What a difference a week makes!

The picture to my left is a photo of Tempe Town Lake. This lake is not my friend. My first time in it I swam the wrong direction while backstroking. The second time I was in the lake I doubled my pool time for the same distance. The third time in the lake I had a panic attack and tried to quit. Today was going to be different.

Kate's 2nd Splash N Dash . . . .

I started the day feeling much more confident. Last night's practice swim in the new wet suit felt good. I have a full sleeve "19" wetsuit. I think it gave me a little confidence boost. It also helped that it was a 750m swim v. the 1000m swim I was expecting. I had a very busy work day so I didn't have time to obsess about the race.

At 4:00 I packed up and went down to the race. It was a cold day for Arizona. Maybe 65 or 67? Usually when it hits 70 degrees here we all have our sweaters on. So this type of weather was not idea. I couldn't imagine what the water tempature was going to be.

Peter got to the race before me. He was only 1 of about 30 people! We were still a little early so maybe others would be coming. The race organizers talked about how the weather might be keeping people away today. By the time we were to start the race, we had 52 people participating. Unheard in Arizona to have race that small but I dug it! It turns out that it was a no chip race this time. They were going by our bib numbers. This should be interesting!

I looked at the water and got a huge pit in my tummy. The buoys were so far apart!! How could that be 750m? It looks like WAY more than that. It was again a triangle format. I can't believe how far they are! I had to stop looking b/c I could feel my heart rate going up.

As we started to get our wetsuits on an older lady befriended us. She was CHATTY! Turns out she has done ironman races and does about 15 marathons a year. She talked about how she was the last on across the finish line in IMAZ. She didn't care one bit! It was all about the finish for her. I was so impressed with her attitude. It turns out she is a slow swimmer too who is doing the same race I am doing on Sunday. I think her chatting helped me get through my prerace jitters. She didn't stop! It was cute though. I think she was happy to be with some folks.

Soon it was race time and we were to get into the water. It was cold!! I recognized some faces from last week and made some small talk with some folks while we were getting used to the water. A few of us self described slow people talked about where to go and when to start. So far so good. No panic yet.

The next thing I knew the horn blew. Deep breath . . . Here I go. For a brief moment I flet a little uneasy. Not getting into the flow but that soon passed. I tried to get a little chant going in my head. "1, 2, 3 . . . Breathe! 1, 2, 3 . . . Breathe!" I decided I would try to sight about every 10 strokes. I realized that I wasn't freaking out! I am doing this! I take my first sight and put my head right back in the water and didn't skip a beat. Hey, I just passed a guy! "1,2,3 . . breathe!"
The next thing I know I am at the first buoy! How did that happen? I am doing this!! As I am going I see some folks floating on their backs. I haven't had to flip over yet. Hooray! As I am swimming I realize the longer I keep stroking the faster I will get done.

As i reach the final stretch I got pretty emotional again. This week I'm emotional for a different reason. I totally concurred my fear! I didn't give up and worked to get over my issue. Pretty cool. As I started to walk up the boat dock and man was right behind me. He asked the race official "Are we the last ones out?" AND the race dude said "NO!" I can't believe it!

I quickly went to the transition and got my shoes on. The the running begin! I was about a mile into the run when I saw Peter coming the opposite way (We had to do two loops) He said "YOU DID IT!" It must have been obvious b/c he was still on his first lap.

I was on cloud nine. I knew I was still back of the pack but I was SO OK with that! When I finished Peter told me that I was only a couple of minutes behind him!! He thinks I really cut a ton of time of my swim!

Here are the results.

• Today: 750m swim and a 4k in 43:46
• Last week: 500m swim and a 4k in 45:52

I was trying to calculate the numbers. I don't know how this time can be possible though. It is pretty darn good if you consider the time includes the swim, transition of getting my wetsuit off, AND a 2.5 mile run! What ever. I'm not going to over think it. I'll take it.

I drove home with a new attitude. I can do this! This is a whole new ball game now! I can do this! Now that I know I can do the swim, I can start thinking about how to become faster and stronger v. thinking about surviving the swim.

What a difference a week makes!