Kona 2012- Pre-race and Swim

The most amazing thing about this race was just absorbing the atmosphere and having such great support of friends and family. My incredibly supportive parents/John’s parents both made the trip and the Lincks were there, Giorgia and Giuseppe, and Klo. It was cool to have other people there who appreciated just how awesome the whole scene was. Way more fun than I thought and all I could say was, I have GOT to find a way to get back here!

Loved everything about it from visiting the places we’d heard about, to the laid back atmosphere, to the underwear run, where Paul, John, and I made it to the website of Triathlon magazine.

Race-wise I have to say I was feeling pretty apprehensive. Eight weeks out to about four weeks out, my training was extremely compromised due to a really intense viral infection where the symptoms included not being able to breath, and my ‘key’ training sessions included barely jogging, swimming with a pull buoy, spinning in zone 1 with frequent rests, and flogging myself for being such a weakling.  There were days when I managed to pick it up a bit, but then I would usually be forced to take consecutive even easier days after.  Four weeks out to two weeks out, my body was able to pick it up a bit on the bike and swim, but my running was all low mileage slogging. I tried to keep a good attitude but I’d be lying to say it wasn’t a little depressing to go to such a big event so unready to race . After awhile that disappointment lost the sting, and then I was just hoping to be healthy enough to to the line.. and make it to the finish.

So needless to say after all that, my expectations weren’t of any personal bests or great performances. My thought was that I would try to  enjoy myself and make it to the Finish!

I was really apprehensive as it was about to start. I talked to this nice girl on the shore who didn’t speak good English but it was nice to share a little empathy. She said “ I am afraid” to me and it was nice to not have to feel like I was the only one feeling a bit overwhelmed. She indicated that she had done the race once before and I asked her the swim was and she said ‘it is war’ Something haunting about her accent and the way she said it .. I really just wanted to survive the swim.

Half the people were just standing on the shore in no hurry to get into the water, and the other half were dutifully warming up between the shore and the start. I kept standing there and finally I figured I would go find my place near the start. The water is strange in that it is actually kind of chilly near the shore and warmer farther out. I gradually began to wade out and was relieved that I felt like I was floating easily. Like I said, I had been having some respiratory difficulties and my greatest fear was that they would surface during the swim and make it impossible to keep swimming. I had been planning to move as far to the left as possible and I looked for this large multiperson giant canoe thingy so I could hang on and stay chillaxed before the start. It’s always the case for em that the course and route look so obvious from above but become disorienting as soon as you enter the water. I was asking one of the paddlers on the boat which way to go and she indicated that I would be pulled towards the other shore if I went far to the left as many swimmers were doing. I asked her advice and she pointed towards the middle .

Well she seemed like she knew what she was talking about so I was going to listen… I reluctantly went towards the middle and the back third of the pack. For some reason the cannon didn’t go off and so everyone just started going.  I was expecting ‘a war’ and was surprised that, at first, there wasn’t  much contact. I had seeded myself far enough back so there was really no one behind that wanted to pass (or clobber me), but not far enough up so that I was around swimmers worth drafting off of. At kona the swimmers are condensed.. they don’t spread out much like at other IMs and pretty much everyone is between 55 and 1:20 or so. So basically there is nowhere to go. Fine for me at first, like I said, I certainly was being cautious and felt like I was moving slow but no problems for the first few minutes. It was pretty choppy and of course made choppier by the mass of bodies so one thing I noticed is that I was swallowing some  amount of water. I really didn’t think much of it.. obviously I know that drinking seawater is not a good option for those lost at sea, but I’ve never had an issue with it before in my few ocean swims.

So there I am just cruising along.. trying to stay calm and not freak out at the masses.. I start to feel nauseous  after awhile.. no worries. I’ve just swallowed some air and need to burp. Happens all the time.  Anyways, I just start feeling more and more uncomfortable and strange.  I had to stop a couple of times, which I generally don’t do for obvious reasons. I finally make the turnaround and feel like I am moving in slow motion. Now I know my swim fitness was not the best going into the race, but despite my limited training  I  had certainly done enough to make it through a little IM swim! More time passed.. I stopped more.. I treaded water, I started puking up the saltwater, I got dizzy.. stopped puked again… I was starting to think I had been out there a long time. It was very strange.. I have never felt quite like that. I felt like I was hot and feverish and dizzy and like I must have been carrying bricks in my hands.. it was quite difficult to keep swimming. I was cursing what I thought must have obviously been extreme out-of-shape-ness and then I started fantasizing about a glass of plain water. That was what pretty much got me to the end.

I got out and started staggering around. Seriously.. it was so weird. Also, I wanted to cry.. I just felt so bad. 

I actually had to walk instead of jog through transition and I stopped at the aid station and drank several cups of plain water. I heard the announcer say.. “We’re 1:12 into the age group race” and I thought maybe I was hallucinating.. I thought there was no way I wasn’t in there for 90 minutes or more.