Georgia Games Open Water Swim

This week was the last recovery week before we did two other long 100/ 110 mile rides and 17/19 mile runs again in the next two weeks. The word recovery was a little deceiving, we still had 65 mile ride and 10 mile run on the weekend. I did have one weight session instead of two. I got a day off, instead of another swim. Woohoo! The timing was perfect too since I was in training at work, so the busy week at the office made up for the hours spent less in the gym. I took a day off on Friday to ride 65 miles. The weather wasn't as hot as the prior two weeks but it was very humid. After the ride, I was planning to check my work emails, but I was so tired. I took a shower, ate and slept. Funny that I felt I was more tired during recovery week when I worked out less.

The next morning was the Georgia Games open water swim at Lake Acworth. I signed up for the 3K distance, 1.9 miles. I was debating whether I should sign up for the 1K also. I heard that the distance was actually much longer than 1.9 miles last year. I believe that after I checked last year's swim results for some of the people that I knew. I emailed the race director if the markers were going to be placed in the same places as last year. In another word, was the 3K really 1.9 miles? She said the buoys were going to be at the same place at last year. I was game for the 3K swim only.

I carpooled with Karen and Regina. We met up at Cracker Barrel at I75 North. Once we were in Acworth, I recognized the streets, I ran there for my first sprint triathlon in 2008. The swim wasn't at the same place, but I bet it was really close. We registered around 9:15AM. Mike, Karen's coach, just got done swimming the 5K. I heard that the 5K distance was a little short. At the race briefing, I found out that there were only 4 yellow buoys on the course. I could see all of them from the start. It didn't look too bad. I did a really quick warm up for a couple of minutes.

We started at 10AM. The start was pretty peaceful. I touched somebody's feet once or twice and that was it. No body contact after that. Even though the first buoy was far but it was easy to sight. I breathed bilaterally and sighted every 10 strokes or so. The second buoy was a little hard to see after the first turn. Actually I didn't see it at all. I was just sighting at the kayak. After a while, I could see not only the second but also the third buoys. Going to the second buoy, I saw a few people in front of me and around me, but it felt very lonely. I swam by myself. It didn't bother me even though it was better if I saw people. The water was pretty warm, low to mid 80's. I wore my speed skin. I liked it being more covered.

When I got to the third buoy, I was pretty close to the bridge. I could see cars when I was breathing on my left. The sun came out and suddenly, it was too bright and I didn't wear tinted goggles. After a while, I was bored, I wasn't tired but just bored. I started thinking about the distance. 1.9 miles. It took less than 10 minutes to ride it and less than 20 minutes to run it. Why did it take so long to swim it? It was ridiculous. As I swimming to the last buoy, I noticed every time I lifted up my head to sight, I felt unpleasant feeling on the back of my neck, by the hairline. Shoot! I didn't put body glide there.

I was happy to circle the last buoy but swimming back to the start (or finish) was a little tricky because there was no big buoy or finish chute. Plus I was swimming along the land and I couldn't see the start. There were some orange buoys at the start, so those were what I used to sight. I breast stroked several times because I felt I was closer to the finish but still I couldn't see it. Finally I saw the finish and swam until my hand touched the bottom. I looked at my watch, 1:02. It was a good time, I thought.

Overall it was a good swim. I didn't feel tired. I could really go the full IM distance which was 2.4 miles. I accomplished my goal, which was to know how it felt swimming continuously. It felt strong. I'm ready!