Race Result

Racer:	Stefan Raab
Race:	Jim McDonnell 1 Mile Lake Swim
Date:	Sunday, May 29, 2005
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Swim - 1 Mile
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	0:30:40
Overall Place:	50 / 163
Age Group Place:	8 / 13
Comment:	Face the cold

Race Report:

If I am anything, I am a swimmer. Really, I am just a middle of the pack swimmer and that is exactly how this race went. I was 8th out of 13 in my new age group (30-35) and 40th of 91 men. I wasn't really sure how things were going to go. I had been in the water less than 10 times this year and most were in the 3 weeks before the race. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I could do the whole thing.

Cold was the word of the morning, it was 50 degrees when I woke up and race officials measured the water temperature between 62 and 67 at various point in the lake. I knew the water was going to be cold, and my strategy was not to find out how cold until it was too late. With 30 seconds between waves there wasn't much time to get used to the water and I lingered. Boy was that a bad idea. When I put my head in at the start of the race the cold overwhelmed me. It was worse than the panic I had the first time I did an open water swim. My chest was tight, my throat was tight and the race had already started. The first 150 meters or so were pretty tough. Breathing every other stroke was the bare minimum. I knew I needed to get my head clear before the body would ease up so I focused on trying to keep a good stroke and ignore the rest. By the time I made the first turn I was cold, but under control. I was able to back off to breathing every third stroke and sighting every third breath. I picked up my kick to try and warm the toes. By about the half way buoy the cold wasn't really bothering me any more and it was there that I (literally) ran into my friend Matt who had started two waves behind me. I swam next to him for a while and then drafted him for a while. On the long straight back stretch I noticed that he was getting pretty crooked so I tried to nudge him back on course, but that didn't work. I left him and found my own straight line. Unlike usual I was able to hold the straight line and continue sighting every third breath. Normally on the last half I get pretty crooked and have to sight every breath, so this really kept my speed and spirit up. Coming up to the big drain I maintained my nice even pace treating the swim more like a triathlon swim. When I came round the drain I picked up my kick in hopes of getting my legs ready to get out. Last year I had a lot of problems getting out of the water and into T1 so I really wanted to work on this. When I hit the boat ramp I found strong legs and didn't have my normal weeble wobble exit. An easy jog across the mat to the strangely beautiful sound of the champion chip computers.

30:40, still not under 30 minutes, but only one second behind last year so I can't complain. Next year maybe I will actually break 30 minuets as long as it isn't cold. Oh and in case you were wondering, straight is faster than crooked, Matt finished about 4 minutes behind me.