We got up around 5:15am to get the Joe going. Had our PB toast and lots of hydration and headed over to the area in front of the King Kam to get ready for the swim. I was bib 349 and Anders was 712. We would find out later they gave him the wrong bib/chip--more on that in a bit. Nothing too dramatic in getting ready for the swim prior to jumping in the water but here are some pics/videos:
First off getting our chips--I'm wearing my "Have No Fear, the Norwegian is Here" T-shirt in honor of Gustav and the great video he did for my mom yesterday!
We donned our Roka swim skins and began to get into the mindset necessary to swim 2.4 miles...
Soon enough it was time to head down to the water....in case you're wondering, I'm the gimpy one courtesy of my left knee...
(sorry about the vids not posting--maybe too long?)
The "Kona Boys" were ready!
It was a bit confusing figuring out what to do. There weren't the usual paddle boards marking the start line. I was able to get out and join the mob (about 800 finishers) about a minute before the start. Anders was still on Dig Me with about 3 minutes to go when he figured out he needed to swim out about 200 yards to the starting area. He proceeded to sprint full on out there and arrived in the middle of the pack just as the starting horn sounded....not the best way for either of us to start a race!
Anders had a great swim. He described it as a 3 out of 10 effort. He found a great set of feet to follow most of the outbound part of the swim but was not as fortunate on the way back. He finished in 62:48, according to Sportstat, which was good enough for 24th out of 98 in his 35-39 YO Age Group. He was 169th out of 743 overall. Because of the mixup with his number he is listed as "Florian Diebl" on the results page...makes you wonder what happened to Florian!
I had a less dramatic start. I was off to the left away from the pier and the buoy line. My object was to finish with as little drama as possible, so that I could build my confidence for the Ironman. I felt really comfortable right from the start. I didn't swim very hard, just trying to be smooth and under control. I was jostled a bit here and there throughout the swim but it wasn't really that challenging from a physical contact perspective--something I always worry about in a mass start swim like this.
I glanced at my Garmin here and there and could tell I was having a good swim with my 100s ticking by under 2 minutes each. I was content to swim out to the turn buoys with this relatively easy effort. Soon enough I made the two right turns and was heading home. When the bottom became visible again I could tell that I wasn't moving as fast as on the outbound leg. I wasn't surprised by this as this is my 5th 2.4-mile swim in a race at this venue and each time the current becomes apparent as you head back north towards the pier. Undoubtedly, fatigue was a factor as well and since I'm not a very good non-wetsuit swimmer, my form tends to fall apart more quickly as I tire than most of the swimmers here.
I really had the swim I was looking for and even pushed it a bit over the last 750-yards or so. I exited the swim in 85:01 according to my Garmin (which isn't great I know but I'm quite content with it).
Here is what the Garmin data looks like:
You can clearly see the slow down over the back half. Also, not the best job of navigating a straight swim (it was challenging to navigate and the rest of swimmers were zigging and zagging quite a bit as well--very confusing) although my GPS had me at 4,192 yards, so pretty darn close!
I'd grade my level of effort as a 6-7 vs. Anders' 3. We each had essentially the same HR at 142bpm, which seems to jive with our relative perceptions of efforts as his max HR is quite a bit higher than mine, given my age.
I finished 6th out of 13 in my Age Group and 462nd OA (out of 743). Notably Monty and SlowMan (Mark Montgomery and Dan Empfield) went 1-2 in my Age Group and they were a good 19 minutes faster than I. All-in-all, this was exactly what I was looking for in today's swim and I'll carry a lot of confidence into Thursday's Big Dance!
After resting up for an hour or so back at the house, Anders and I went out for short rides (he did 24 and I did 22 miles). At the end of the ride, we were riding together down Makala (talking about Heart Rate Decoupling) and when we reached the dead-end by the old airport he thought we were turning right and I didn't and we bumped into each other. I cried out and swerved right but was able to correct and stay upright. Anders was not so lucky and down he went. The good news is we had slowed down form 20+ mph to about 7 or 8 mph and both he and his bike were ultimately OK. Not so his Wyn Racing shorts and he did get a couple of scrapes on his upper right leg and right elbow.
Very scary when it happened but we luckily dodged this bullet!
Onwards and Upwards!
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