I did the Mighty Merrimack Open Water Swim Race on Sunday, August 5th. Peej and I decided that this would be great training opportunity. The only question going into race day was whether to wear my wetsuit or my swimskin. Peej ultimately left the decision up to me and come Sunday morning I left my wetsuit at home so I wouldn't be tempted. I wasn't worried about swimming the distance without my wetsuit - I was more concerned about my mental confidence of covering the distance in the allotted time for #IMCHOO.
I finished the swim in 2 hrs, 24 mins.and the actual distance ended up at 2.3 miles. While my swim was 4 mins over my goal, the first mile was upstream and into the wind - who knew the wind could make a difference when you're swimming!!! In the end, my concerns about time was unwarranted as I had some great positives that I took home - along with a 1st Place medal!!!! Some of my takeaways:
- Never overwhelmed by the size of the river - this was a great confidence boost
- I was able to rein in my nerves and get my heart rate down to a level I could maintain
- Didn't panic when the current kept pushing me out to the middle of the river
- Never once contemplated cutting the course and turning back at the buoy for the 1 mile swim
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| Boston Triathlon Team representing at the Mighty Merrimack |
Having Janice Biederman & Jessica Douglas to share the day with was awesome.
(For my non-triathlon friends - beside providing some warmth, a wetsuit also provides a little extra buoyancy which helps you go a bit faster. A swimskin doesn't provide any buoyancy but is worn over the top & shorts that you're going to wear for the rest of your race - it just streamlines you a bit and keeps the pockets on your top from filling up with water and making you go slower. Why is this an important question - the temperature of the water on race morning determines whether or not you can wear a wetsuit - IM Chattanooga is non-wetsuit.)
A few highlights from training so far -
I've been riding a lot of different routes in areas that I'm not familiar with. I do this for a couple of reasons one - I like seeing different scenery but the bigger reason is to help with my race day prep. I won't be able to ride the bike course before the race so I'm hoping that by riding in different areas it will help my confidence being in unfamiliar terrain and still maintain my nutrition. So far so good, I've only had one spot that I got off my bike and walked up a hill. Afterwards I was pretty mad at myself because I could've made it up it - but I'll ride that route again and get that hill.... it was definitely mind over matter.
I think that I'm finally getting much better at my nutrition on the bike thanks to help from Laura Moretti. I've started using CarboPro in my hydration bottles and it's helping me get more calories in without eating so much. So far it has not had any ill effects on my stomach so that's a real positive. Speaking of hydration, we were concerned about needing to stop at the aid stations to refill a third water bottle but I found that I'm comfortable with carrying the bottle in my jersey pocket so I can just toss and go !!!!
My running is still a work in progress. Thanks to Jess Douglas I'm having less pain and swelling and have been able to get most of my long runs in with minimal discomfort. I still need to be careful and when I run hills if they are steep coming down I need to walk. I've also been practicing timing my hydration, specifically when and how long will I allow myself to walk. So far, its been a success and is starting to become muscle memory.
That's it for now... next up Ironman 70.3 Maine.... yum ..... lobster dinner
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