Doing the Deuce!

This past Sunday morning was the 3rd time I raced the Big Deuce, a two mile open water swim race in local Jordan Lake. It was an interesting swim race, and I did pretty good.  This year I have really been enjoying the open water, and the Rev3 Cedar Point is only 6 weeks away so this race is a perfect fit.

Sunday morning I had no trouble getting out the door and over to the lake bright and early. Found the bathroom, packet pickup was a breeze, and before you know it I was hanging out with friends talking about strategy and training.

Packet pickup and the lake

Started off of this boat ramp in the water

I got in a nice warmup, then found some friends of mine from church that were swimming with their daughter. Everybody was ready for some fun!

There was a bit of treading water, then a countdown and we were off!  All of the 2 milers were in the first wave, followed by the 1 mile men, then the 1 mile women.  The crowd looked thin, but there were actually plenty of people racing!

I started off with a hard effort, and hung in drafting off of the leaders for the first 200 yards or so. The first two sighting buoys came up pretty quickly, and I felt good about my effort and results.  Then there was a turn buoy that seemed like it was spaced a lot farther apart than the sighting buoys.  This was a triangle course, so after the first turn was another turn buoy, then head back towards the starting line. The 1 milers only did 1 lap, but I had to turn around and go back for a second lap.

And that's where things started to get interesting. Some woman decided to start breaststroking as soon as we got to turn and start the second lap! You know those turns are always crowded.  You don't need to keep your head above water to sight right then. That kick came back and hit my left hand and jammed my index finger really bad.  So starting out on lap 2 and I've got to deal with a busted wing! ouch!  I mean, there's always other people getting in the way and I get kicked in all sorts of places, but this may be the first time I've gotten kicked in the finger!

So I kind of took it easy getting back out to turn buoy #1.  By the time I had cleared turn buoy #2 on lap 2 the finger finally stopped hurting.  With 3 buoys left I kicked it up a notch, then did it again with 2 left, then finally started a sprint to the finish line when I hit the last buoy.

I finished in 1:04:34, good enough for 38/86 men and 5/9 in my age group. Overall, not a bad way to spend a sunday morning. I feel pleased with my effort and performance.

Now, the excuses.

A couple of years ago I did this race in 58:04. Why so much slower this year? Well on saturday I did a 4 hour bike ride.  And I kind of ate like crap for the last part of that week. So I kind of feel like I was a bit tired in the legs.  I knew I had to run sunday afternoon as well, but I tried not to save anything for that. When you're racing, put all you can into the race. I still thought I could break an hour.

I had some friends racing too. In the 1 mile race had a couple of swimmers from the RAM team, Billy finished 6th place overall and Tom finished 10th, they both won their age groups. There was also a couple that sings in the church choir that did the 2 mile race with their daughter. The kid finished about a minute behind me, and Kenn and Betty a few minutes behind her.  So I definitely held onto the choir room bragging rights. And let me tell you something else. It takes a special kind of confidence for this almost-40-year-old man to be hanging out with church friends in only a speedo. But, you know, I rocked it.

So here's the real story of Sunday:
First Breakfast
swim 2 miles
Second breakfast
sing in church choir
lunch and only lunch
run 15 miles
first dinner
second dinner
nap
third breakfast
sleep

Of course I did plenty of stuff with Kelley and the kids too. but there was seriously a lot of nice clean eating. and some rewarding snacking in between. and the gu's and honey stinger waffles during the run.

Overall it was a great weekend, but this week has left me feeling a bit overtrained. Next week is the biggest week of the entire year, and the kids have been sick. I'm fighting so hard not to catch it. This weekend has the Lake Logan half iron, my time test for Rev3 CP. So I cannot go into that or the heavy week sick or overtrained.  I'm sure I could have swam faster if I was well rested, so I'm sleeping in for the rest of the mornings this week and taking Friday as a complete rest day.  Let's hope that works!