IM World Championship St. George - 2.4 mile swim recap

BEEP!

2.4 mile swim
Marni: 59:58 (1st AG)
Karel: 1:00.11 (11th AG)

GEAR
Wetsuit Marni - Women's maverick X2 (older model)
Wetsuit Karel - Men's maverick MX wetsuit (max buoyancy) w/ Xterra Booties (worn under the wetsuit legs and covering the feet).

Goggles Marni – Roka F2
Goggles Karel – Michael Phelps Xceed

I ran into the water alongside several other ladies. I took a few strokes, settled into my rhythm and the water felt perfect. I was told it was 64 degrees (I’m thinking it was more like 62) but I never felt cold. Endorphins always warm me up! Before I knew it, I breathed to my right and then to my left and quickly realized I was swimming by myself.

It was a strange feeling knowing that I was leading my wave – which also meant I was leading the race for the women. I enjoyed this special first-time moment. I had a lot of male athletes to swim through so this required a bit extra sighting and navigating to get through the swimmers in the previous male waves.

I liked how the course was set up and there were plenty of buoys for sighting. We swam out to a far buoy, hung a right and then had the long stretch out and back before heading back to the shore. I was able to settle into a good rhythm throughout, although sometimes it got a bit choppy and I had to change up my stroke to time it with the chop. On the long stretch back, the sun was to my right so I had to only breathe to the left which affected my rhythm. In open water I prefer to breathe to my right side but I often change up sides. 

As I finished the swim, I had no idea my swim time. I felt like the swim went by pretty quickly and I was expecting around an hour.  I didn't care too much about my swim time as I was leading the IM World Championship as the first female out of the water. It was a great start to the day!

Karel felt really good in the water. He loves his new Roka max buoyancy wetsuit. It feels a bit tight in the shoulders but he likes how he stays so buoyant when he he swims and sights. Karel has had a rough relationship with swimming since he broke his hand last year but for some reason, swimming in St. George felt really good for him. He took a glance at his watch (which he knows not to do as it messes with the head) and he saw the number 9. He was bummed that he swam 1:09 because he thought he was swimming really well passing so many people. Well later on he learned that he swam 1:00 and nine seconds! Just a good reminder to not look at your watch and make assumptions after the swim. That is why I don’t swim with a watch on race day 😊

After I exited the water, I ran up the concrete boat ramp and quickly on the carpet to the female bags in the changing tent. I was weaving in and out of the guys as we were all heading to the changing tents. I was the first one in the female tent so I had the volunteers all to myself. They were so helpful. Even though my bag was closest to the entrance of the ladies changing tent, I grabbed my bag and ran all the way to the last chair so that when I was done, I didn't have to run through any traffic of other ladies in the tent.  The lady asked if she could help me with anything and I responded no but she offered to pack up my wetsuit, cap and goggles into my bag as I was putting on my cycling gear. I quickly put on my compression socks (I took off my timing chip and held the chip in my mouth so I wouldn’t forget to put it back on). I put on my helmet, stuffed a Supra bar and bag of Gu chews in my back jersey pocket and then placed a bag of Gu aminos in the pocket on my shorts. As I was finishing up, I noticed a few more ladies in the tent.

I thanked the volunteers for helping me pack my bag, I grabbed my shoes and my bag (with my wetsuit, cap and goggles in it) and handed the bag to a volunteer on the outside of the tent. Because of where my bike was racked and how far I needed to run with my bike to exit the transition area, I ran in my socks to my bike and ran my bike to just before the transition exit before putting on my tri shoes (I don’t do a flying mount and didn’t want to run the entire transition in my tri shoes). I have learned that this is the "fastest" way for me to transition. I got to the far end of the barricaded after the mount line, got on my bike, started my Garmin bike computer and off I went for an adventure of a ride.

Karel’s transition was a bit slow for him as the transition was packed with guys when he got in there. He wanted to do a flying mount but his hips have been giving him issues and he was worried he would hurt himself trying to jump on his bike. He put on his shoes in the changing tent and ran to get his bike and then mounted his bike at the mount line. He felt good after the swim. 

Next blog...the bike!