinner. We had dinner at a really nice place called the Venice Inn. The table next to us had 3 racers...I could tell from their arm bands! Dinner was so good - we ate really good food on this trip. I had some sort of chicken dish with a very light sauce with a glass of red wine. Perfect pre-race meal for me! I'm not sure if anyone else in the world has a glass of wine before every race, but it's a tradition that works for me.
Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep...we were in bed before 9:30.
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