One of the great things about tapering for ironman is that I get to catch up on my blog entries! This one, like the Sun Run, has been sitting in draft form since the beginning of the month and even though time has passed, it's still good to get my thoughts out there and reflect a little more on what ended up being a great day.
Most of the entry that follows is my race report to Coach Dave - this, then, gives you an insight into how I report in and the mental to-ing and fro-ing I tend to do. I've been coming out the other end OK, though, so that just means these ocean swims have been worthwhile! As a bit of a prelude and explanation, the weather forecast for the swim had been marginal, with the organisers warning us that they would cancel it if the conditions were deemed to be too unsafe. In addition, the day before (the day of the Sun Run) it had rained solidly and was simply miserable out at Manly. As a result, I had gone cold on the idea and figured I had nothing to prove anymore by doing the swim. If the conditions were miserable then why worry about it - we therefore decided I could take the wetsuit with us and, if it was not a flash day I'd just go and do my own thing at Shelly Beach.
Here, then, is my recount the day after:
"Despite all my trepidation (as usual!) had a good swim yesterday - came out of the water happy with my result and ready to do it again next year!
The weather at Manly had settled down from the previous day in that the rain had pretty much cleared but there were heavy swells coming into the beach making it fab for surfers but crap for swimmers. So Saturday night the call had been made that the swim would, like last year, start and finish at Shelly Beach.
I was still in two minds about doing it and even though it would be more difficult to do my own thing with the swim returning to Shelly, still took the wetsuit out with us just in case.
Most of the entry that follows is my race report to Coach Dave - this, then, gives you an insight into how I report in and the mental to-ing and fro-ing I tend to do. I've been coming out the other end OK, though, so that just means these ocean swims have been worthwhile! As a bit of a prelude and explanation, the weather forecast for the swim had been marginal, with the organisers warning us that they would cancel it if the conditions were deemed to be too unsafe. In addition, the day before (the day of the Sun Run) it had rained solidly and was simply miserable out at Manly. As a result, I had gone cold on the idea and figured I had nothing to prove anymore by doing the swim. If the conditions were miserable then why worry about it - we therefore decided I could take the wetsuit with us and, if it was not a flash day I'd just go and do my own thing at Shelly Beach.
Here, then, is my recount the day after:
"Despite all my trepidation (as usual!) had a good swim yesterday - came out of the water happy with my result and ready to do it again next year!
The weather at Manly had settled down from the previous day in that the rain had pretty much cleared but there were heavy swells coming into the beach making it fab for surfers but crap for swimmers. So Saturday night the call had been made that the swim would, like last year, start and finish at Shelly Beach.
I was still in two minds about doing it and even though it would be more difficult to do my own thing with the swim returning to Shelly, still took the wetsuit out with us just in case.
 |
| Manly - great surf conditions |
When my wave was ready to go the cold was starting to psych me out - I had got into the water again and come out, and was shivering on the start line. Boy did I want my wetsuit on! On the start line I was having the mental battle of pulling out but watched the other swimmers finishing and could see that they seemed to be fine and so convinced myself to stay there and not be such a wimp.
 |
| A bit of self-talk going on... |
So, mental battle won, gun goes and we're off. After all the fuss the swim went great. I was happy with my sighting - didn't break stroke to look up. Found someone's feet to follow at one point but she kept swimming off course so I gave up following pretty quickly. There was no breast stroking and only one micro pause to get directed by the lifeguards - one of the buoys had been removed as it had been pulled out to sea by a rip and so the lifeguards were having to keep us heading in the right direction until we could see the next buoy. A real difference with these ocean swims compared to ironman is the lack of buoys!
I got back to shore and ran up to the finish feeling pretty good - not shattered and not cold!
Time was 14mins quicker than last year, so that was good, but the removed buoy meant the course ended up shorter, 1.8km whereas I swam 2.2km last year. However, still an improvement on last year as my pace has improved by 2min/km (went from 26min/km to 24min/km) and my placing in the field also improved on last year.
As to whether to do it again next year - immediately before the race I was thinking I wouldn't. Surely I would be better focusing on doing some wetsuit swims. During and after I'm thinking I loved it as it is giving me more race experience, pack swimming experience and sighting practice. The conditions also help maintain my confidence in all conditions and if it weren't for the ocean swim events I probably wouldn't get any decent swimming in outside the pool - which wouldn't be ideal. And it gives me that little mental boost going into the swim leg at Taupo. So I'm back to thinking that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages!
And next time I come up with piss weak excuses as to why I can't do an ocean swim I give you full permission to tell me to harden up!"
No comments:
Post a Comment