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I'm so excited! I actually came in 1st place in my age group at the Catfish Crawl Open Water Swim - South Bay on Sunday, July 26, 2009. Here's my recap:OPEN WATER SWIM STATS
I would say that it started out like every other race except but it actually started later because I didn't need to get up until 6AM and have been getting up at 5:30AM to make it to 6AM master swim class these past two weeks. Once awake, I had my typically double oatmeal breakfast and warmed Cytomax to go. I stopped by the Starbucks for the grande latte and then headed down to Steven's Creek Reservoir for the swim race. The venue was easy to find and I came across a park entrance where they were directly traffic into the parking lot. Once there, I saw a school bus which was meant to shuttle us to the starting area. So I hopped on it and we headed less than a mile further down the street to the expo area. There was actually a small parking area there and also street parking so if you were there early enough, I bet you could get a spot there and avoid the sometimes dreaded shuttle bus. I never have a probably taking the shuttle bus out but always seem to encounter issues on the return trip (more on that later).
Unlike a triathlon, there's no need for a transition area but people just placed their gear bags all over the place, which was ok since there was plenty of room. The venue had a good supply of port-a-potties and water and energy gels. I did a brief warm-up run and stretching session. One major improvement of this race compared to the last USA Productions event (SVODT) in June was the inclusion of Eileen and Reid Swanson as announcers. They provided ongoing information on the course and setup. It was very helpful!
I got all geared up in the wetsuit and was ready in the water for the 8AM anticipated start. However, minutes before.. they announced that the start would be delayed until 8:30AM because apparently so late comers did not enough time to make the shuttle bus. So I chose to get out of the water and wait on land.
So the second start time approached and it was back into the water. It was a floating start with all participates, men and women of all ages, starting at the same time. I knew I wanted to start towards the front but definitely was concerned about getting crawled over by men. However, no fear so I went for it. I sprinted out on the start and it was definitely a lot less aggressive than I worried about. No one clawed or grabbed me. In retrospect, I probably swam fast enough to avoid that. :-)
The water was warm and pleasant. It was not very clear but it was clean. Note to self for the next swim race is to know ahead of time the exact number of buoys. Somewhere past the midpoint of the swim, it tends to get confusing and I could not remember exactly where I was in the course. But I did notice that at first, there went from being tons of people around and in front of me. But it seemed like that just all disappeared towards the midpoint. I was almost all alone. I guess that turned out to me a good thing but I didn't realize it at the time. I started getting really hot in the wetsuit around the 3rd to last buoy. I definitely see why people were not wearing wetsuit... you can totally sweat in them!
So I approached the final buoy and sprinted into the finish gate. It was nice to get out of the water and not have to run into transition and get ready to bike. I did notice there were only a couple swimmers out of the water so I figured I did fairly well. Another improvement on this race compared to SVODT is that they had the results within 30 minutes. Of course, swim only event timing isn't as complicated as the triathlon timing but it is still nice to have fast results. I learned that I came in 1st in my age group. I was so thrilled! All of my early morning swim workouts have definitely paid-off.
The Awards ceremony was held around 10AM. I received a new prize bag. I do wish that there had been a medal or certificate but hey, who's care, I still won. :-)
After the ceremony, I searched for the shuttle bus but it was no where to be found. I figured the drive had been so short that I could just walk back. Of course, that ended up taking around 20 minutes and by the time I got to the parking lot entrance, the shuttle bus was pulling out.
All in all, a great day and a great event by USA Productions! I will definitely do it again next year, especially since I received a gift certificate for free entry fee because I was a winner. :-)
SWIM: Master swim class. 60 min. 2450 yrd.
Brick Workout @ PAC
Tonight, I participated in the Front of Pack Bike Time Trial Race. 10.2 miles - 28:40min. Speed baby speed! I started out really fast..hit speeds in the mid-20s. I felt like I may have overdone it on the way out but according to the Garmin, I was actually faster on the way back. My average speed was 21.4 and max speed of 32.4. What a fun experience! Thanks Front of Pack for organizing!
| Split | Time | Distance | Elevation Gain | Elevation Loss | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Avg HR | Max HR | Avg Bike Cadence | Max Bike Cadence | Calories |
| 1 | 0:15:13 | 5.27 | 131 | 363 | 20.8 | 29.4 | 167 | 177 | 91 | 111 | 279 |
| 2 | 0:13:48 | 5.11 | 323 | 121 | 22.2 | 32.4 | 170 | 175 | 90 | 110 | 261 |
| Summary | 0:29:01 | 10.38 | 454 | 484 | 21.4 | 32.4 | 168 | 177 | 91 | 111 | 540 |
SWIM: Master Swim Class. 3450 yrd.
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