Rites of Spring

Part I

The smell of neoprene! It must be Spring! Which means going to the lake for the first open water (OW) swim of the year. Only this year, I did it about 5 or 6 weeks earlier than I have before. May 1. Uno de Mayo. That was the date selected by a group of loosely organized swimmers I know to do their inaugural OW swim of the season. It's been a chilly spring here in Seattle, with high temps maybe getting into the 50's. There was snow and hail just a few weeks ago... The emails went back and forth about "are we really going to do this?", "do we want to move the date back a couple weeks?". But thanks to a few organizers not backing down, others decided to join. Really? Swim in Green Lake when it's still so cold?

Around 16 of us showed up with our wetsuits, most also had neoprene caps, one tried wearing socks (yeah, that was me). It was a cool but sunny evening as we got ready for the plunge. Many of us were pretty sure we'd do more of a ceremonial dip; a few minutes of swimming then get out to re-warm.

I brought a thermometer and the water temp was 55 degrees (in shallow water, it probably was a bit cooler in the deeper water - at least my face registered the difference). Some kid in his baggy shorts bathing suit just jumped in like it was a hot August day and kind of ruined the spectacle of us striding into the cold water as hardy souls (or a bunch of fools).

So into the water we went and it wasn't all that bad. Good ole' wetsuit kept me comfortable enough, the maiden voyage with my new neoprene cap really kept the noggin warm. Hands, cold. Feet, cold, but not as much (I wore some thin polypro hiking socks, based on a tip I read elsewhere and I think it did help). My face, however was cold and painfully so. Thanks to this being an OW swim, raising my head to sight frequently kind of helped and after about 3 minutes, my face was just intensely cold, but the pain was gone.

Rather than this being ceremonial, I believe the entire group crossed Green Lake from the Bathhouse Theater to the beach at the community center and then returned, for a 1 mile swim. It really was a beautiful sunny evening and swimming on calm water is a joy. I'm so glad I did this.

Part II

WHY did I do this? The big reason: a triathlon coming up on June 6 in Vancouver B.C. The Olympic Distance Age Group Worlds Championship.

I nearly pulled out of the race due to lack of excitement, lack of decent training, high entry fee (with an increase in the fee late in the game) and other expenses related to lodging. A normal, local sprint or Olympic triathlon entry fee is usually around $60.00 to $75.00. This one is $300.00. Then it was $400.00. And we are required to wear a team uniform, which we purchase ourselves. I opted to stay at the host hotel, a classy downtown Marriott, I think, and 3 nights (with room mates and some meals) will be around $700.00. Throw in other travel incidentals and downtown parking for 4 days and this will be a spendy trip. That all seemed like a lot when this race is really out of my league and I haven't re-lit my fire for racing yet this year. And the cold water in English Bay had got many world championship race-qualifying triathletes twittering and worrying.

But though I may still twitter about it myself, my pre-race anxiety will likely give way to other things to fret about now that I've done a (slow) mile in 55-degree Green Lake. I've been in, I didn't gasp, get breathless or cramp from the cold and I actually enjoyed it.

I decided to stay in the race for a few reasons.

• Having paid my deposits months ago, the bulk of the expenses are behind me.
• When talking about pulling out my 12 year old girl chirped up with "I'll give you $10.00 to help, you should do it, you'll be sorry if you don't." And my ex chimed in that he'd contribute a couple hundred to the cause. Pretty nice, huh?
• Dave C's enthusiasm and encouragement to "just have fun" sunk in (he's the fellow I met with his wife Francie at last summer's Nationals).
• This will be a great early season Hard Workout (if I think of it as a good training opportunity, it should help take off the pressure of approaching it like a race with expectations to finish with a certain time or place).
• I compared my USAT ranking with most of the other US women in my age group and I haven't a prayer of really competing against the vast majority of them. Result = pressure is off.
• The gal who beat me by just 3 seconds at last year's Nationals will be there. Result = pressure is on, but with a possibly achievable goal.
• I'll feel more prepared for my local races the remainder of the summer and enjoy them knowing "The Hard One" is over with.
• Vancouver is a great city to visit, eh?
• I'll have a cool race uniform with "Team USA" on it.
• This is a new and unique experience for me. It's kind of the gala event for age group competition.
• It could provide some good blogging material.

With just 5 weeks to go until the race, I need to get a few bricks in and some speed workouts. Since I've been going to Wednesday night track, always a hard, fast workout for me, I've got that covered. Biking...need to do some short fast rides for sure. Swimming...I need to get to the pool more often than once every 9 days (yikes!). With a tri camp to help with in mid- May and then a 6 day bike trip in Germany, I'll have plenty of distractions. But that's ok, this race is supposed to be for fun and for the experience, right?