Anyway, the first aquathon of the year was a week and a half ago. These are a series of races on Thursday nights where you swim 1000 yards and then run a 5K. I typically do the first one of the year for sure, and might do some of the others. They're fun, but they get tough to work into the training schedule as Ironman gets closer because they take up a good part of the evening and only last about 30 minutes so it's not much total training. It's a good workout, though, and they're pretty fun.
As usual for the first aquathon, the water was cold. 58 degrees. I really only had one goal and that was to PR the swim. I've been swimming a lot more and I already hate the god-forsaken sport of swimming so if I don't see progress I might snap. Seriously....it's gotten to that point.
14:30 was my previous PR and I wanted to break 14 minutes.
The start was rough. I started in the front and got beat up quite a bit in the beginning. I realize it's a short race, but some people need to relax a bit. What a waste of energy.
Anyway, it took until the first buoy before I felt really comfortable in the water. It was my first open water swim of the year and I wasn't used to the cold water. But once around that buoy, I relaxed a bit and got into a better rhythm and swam hard the rest of the way and came out of the water in under 14 minutes. 13:51, I think was my official time.
The run was tough. It's not easy to go from swimming to running because your heart rate is so high, and I made this run more difficult by eating a little too much for dinner. My stomach was bothering me a lot on the run and I thought I was going to have to walk for a bit. But I managed to get through it. I can't remember my official run time, but it was 21:xx. Not the run I was hoping for, but not too bad either.
3 comments:
Hi Mike, I don't think you can possibly hate swimming any more than I do. And 14 minutes for 1000? I feel like a snail in the water now, thanks!
I stumbled upon your RR for GFT from last year and it was very helpful to read, especially about the aero helmet being too hot! I would have never thought of that but you are right. Maybe the regular helmet would have been better. I'll probably end up reading the RR a few more times prior to race day. Good luck with your training and trying to qualify for Kona. I'll be following your progress.
It's tough, first swimming and then running... I did once in my life and after that i will never try again, i was exhausted in last. Thou, i didn't carry my training properly due to schedule. May be in future if i am going to race then first i will focus on training first... :D
KC - the Great Floridian was a good race and very well run. There were record temps last year so it was tough, especially coming from WI in late October. For the work they put into organizing that event, it would be nice to see a bigger turnout because they definitely deserve it. Hopefully, you have better weather. Good luck and keep up the good work on your blog.
Mike
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