IMKY - Swim + T1

Meagan, Carly, and I woke up at 4:00 AM on Sunday morning 8/29/2010 and it was go time. We ate some breakfast and got our morning gear together and then met Alex and Mike in the lobby. Alex's brother Miles got up super early and gave us a much appreciated ride to Transition. When bikes must be checked in the day before a race, it's best to let some air out of the tires and pump them up fresh race morning because of temperature differentials. We pump them up, check things out, then are off to the starting line!

Getting the ride over there really saved us a lot of time, and probably put us about midway through the swim line at Tumbleweed's restaurant. It was about a 3/4 mile walk to the start from transition. We had just about the whole KC contingency there with us in line minus a small handful that did their own thing. The line was much longer than it "really" was because so many friends, fans, and family were in line with athletes. Once it was athletes only, the line started moving and condensing.

We celebrated the Star Spangled Banner and then heard the cannon go off. Through the trees along the river, we could see the athletes starting their 2.4 mile swim. Since it was a time trial start instead of mass start...we had to wait only a short time longer. They say it takes around 45 minutes or so to get everyone in, and we went off around 7:22 (I think???).

As the line moved towards the start, we passed through an energetic gauntlet of fans and it was pretty surreal. I couldn't believe this day had finally come. We moved down the boat ramp towards the docks and they told us to run to keep things moving. I was jogging and it was totally wild - there were two docks and two lines so I picked one, crossed the timing mat, and jumped off the dock feet first. Our chips started timing us as we crossed the mat.

Oh my...here I gooooo!!!! I'm in the Ohio River and swimming upstream along Towhead Island. It is a tiny bit crowded, but NOTHING like the Ironman mass swim start where bodies are packed like sardines and swimming over each other. SO happy I'm doing an Ironman with a swim start like this. I manage to find some patches of free water and I'm a little freaked out and have to get my mind calmed down. That happens after a couple hundred meters and I'm doing this "swim 2.4 miles" thing.

No one kicks or scratches me, or pulls my goggles off. I manage to find my own water and go... relaxing and trying to focus on technique so that I can expend as little energy as possible. It feels fantastic...joyous. Is the Ohio River kind of gross? Yes. But you can't think about that too much. It's a beautiful day. I'm super excited to reach the turn-around buoy because then we are doing downstream. There isn't a crazy strong current like say the Missouri River, but there is some.

As I turn to breathe, I see my friend Meagan is right beside me!!! I give her a shout out. I am kind of over by the edge of the river and can actually touch the bottom, which is very very gooey. Here is some shocking news...triathletes pee during the race but that can be hard to do that while you are swimming. So since I can touch the bottom, I stop for a second and announce to Meagan - "I'm peeing!!!!". "Good call" she says and we take a break together and then get going. For some reason Meagan told me later that she 'decided' to run into a kayak instead of making the turn :). Luckily she is fine...lol.

We continue on back downstream for the last 2/3 of the race and it is still joyous. Luckily, I don't swallow much of that nasty water. I take it one bridge at a time. As I sight my swim line, the Crabshack restaurant by the swim exit gets closer and closer. I'm doing this!!! Yes!!! And I feel fantastic. I savor this, because I know later I may not feel fantastic.

I'm at the swim exit and am kind of sad it is over...looking down at my watch, my time is pretty on par with my time goal and is at a faster average speed than I did for the Kansas Half Ironman 1.2 mile swim!!!!!! All that work on technique and in the pool paid off. Not only am I faster, it feels easier and I'm expending less energy. Thanks Kathy!!!!

Swim 2.4 Miles - 1:24:01 (avg 2:11 / 100); Rank 272 / 525 female finishers. This is my highest ranked split of the day, which is highly unusual for me. In short course my bike split would be the best, then the run, and the swim 3rd usually!

Transition

I run a long way to get my Bike bag and then into the female changing tent. I didn't have a volunteer helping me with this one. I change into bike shorts and grab everything needed for my pockets...my berry smoothie Power Bars (delish!), Hammer Endurolytes, etc etc. I pour water into the water bottle and then carefully empty my Hammer Perpetuem drink powder into it...it can go bad so I wanted to mix it fresh. This is a 3.5 hour bottle that I'm going to pour into my aero bar bottle. I CANNOT spill it...do that, and it's trouble (although technically I'm prepared and have the next 3.5 hours of powder with me on the bike, and have some spare powder in my special needs bag). I swear this stuff is magic...Hammer does great nutrition.

Okay now I'm ready to get sunscreened by a volunteer...she does kind of a sketchy job and I have to give some instructions because we are out there a long time. You need that sun protection.

I'm all gooped up and ready to grab my bike and head out for this 112 mile bike ride. Let's do this!!!! 1 down...2 to go.