Muskoka swim review

Well its a few days after Tuesday but here I am providing the first update on Muskoka.

I did not have a bad sleep the night before but it was not the best.  I woke up every couple of hours.  Transition opened at 5:30 A.M and was scheduled to closed at 7:30, the first wave of swimmers went at 8 these are the pros and my wave was 8:36.  It doesn't take too long to get things in place in transition and waiting around makes me nervous so the plan was to be in transition around 6:45 and I think I was close to that.  Coach Paul was a race official which allowed him to be in transition with the athletes.  He stopped by checked in on me and came back when I could not get my back tire up to 110.  Something so basic and I just could not get my back tire inflated correctly.   Everything was set up and off I went to the swim start. 

Being an Ironman class event the organizers offer a few extras that the normal races don't have.  One I found very useful was the bag checkoff as we entered the swim staging area.  Rather than walking to swim without glasses I was able to wear my old cracked pair, my friend Jeff absolutely loves these, and pick them up after the race.  My sight is not so bad that I need to run to transition with them.   I was really pleased with my swim.  Coach Paul and I have been working on technique and a 53 minute 1.9K swim is awesome for me.  This will be a focus over the winter but I've come a long way from being fearful of water - with much thanks to Paul.    The other nice extra at these events are wetsuit peelers, sometime mistakenly called strippers, a group of people waiting to help the athlete remove the wet suit.  Usually a hassle but it was easy peasy this time.   This first picture is a funny shot as it looks like I have "dunce" cap on. The photographer captured the buoy in the background so it just looks like I have a triangle on my head.  The second Barry caught me as I was heading up the hill from the water to transition.

out of the water and onto the peelers

one the way to transition

The next portion of the event is the 94K bike ride.  That will be my next blog to keep these somewhat short.  I'm a little crazy when it comes to details. :-)

Here is my finishers shot.  Officially I finished in 8hours and 8 minutes and a few seconds.  As always we want to do better I would have loved to come in at 7hours 45 but my goal was to finish.  I'm sure Coach Paul will have other plans for the next one. Yes there will be a next one.   The difference between the time here and the official time is the time allotted to the swim waves before me.   Looks like I need to practice my finish line shot I really had no idea what to do with my hands when I saw the banner.  Ha ha

Have a wonderful day !  Even 5 minutes on the elliptical gets your body doing something and you have won the battle of fitness for that day.  

Liz