Longhorn 70.3: THE SWIM

they say the water was 77 degrees. i say the water was 79 degrees. whatever it was, it was hot and not having my wetsuit was the best possible mistake i could have asked for. i over heat while i swim, so not having the option to fry myself in a vat of lake water amongst my age group opponents was something of a blessing. i was surrounded by 3 handfuls of women in wetsuits and a handful of them in skins. i wore my sports bra and tri shorts and stood to the inside, away from the majority of the racers in my wave because i know female triathletes - they're mean. they won't think twice about dunking you to get ahead. they jab, kick, scratch and crawl the person in front, behind or beside them that threatens the slightest movement towards what they've deemed their water territory. i wanted to stay clear from the get go so i stayed outside and prayed that this group would be nicer than the other groups i'd started with in the past. no such luck. the gun sounded and we were off. the first 200 or so meters i struggled to keep a steady breath and a strong arm. every stroke i took was met by a hard rubber body. the next 300 meters bred more of the same - all the while building more and more anxiety in my chest. we were like drowning monkeys in the pacific ocean except there was no salt for buoyancy and these monkeys were actually humans with strong pulls and even stronger will. i felt trapped in a sea of bodies and i couldn't find my way out to clear water no matter how hard i tried. there was no drafting because i couldn't get in a good stroke to save my life. finally after hitting the first buoy, a group of us 25-29 year olds pulled ahead and the water became a little less swallowing. i began to find a slight groove and tried desperately to keep it smooth. pull, rotate the hips - g l i d e...&push. pull, rotate the hips - g l i d e...&push. pull, rotate the hips - g l i d e...&push. and that was it. i'd get about 3 or 4 strokes in and all of a sudden i'd get bamboozled from behind or jack knifed from the side. i was flabbergasted at the fact that i could not just swim - so much so that i had to stop on five separate occasions to tread water and/or breast kick just so the animal to my right or left, front or back didn't succeed in drowning my poor unfloatable ass. i struggled throughout the entire swim not because i couldn't swim, but because this sea of neoprene clad bodies would not allow me the luxury. finally, with about 500 or so meters to go, i found a safe place. i pictured myself in an unpoppable bubble and there i stayed. i had already caught up to the wave directly before me about 100 meters back, and now i was seeing the stragglers from the two waves before that. i have to say that i have NEVER passed people in my own wave, much less 3 waves before mine - either they were super slow or i was getting faster. let's go with the latter, it makes me look better :) with this bit of light to guide me through the final stretch, i found a straight path to the inside outlet and made like a bandit to the swim out. i exited the water with such glee in knowing that 1) i had survived the near death drowning and the panic attacks it had ensued and 2) it was now time for the bike and Muffassa was calling my name...

official time: 30:37

official temp: water felt like 79 to start and ended feeling like 95

official elevation: 0 ft - i'm pretty sure it was flat out in the lake ;)
official feeling: glad to have not been drowned, pumped for the next 56 miles!