Today, I volunteered for the Danskin Triathlon which is an all-female triathlon series across the nation. I volunteered to be a "swim angel" which is someone who is out in the water with a noodle or two. If a race participant is having problems, I give them the noodle so they can rest or they can swim with it if they want to. I would much, much rather be doing this than being on the bike course or guarding the transition area. So, I was a swim angle.
Man, it was a blast, but it kicked my ass. The course was only 750m, but I ended up swimming it 3 times. The first time, I was beat. I had 4 people that I was watching and I kept swimming between them making sure that they were OK. Back and forth. Back and forth. After that lap, I went back to the start and did another lap. This time, it went much quicker and I wasn't as tired. One problem was that one of the turn buoys started to wander off so it made that leg of the swim a little longer before they captured the buoy again. The third leg was really tiring as well, but it was good. I enjoyed it.
Chris who is the husband of one of my TNT teammates was out there with me. Both of us didn't expend how hard this would be. We are both decent swimmers and are used to swimming fairly fast. We are not used to treading water for 2 and a half hours. Luckily, I wore my wetsuit so I had some buoyancy. If I got tired, I flipped on my back and stayed there for a bit. One thing I noticed though was how strong my kick is getting. It was good practicing Tarzan swimming and doing some sighting as well. It was really different being out there and not participating and encouraging others to do well. I should be much, much more calm when I race again.
So, I had a really good time today.
Also, my toenail is coming off so I will get some pictures of it soon and post those. They should be yummy.
No comments:
Post a Comment