Woof, Woof

Some firsts today:

- first time in a wetsuit

- first open water swim in ocean for a distance

- first open water panic attack

So my friend is a surfer and on the dive team for LAPD SWAT. Last night, we had dinner, and I asked him for a few crash tips to help me get through the ocean swim in next week's Inaugural Fearless Races Triathlon in San Diego. He told me.. 

(1) in freestyle, try to stay horizontal and straight, butt up, and roll like a log from side-to-side. When your head naturally rolls out of the water, take a quick breath. Only bring your arms up and forward enough to clear the water and reach forward.

(2) rescue strokes, use sidestroke preferably, but also ok is: doggy-paddle, flip on back and make angel wings, and if all else fails, hold onto a buoy or lifeguard surfboard until you get your breath back. I did not know, but this is totally legal. Even in an Ironman. You just can not get ANY assistance with forward progress. Good to know!

Today, I went out with the LBTri group for their Swim Clinic. The plan was a half-mile ocean swim. Yikes! That's 800M. 32 lengths of the pool. Sh*t..

The coaches stressed the importance of "sighting" and also mentioned rescue strokes. They added what I think they called "lifeguard stroke", which is basically like freestyle, but keeping your head above the water.

So we were to swim out to the first buoy and turn right and swim parallel to the beach. And then turn back in. Swim a rectangle. A beautiful sunny day in Long Beach, by the way. Wrestling with my new Xterra Vortex3 wetsuit was an interesting experience.. (I'll spare you the pictures in case you just recently ate).

Walked briskly into the water and dove right in. I felt ok, and quite confident. Started out strong, but was not really paying attention to sighting the buoy every 2-4 strokes, like they advised. Finally, I looked up and noticed I was kind of by myself, and WAY left of the buoy. Cr*p.. turned myself around and started stroking like mad to catch up to the group. Later, the shore spotter/coach Charles said he was screaming my name because I was swiming off towards Catalina.

By the time I reached the buoy, I was really winded, totally gassed-out already. I was having a hard time seeing buoys and shore buildings, and had swallowed a fair amount of seawater by now. I saw a glimpse of some swimmers and a tiny leaning buoy, and started heading off towards them. I tried the sidestroke, and that was ok, but my shoulders were on fire at this point. Floated on my back for a few seconds, then flipped over to freestyle. Looking down, all I saw and felt was green cold salty water, and my limbs were very fatigued. I started hating the feel of the cold seawater on my face. I did a half-ass logroll and took in a big breath of air, along with a half-gallon of seawater. Sputtered and started looking for shore or buildings or anything. Panic. I had read about it, and heard about it.. been warned about it. Never really thought it would happen to me. It did. Next thing I know, the other coach in the water, Chris, came alongside me and asked how I was doing. I said, "I can't see sh*t. I can't do this." Chris says, "Yes you can. Just calm down and stop moving. Find your target, point to it with both hands together, and just do an easy breast stroke. Nice and slow" I did this for awhile, felt like I was going nowhere, just treading water, resting, bobbing like cork. Maybe I was moving forward, but I think glaciers move faster. Once I calmed down, and my breathing came back to normal, I added some legs. Since my head was above water, my butt was now down (and my legs). So, I was swimming at a forward tilt, running in the water. Ok.. I can do running!! I did this for awhile, running on my underwater treadmill. Basically, I was doggy-paddling. I started to feel and appreciate my wetsuit buoyancy, and that gave me some confidence that, indeed, I would not drown today. Started trying to go a bit more horizontal, and do some freestyle strokes, but kept my head above water. I was still having sighting problems, and I could feel my left goggle lenses with my left eyelashes.. weird and not-so-good feeling. I knew this forward tilt/legs down in water was way less efficient than horizontal freestyle, but I was willing to take that today over putting my face back in the cold, green, ocean water. So, back-n-forth.. freestyle to doggy-paddle to freestyle. I started making decent forward progress. I was basically doing run-walk in the water. I ended up swimming a triangle back towards shore, instead of a rectangle.. but I think I finished stronger. Finally my fingertips brushed sand.. hooray, terra not-so-firma (but I'll take it!). Got myself out of the water, and did my beached whale imitation for a minute. Coach said I did great, more than twice what I would need for the mini-sprint Tri, and it only took me about 23-minutes. I think about .4 miles he guessed.

HUGE Thanks to Chris and Charles, the coaches and Founders of LBTri. Totally friendly, expert, and just plain terrific. The other club members were also a friendly and great group of people. Many are doing the upcoming Santa Catalina Triathlon on November 6, 2010. GOOD LUCK!!

Ok.. that was a great and new experience for me today. Definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I think I'm ok with the ocean swimming now. I just need to improve my technique and endurance. LBTri then ran an awesome Transition Clinic, which was also very helpful. Up to now, I have been relying on YouTube and blog race recaps to learn how to do my transitions. I'll do a few mental transitions and an actual dry run, and I should be ok. I think this doggy is ready to paddle his way thru his first triathlon!