Race Result

Racer:	Jamie Roberson
Race:	Jim McDonnell 1 Mile Lake Swim
Date:	Sunday, May 29, 2005
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Swim - 1 Mile
Age Group:	Female 40 - 44
Time:	1:13:33
Overall Place:	163 / 163
Age Group Place:	20 / 20
Comment:	DFL? BFD. I Beat My Swim Panic.

Race Report:

(With an event next weekend, now seems the time to write my two-month-old race reports)

Last year I failed to complete the Reston Triathlon because I failed to really ever start. About 100 yards into the swim, I freaked out and was pulled in. My season, such as it was, was done. After a month of trying to figure out What It All Means, I joined Reston Masters, bought a wetsuit, and started getting serious about swimming. I even entered Columbia on the misguided notion that it would be a "great open-water swim opportunity." When the Open-Water Clinic for the 2005 Lake Swim ended up being the same day as Columbia (and when I realized that I had bitten off more than I could chew - for this year), I backed out of Columbia and focused on my nemesis, Lake Audubon.

I'm glad I did.

CLINIC: The clinic, as others have pointed out, was really just another opportunity to swim legally in Lake Audubon. I was terrified entering the water, but I just decided to do whatever I had to do to get across that effin lake. The course seemed very similar to the Reston Tri - out beyond the point to a turnaround and back around the storm drain.

I seeded myself to the side, in a slow wave, and away we went. The water was cold as it seeped slightly into my wetsuit, but I kept breathing rhythmically. I planned to do breaststroke across the lake and back, but didn't want to test getting my face wet until I was good and comfortable. So I did a kind of head-out-of-the-water breaststroke/sculling motion, kind of like a turtle, but even less hydrodynamic. Advantage: GREAT navigation/sighting! :)

The sag kayak folks seemed a little puzzled at first, but I explained that I had panicked in the past and that I was just dilly-dallying my way across the lake and back. "No style points," I repeated on more than one occasion. After the turnaround, I realized that yes, I was gonna finish this thing, so I started some actual breaststrokes. Yep, real, face-in-the-water breast strokes. I exited the lake at 1:09. It was great to see my Reston Masters buddies - Tara Lyn, Avery, Sarah, Michael, Brant, and others there at the end.

LAKE SWIM: Having gotten across the lake, I was much looser for the actual Lake Swim the next week. It was longer, with the right-handed dog leg, so my time showed it. But this time, I actually did breaststroke 1/3 of the time. Coach Frank mentioned that the course was a little longer than a mile, but that's ok: I got to have a longer workout.

SUMMARY: Here I go again, posting a time of which other RATS would be embarrassed. Here I go again, DFL and happy about it. But for a slow, fat, adult-onset triathlete like me, it's about the little advances. I post these reports because I know that there are lurkers out there that might be helped by knowing that they're not the only ones that have been afraid of the lake or afraid to tri. Here, I proved to myself that I can swim a garbage stroke and make it across the lake. Imagine what I'll be able to do now that I've hired Coach Debi... :D