Upstate Splash 1.2 OWS Race Report

I discovered this inaugural race a few weeks ago and felt very strongly that I should do it after I decided to skip Lake Logan. At the time I’d only done one open water swim during my last triathlon in May. For me this race was mostly about getting comfortable with OWS and improving on some skills you don’t need for pool swimming.

They offered 1.2 and 2.4 miles. I took 1.2 since that’s what I have to do for my HIM and I honestly don’t think 2.4 would have gone very well. I decided to give myself a goal time. The last time I did 1500m in a pool I did it under 30 minutes and that was almost 2 months ago. I figured I should be able to hold a similar pace for this so I was aiming for less than 38 minutes, a pace I was also hoping I could do during my HIM.

My husband and pup came along for the race. We hung out near the water until it was time for me to warm up while the 2.4 people were taking off. Oddly enough I think maybe only one or two other people warmed up. I registered on site so I automatically got put in the last wave which means it was a mixture of swim abilities. Blow horn went off and off we went.

There were a few things rolling through my head during the swim. My first thought was find bubbles. I’m new to the idea of drafting but I was told to find bubbles since that would mean there were feet. I tried finding feet to hope on to but everyone was swimming at different paces and then everyone was pretty spread out. Bubbles were nowhere to be found most of the race. Second skill I wanted to improve on was sighting. My last OWS I kept going really wide and I was determined not to do that this time. Well I failed at that. I kept veering to the right and found myself away from everyone else. About half way out I was starting to improve on a straight line though. On the way back I then started veering to the left and almost swam right into a buoy twice. I’m thinking current? Sure, we’ll go with current. There was some chop which was a new experience for me. Swallowed a few mouths full of water while sighting as tiny wave decided to crash right into my mouth. Overall, nothing terribly eventful about the swim.

The problem with swimming is it’s difficult to check your pace. I thought about checking my watch at the turn around but decided against it and kept chugging along. I felt like I was holding a decent pace. My breathing was hard but not “omg I can’t breathe” hard. My arms felt tired. Could I have pushed harder? Yes. It was probably a good effort for a triathlon where I’d have to bike and run afterwards but I don’t think it was enough for a swim only race.

After I crossed the “line” I stopped my watch and blinked in disbelief at my time. 44:47 (posted time 44:42). What? How? How could I be so far off from my goal time? I had my husband do the yard to mile conversion to find out I swam 1.28ish which accounts for less than 3 minutes. That’s still about 4 minutes over my goal time. I wasn’t happy to say the least. I was hoping to nail this race. This race was meant to give me confidence for my HIM. It did the exact opposite. Shit, if I can’t my goal pace during the swim, my strongest event, on a swim only race, how is my race going to go?

I went home and did my run right away to get it over with during which I let the self-doubt stomp all over me. My HR was out of control and I was going slowly. The next day I had a 3.5 hour ride followed by a run. I can’t remember the last time I felt this miserable on a bike. I wanted to throw my bike to the goats and walk home. My legs felt exhausted and I struggled to get my HR above the bottom of my range. My body’s effort did not match my HR or pace. I had zero interest in eating and struggled to get food down. All the time I’m mentally battling myself. I kept reminding myself that I’m supposed to feel exhausted at this point, get over it and keep pushing and then going back to doubt about my abilities and how I’ll do on the race. After the ride I was so happy to get off my bike and start running. Once my Bambi legs disappeared I settled into what I thought was a comfortable pace which turned out to be faster than the goal pace. For the first time since the swim I was started to get a bit of confidence back. And funny enough from running, my weakest event. Katie also helped talk me off the ledge saying all my efforts looked good but to take it easy today and eat a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever been advised to eat a lot but I’m happy to comply.

Still not feeling great mentally but I’m trying to give myself a break. I’m tired and had some bad days. I need to learn to write my comments, click the X on the window, and move on. There will always be bad days. There will also be good days. Just because swimming is good one day doesn’t mean my swim will be good the next day or that my run will be good the same day. Everything takes turns of going up and down. I need to avoid reading into either the good or bad too much. Instead focus on the trend and the progress. Less than two weeks until HIM, time to wash away the negativity.

And because my husband is the worst race photographer ever, I have only landscape pictures. So I’ll supplement with a picture of Nikita and me hanging out by the pool from later in the day.