Crystal Lake, IL 2-mile Swim Race Report

Pics are here, but warning you better put on sunglasses first: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600820769985/

Crystal Lake is one of the most beautiful, cleanest lakes in Illinois, and it's almost on top of the Wisconsin border (it's pretty close to Lake Geneva, which is in Wisconsin). I've done this swim a few times before, and last year I noted that the course was short. Oh well, I just wanted to get in and swim, since I've swam every day this week, and this would be my last open water swim before IMLP. Besides, I thought I'd go in a bit aggro just to get my game on.

I had set my alarm for 4:45, but of course, I woke up at 3:30AM like I have been for the last, oh, 4 weeks or so (good practice for Ironman race day, don't you think?). I had my stuff packed, so I laid in bed scrolling for about an hour, and then I finally got up and had coffee and rattled around.

I took some Voodoo Mix with me for the 50-mile drive, and it dawned as a beautiful day--cool and overcast. Since I've been swimming in the cold-ish pool in the mornings, I'm pretty used to being almost naked in the cooler temperatures, so I just had on my swimsuit with shorts over it. The drive was pretty uneventful, leaving about 5:35AM.

When I was about 10 miles away, I spotted a guy I know, Joel Zucco (father of Adam, for those of you who know him), in a vehicle next to mine. He didn't recognize me (the horror!), so I just stayed close and followed him into Crystal Lake. We've seen each other at a handful of events lately, and he's doing IMLP, too.

After getting my swim cap, I talked to Joel and a few of his male friends, each of whom had some sort of myofascial issue going on, so I'm telling them about trigger point therapy and showing them stretches, all while wearing my stunning (at least *I* think it is) pink suit. I have no self-consciousness or shame about how I look no matter what I'm wearing, so no worries.

I talked to some kids who were doing their first open water swim. They were so excited, and I had fun talking to them (they ended up medaling as well). Then I suited up and got ready to go. I didn't warm up, because why would I? I am not that fast of a swimmer to need a warmup for a 2-mile swim.

The start area was a bit packed, but no worries, it's not like there were 2,500 other athletes there! So when the girl shot the starter gun, I just dove in and started swimming. I wanted to get a decent position and get some happy feet to draft off of if I could, but the start was congested, and people were swimming all over one another, so I opted to go for clear water, but what should happen but a small pack congregates behind ME. OMG! That never happens. There was a lot of feet tickling for the first lap. At the turn buoy to start the second lap, my 5 "friends" are crawling up my ass, and I got a little annoyed and stood upright and shouted, "Get the fuck off me!" They were like a bunch of spawning carp or something. So after maybe 300 yards, I just stopped and let them go ahead of me so I could draft off of them. It was pretty tasty staying with that group, and when we finished, one guy said he heard me at the turn buoy and started laughing.

So I'm done and comparing times and thinking I went :50 and that it clearly wasn't 2 miles (we figured 1.8?), and I go change into my running stuff and come back and decide to stick for awards. I didn't think I'd win anything, but I had to see, so I stayed, and when my AG came up, I heard the 3rd place time, and I was like, crap, I suck, but then they called me for 2nd place with a time of :45 something, and I was astonished! I don't know if I fucked up starting my watch or if their timing was off. Some people who allegedly did 2 miles actually only did 1 (there was a concurrent 1-mile race), and I know some people cut the course because the furthest buoy was kind of at an angle, but they said SEVEN and I counted them off and hit them all.

So I'm pretty happy I had a solid swim, considering I'd already swum almost 14,000 yards through Friday, but I'm pissed the course was short, you know? But then I was asking myself near the end can I keep this pace at IMLP? It will be tough with all the bodies, but I feel like I can put forth a good effort and not get caught with the crappy swimmers.

So all's good--now I'm going to lay my ass (literally) outside in the sun and see if I can eradicate a few more tan lines. Oh yeah--I ran for about 1:20 afterwards, and it felt great. Nice to be done working out on a Saturday by 11:00AM!