Another Great Swim, Along with Before-Ironman Thoughts…

The ocean has been GREAT to swim in lately! Today the waves were up, especially at the swimming entry point at the pier. It was churning away, and we had to time our entry just right. We considered jumping off the wall like the locals…but too scary for us 50 and close-to-50-year olds!

We heard reports from exiting swimmers that there were dolphins around the 1.2 buoy, so we set off to find them. Sure enough, dolphins! Unfortunately the water was a little murky, but I still got some good pictures.

One of my swimming buddies said she hoped I see dolphins during the Ironman race swim…I responded I would love to, but often don’t notice much sea life while in a race. I am usually concentrating on the people all around me, trying to find a good draft, making sure I’m staying on course, and thinking about using a good, strong stroke, so there’s not much time to “snorkel.”

While swimming this morning, I was thinking about the race-day swim…where I plan to start (far-ish left – toward shore), how I’ll build to race pace, and then try to hold onto a draft just a little faster than my comfort zone. I was also thinking about what a shame it is that the 2.4mile swim will be only about 1/14th of my entire race on October 9!

Most of my Ironman training has been cycling, which will make up about 1/2 of my race-day time, then running, then swimming. Hopefully, all of my pre-race cycling will pay off in a faster time than my previous 2 Ironmans in Wisconsin…2003 my bike time was 7:32 (average pace of 14.8mph) and in 2004 my time was 8:21 (average 13.4mph). Wow…it hurts to even type those times…ouch! Slow! Hitting my goal of 15mph this year would make me very happy!

Yes, my very speedy niece and nephews, and daughter are cringing/laughing at my (super-slow-to-them) 15mph goal, but riding faster than 6 years ago, in the famous Big Island winds, will make me smile! And I did just read in a triathlon publication that there’s no such thing as having a great bike and a bad run in a race. The reasoning is that if you leave it all on the bike course by expending too much energy, and have nothing left for the marathon, you were not riding wisely. I’ll be thinking of that as everybody passes me…I’ll just pass them back in the run!! Haha!

In 2003 I was #654 out of the water, #1469 overall in the bike, and #1320 overall on the run, with an overall finish place of 1344 out of 1806 finishers. In 2004 I was #764 out of the water, #2066 overall in the bike, and #1883 overall on the run, with an overall finish place of 1946 out of 2188 finishers. If you do the math, you can see I was passed by m-a-n-y on the bike…but I did pass a few back on the run.

Anyway, all that to say I’m really looking forward to race day, knowing I’ll be out there with age group champions and professionals, trying my hardest and having my best race ever!