i pretty much suck at open water swimming. i am pathetic and i think i have made that quite clear through previous posts. i think i have had like three swims that i was happy with and this was one of them. i have always promised myself that one day i would grow a pair of balls and get out there amongst it. sadly this wasnt going to be one of those times. i have swam at sorrento three or four times and have always enjoyed it. i love the australia day swim as they get such a great crowd and the weather is always stinking hot. quite a few people were swimming from squads so it had a real friendly atmosphere about it.
i found cobie who swims in the same lane with me at squads. while cobie was putting tubes of sunscreen all over herself i got my wetsuit on. the stingers have been extremely bad this year with people having to pull out of some events so i was feeling pretty good about having the wettie. they had various distances swimming and our all female 2.5k wave was one of the last to go. the water was crystal clear and perfect temp. we swam out to the start buoys and i was right behind cobie but then she moved forward and i stayed at the back of the pack because i am weak and have no balls.
then we were off. i started okay and didnt feel too bad but then i went through the normal this is too fucking hard, i am tired and why do i put myself through this phase. i kept going as usual and was just hoping to get to the first turn around pretty quick. i got caught up with some people at the first buoy where we turn and head out to sea for a further 50 metres. it was about here that i got stung a few times on the chin and face. didnt hurt too much so i kept going. the current kept pushing me further out so i had to constantly correct and head back in. about half way along here i got stung pretty bad. one got me on the mouth and the lip and then another wrapped itself around my neck. that stung. one of the guys on the surf skis saw me and came over and i had a little chat and relaxed for a bit and then went back to swimming.
i got a little excited when i saw some buoys as i thought these were the turn around buoys to head back closer to shore and i actually turned before realising it was too soon and i had further to go. so off i went in the right direction. by this time my stings had settled down and i was feeling pretty good swimming. i then began to notice i was passing people and was swimming past some of the male 2.5k swimmers who had started in the wave ahead of me. i thought fuck they must be slow.
then i was at the turn around and not far to go until the final turn and straight back into shore. i was using a pretty decent kick by now and going with the wind so it felt quick. finally crawled out of the water and up the beach to cross the finish line.
got back to our spot and cobie had just come in ahead of me. i was feeling the neck sting by now and cobie had been attacked in quite a few places. we decided we wouldnt hang around as cobie was an invited vip to the wa swimming tent and i was her vip guest and we could have stayed for a feed. we told a few people we saw on our way out that they could collect our medals but only as a joke. it wasnt until later in the day i looked at the results and cobie had come in second in our age group and i was right behind her in third. and yes there was more than three swimmers. mine doesnt count because of the wetsuit but considering i basically swam right through the whole pack and had a little rest on the way then i did okay. this was a huge pb for me and just shows you what consistent swimming can do for you. last year i swam 51.48 in a wetsuit but the conditions were a lot more lumpy. this year i swam 45.59. that is almost six minutes quicker and at 1.50 per/100m pace. now if i could only get my shit together at the start !
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