Friend?

I read a quote online recently that went something like, "The wind is your friend, it either makes you fast or it makes you strong".

What a load of crap.

It was windy in Wisconsin today, dam windy, and I had 2-1/2 hours scheduled for the bike. Two and a half hours on a typical day on typical roads would put me at roughly 40-miles. I don't have any forty mile routes, so I decided a loop on the IM bike course was in order.

Holy shit.

With the wind and the hills, Verona to Mount Horeb was brutal. I pretty much stood to get up any hill, and often found myself in my lowest gear as I approached the bottom of a hill. At one point I was struggling to hold 6-mph going up a small hill into the wind. It was brutal.

Mt. Horeb to Cross Plains offered a little relief from the wind, but the hills were still killing me. The roller coaster on Garfoot Road was a blast, I could ride that all day, as long as I got a lift back to the top.

Then of course came the hills outside of Cross Plains on the way back to Verona. Ouch.

With the wind finally at my back, I managed at one point to maintain 20+mph going up a long gradual hill and then I topped out at 41+ coming down another. That's how windy it was.

I felt pretty good coming in to Verona, maybe relieved was more like it. Wound up at 43 miles in about 2:50. Strong? No. Fast? Definitely not. But I consider it a victory none the less.

DFL afterall?

According to official results I was last, but unless I was so incredibly cold that my swim buddy was a figment of my imagination, his time didn't make the list. I'm not even considering the folks that didn't make it through the swim, and from what I've heard, there were at least a couple.

Swim 25:44 - Extrapolate this out to IM distance and I'm out of the water in roughly 1:50. As bad as this swim went, that calculation right there gives me a huge amount of hope.

Transition 3:09 - Surprisingly, not the slowest transition time in the field. Some of it was me waiting for my imaginary friend. Some of it was me taking my shorts off and putting them on the right way.

Run 29:35 - No complaints here given my complete lack of run training recently.

NQ, BPDCT, DFL

Not quite, but pretty dam close to, dead fucking last. Consider this a warning, the expletives are coming.

I watched the radar all day, literally. In the morning I thought there was no way it was going off. By noon I wasn't sure, about 2:00 or so I knew I'd end up swimming tonight. Dam the luck.

As I'm pulling up to the beach I see the buoys. My first thought, "Holy fuck those are a long way out there." 1000-m doesn't sound like much, but the first time you see it stretched out as a triangle in the water it kind of blows you away.

Fast forward to pre-race. Pull new wetsuit 1/2 way on, let's go see how the water feels. Holy crap that's cold. Get back out, mill around for awhile, time to try again. This time I pull the wetsuit on the whole way, don my pretty red swim cap, and try again.

Dam, still cold. Finally get fully in, float around for a bit, take a few strokes, it's not cold, it's frigid. Getting out again.

Conversation that ensued was kind of humorous:

Random dude in transition area: "How is it?"

Me: "It's like bathwater."

RDITA: "Really?"

Me: "No, it's fucking cold."

Got back in again and swam some more just prior to race start. I can do this.

Gun goes off and I let all the crazies run in from the beach. I wade in and start swimming only when pretty much every one else is. First 100-150 yards aren't bad, I'm following some feet, banged into a couple folks, nothing too drastic. Then it went to hell in a hand basket, and quick.

Turns out I don't swim straight, AT ALL. First I got off course, way off course. I'm not really sure what happened after that. Every time I looked up I was heading in a different direction and it messed with my head something fierce. Breathing and heart rate got all out of whack, and I wound up floating on my back.

By the time I made it to the first buoy it was just me, one other guy, and two kayaks. Despite it being just the two of us, we ran into each other at least 3-4 times. I swam the second leg primarily on my back trying to relax and get my breathing under control. Sometimes I'd do the backstroke, sometimes I'd just kick with my hands together on my stomach. Whatever it takes.

About 1/3 of the way in on the last leg I finally rolled over and swam again. Still couldn't hold a line to save my life, but the beach was getting closer. When I got to waist depth water I stood up and walked in. Enough of that.

The rest of the race was uneventful. I was going to wait for my swim buddy and run the 5k with him but he was taking way to long in transition and I was a little antsy and imagine this, cold. Oh, and it's raining now. I don't know when it started, but I first realized it about 1/2 way in on the last leg of the swim.

I didn't wear my watch again, so I have no idea where I'm at time wise in the race. As I cross the finish line there is a big clock at roughly 58:30.

Me: "that race time?"

Race Volunteer Chick: "yup"

Me: "no shit"

And at this point I'm totally astonished, I wouldn't say thrilled, but completely shocked that I broke an hour.

RVC: "Well at least you finished"

I don't think she understood my position.

Deep breath, almost done.

Other than not finishing or ending up as fish food on the bottom of the lake, the swim went about as bad as I could have imagined, but at least I know where I'm at, and that's something. I'm actually in pretty good spirits. I had no expectations going in, so it's hard to really be disappointed.

When race times get posted I'll post them here, if I had to guess, I'd say 25 in the water, 3 in transition, and 30 on the run. I felt like I was in the water a lot longer than that, but I doubt I ran a 5k in less than 30 with all the running I've done lately.

DFL

I'm not shooting for it. It is by no means my goal, but it is a very real possibility for my next event. The Fleet Feet Aquathon series starts tomorrow night. Thousand yard swim followed by a 5k run. The very best I can hope for is probably around 50-minutes. 20 by water, 30 by land.

Now take into account I've never swam in open water, I've never swam in a wetsuit (or a swim cap for that matter), I need to get through transition, and oh, by the way, water temperatures are around 50 F. Add it up and an hour is looking pretty miraculous. Looking at 2007 results, an hour either puts me DFL or in serious competition for it, even 50 minutes gets me pretty dam close.

And to be honest I'm ok with it. Doesn't bother me one bit. I need the experience of swimming in open water and this seems to be a decent way to get some.

Out of curiosity, I did a bit of reading on hypothermia. According to wikipedia, a water temperature of 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) can be expected to lead to death in approximately 1 hour. That's reassuring.

But there is hope on the horizon, forecast includes a chance of rain and/or storms for tomorrow afternoon. I usually don't pray for rain, but if the race was cancelled or postponed I wouldn't exactly be heart broken.

So if you're so inclined, do a little rain dance for me. But if this thing goes off I'll be there, I just hope to come out of the water with all my toes and fingers still functioning.