This is the first triathlon I’ve participated in since
2017. I have been practicing my swim and
participating in other events including relay, fun runs and Duathlons this
year. I trained for the Chicago Tri but
the swim was canceled so I decided to sign up for the Baltimore Tri on October 5. I’m anxious about swimming so I needed to see if I actually
break through my mental block of having to do my weakest sport first.
Swim
This event took place at Hammerman Beach where the Gunpowder
river meets the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Bay consists
underwater grasses surprisingly with shallow water in sections. Why is this
important to know? Keep reading.
It’s 7:30 am on race day. The water is choppy with sea
needles and vegetation everywhere. The water temps were reported as 64.4 degrees
then 68.4. The truth lies somewhere in between. Images of a cold sea monsters
went through my head. My mind was swirling.
I kept thinking “How is this happening? I’ve practiced all Summer
in comfortably air temps hovering around 80 with water temps in the mid 70s
while swimming in the South River and on race day the air is 48 and water is
freezing.” I was doing mental
gymnastics prior to the swim for sure. Immediately, I looked at all the racers.
It was an all women’s triathlon. I
thought these women are all badasses. So
I sorta tried to reclaim my inner badassery and joined them.
I had to put on my Rx googles prior to leaving transition to
walk to the swim start otherwise I would have tumbled over and broke a limb. I
managed to follow my dear swim buddy to the swim start and practiced getting in
the water. The water was cold but warmer
then the air. It was tolerable. To start
the swim officially, triathletes had to walk about 200 m in from shore to begin
our swim so I was prepared. I now knew that when I lined up to start the swim, I
must walk quickly 200 m to start the swim.
Swim Start
Athletes entered the water 5 at a time to give enough time
to get 200 meters out to the deeper water to swim. I stood in the back with the red swim caps. Red caps were those who wanted extra swim
support by kayakers. I’ve never needed
kayak support before but took the red cap as a safety measure because I was not
familiar with the body of water and choppiness.
Five of us went to the swim start. Five, four, three,
two—Go. I went into my hurry slowly
entrance mode. Into the water I went. I
shuffled out to the first buoy as quickly as possible. Then literally I was
blind-sighted by the high surf. I could see nothing on my right and was tossed
around like a beach ball. I had no
control over my swim stroke. Nothing. I was flapping my arms like I had never
swam before. I literally was able to
peek up and saw people doing back stroke, angel strokes and letting the water
take them while others did breast stroke. They were doing anything possible to
move forward. I thought “Stacy - Girl,
find a kayak and regroup.” I did. I
spoke to the kayaker and he shouted that the water is too rough for freestyle
just do any stroke to get out. I thought
💭
“He is crazy. Breaststroke will take all day. I will dig it out.” I literally did. My happy mantras went from
Breathe out fear, Breathe in Faith to Dig and roll ( to remind me to breathe).
Dig and roll just dig and roll then I turned at the bouy to return to finish. I
can breathe bilaterally. So I had to
focus on breathing on the right this time because big chops were on the left. I
kept the shore on my right and just dug.
I remembered I set out to do this race in honor of my patients and
friends who battled breast cancer. They
were brave in their hours of uncertainty. As I came to the swim finish I
thought of Jenn, Eileen, Terri, Chrissy, Sarah. Thank you for lending me your
strength. You were brave so must I. With praise and thanksgiving I turned at the
Yellow buoy and walked the 200 m through the seaweed and shallow water to the
finish.
I exited the water in 27 min according to the official
results. I swam 750 m in 23 min. Spent 1 min walking in and 1 min exiting and
4 mins hanging on the kayak😊. The swim was over.
T1- I want the award for the longest T1-😊😊😊😊. 13 min.
Yup. I was frozen. Teeth
chattering 🥶. I literally said I don’t care if I’m
last but I can’t ride in all these wet clothes.
I changed into warm clothing slowly.
My hands shook. I was nauseous from the swim and couldn’t find my
glasses. Finally I left T-1 with bike
sweeper saying we have the last cyclist 🚴🏾♀️
Yup I was last.
The bike- I got on
the bike and hauled ass. 😊😊😊😊😊.
I left the sweeper. I could not feel my feet for the first 6 miles. I rode alone but smiled. I said, "Stacy, you are on your way. Forward motion." I rode as hard as I could at
some point I was doing 20-21 mph. I
passed several racers. My confidence grew. Then before I knew I was seeing people who
got out the water long before I. I
quickly made up time. Frozen but feeling
relieved. I was much slower than I
wanted and practiced but I was warm on the bike. That was a win 😊.
Bike time was 55 min.
Happy to be done ✅
T2- Quick. @3:00
Run- I was never so happy to see my sneakers. All I could think was enjoy 😊.
You made it through the swim. This is your reward. You get to run. I was overdressed with a thermal shirt,
jersey, and long running pants I kept on
from the bike. I refused to waste time removing them.
I just said Go Stacy.
The other athletes were amazing to watch. I saw many turning at the last mile marker as
I made my way to the turn around. They
said such kind words. “ You look strong.”
The energy on the course was filled with commadery. I thanked the volunteers as I made my way to
the finish. There were athletes in the
parking lot clapping as I ran as fast as I could to the finish. It was surreal. I finished 🏅.
You can review my Garmin Results vs Official results. I actually spend more time analyzing how I
felt, the conditions and Garmin time than official results. My Garmin time provides feedback over the
things I can control. Personally, I am
overjoyed 😄 that I tackled a swim that was beyond
anything I could have imagined swimming in just two years ago when I got tossed
around in Lake Michigan at the Chicago Tri. You can read that blog post from
2017. I did my coldest swim in race
conditions ever. That was big for me. I
hate being cold. Lastly, I smiled when I
was scared and was not deterred when I was last on the bike. I never thought
about quitting just kept going through all the options of how to finish which
was my goal. It was a good day. 💕😊🏊🏾♀️🚴🏾♀️🏃🏽♀️🏅
This was my first Tri in 2 years. I am happy I did it.
Lessons Learned
- As my great grandmother would say “ You can plan but you will never be prepared.” She was right. You can train but you will never know what race day will bring. You must show up and do your best.
- This year was my year of joy in fitness. No time goals just show up and get feedback. I did. I learned that I have the mental fortitude to take on Tri again.
- Duathlon is not Triathlon. I have done three Duathlons this year. I placed on the podium twice and received an invitation to the Duathlon National championships.
- Guess what ????? Triathlon and Duathlon are different!!! I get to run, my favorite sport twice, in Duathlon. In Triathlon, I must battle myself and the swim in order to continue the race. So if I want to participate in a 70.3 race, I must do more of the the thing that scared me— swim, swim in lakes, ponds, bays, with and without a wetsuit.
- Mental practice must be part of training. I’m grateful for my OWS coach who forced me to swim in choppy water and my friends swam 2 miles with me. It gave me the mental confidence to participate in the swim. I knew I could physically do it, but I needed to convince my mind that I could. I will be doing more mental homework
- Nutrition- I must work on that. I gutted this race out on one sip of Scratch fluids because my tummy was nauseous from the swim and hands too cold on the bike. I remember grabbing a water on the run. So I must learned how to manage all of this for longer events.
- BTW- I was 14/15 in my AG 44-49. This is my last tri in this AG. I will do my next one in the 50-54 AG.
- This race has taught me alot. I battled and won my own race.
Thank you Baltimore Tri.
Gear can make or break your race.
I wore this thermal waterproof headband and a warm
waterproof head back to protect my ears.
The black thermal rash guard was amazing and dried quickly on the bike
and run. 
Coach Stacy
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