From XL to XTERRA

After spending most of my time since the Tinian Triathlon riding around town on my mountain bike, it was a nice change of pace to take a dip in the lagoon and take part in the 27th Annual Saipan Ocean Swim with the Saipan Swim Club last weekend.

Almost 90 others had the same idea, as a group of swimmers between the ages of eight and 62 gathered along the beach behind AJ’s Restaurant to swim around the old Sherman tanks that never quite made it to Susupe.

The SSC was out in full force with their matching uniforms, as was a team of Clubmates from the Pacific Islands Club, but there was also a large contingent of people who read about the event and came down to the beach to give the race a shot.

At 30 years old, I fell into the masters division, and had the choice between swimming the 1.3-kilometer lap around the sentinels, and opting to do it twice on the 2.5-km course.

In the days leading up to the swim, I had kind of a nagging shoulder pain that started a couple days after the VORAXTERE, and I was pretty sure that it was spurned from the swim. With that in mind, I wasn’t sure about which one to take on, but on the morning of the swim I felt great.

The conversations on the beach were much like they were outside of the Hyatt Regency Saipan on the morning of the half marathon, when I heard people asking each other “Which one are you gonna do?” It was pretty cool to say that I was doing the longer event, so after moving the arm around without so much as a twinge, I was leaning toward the two-lapper. When SSC swim coach Michael Stewart started passing out swim caps to the 2.5km swimmers, I chose to don the charcoal dome cover for the longest swim of my life.

The truth is that I could have just stopped after the first lap anyway, so it wasn’t such a big deal, but I didn’t want to challenge the big race and bow out half way. As it turned out, I didn’t have to.

After all of the kids raced in the 600m, 1km, and 1.3km events, the “old guard” lined up on the sand and took off through the orange buoys en route to the first of the two tanks.

Just like all of the other races, the beginning was a semi-chaotic fight for space that eventually sorted itself out when the speedsters took the lead, and everyone got settled into their pace.

It took a while for me to settle in, as I was going as fast as I could from the start, and wasting a ton of juice in the process. The first leg to the tank was against the current, so it was a little frustrating to see all of my efforts getting me nowhere fast. As I rounded the first tank, I took a look back to see how I was doing in relation to the pack, and I felt pretty good. It was also an excuse for me to stop for a second and restart at a good pace.

What a difference the turn makes. After making the left turn to the second tank I felt like I was flying through the water. The good part was that I didn’t have to work as hard with the current pushing me along, but I still couldn’t settle in to my pace. I was either going too fast, too slow, or floundering in between. I just couldn’t get comfortable.

After drifting a little off course, I turned around the second tank, and was heading toward the beach. For the first time I felt great. I was cruising along, having a great time, and upon my approach to the “turn for another lap or go straight for the finish” buoy, I realized that I wasn’t tired, and my shoulder felt great, so the second lap was a go.

The second time out to the first tank was a breeze this time, and I was in the best swimming groove for maybe the entire time since the start of training in November.

The only thing that wasn’t fun at all was the occasional wave that found its way into my mouth when I took a breath. Yeah, as I remember it was pretty terrible, but like Wayne Bramlett told us a while back, it’s inevitable, and we just have to get over it.

Passing the second tank was even better the second time around, but on the way out there I drifted off course again. It was so relaxing out there that I never looked up to see where I was going. It wasn’t too far off, and I was enjoying myself, so it was no big deal.

On the final stretch I felt really good again, but I was out of luck with the waves sucking up water either way I turned my head.

Well, I got over that too, and after being directed in by volunteer kayaker Ron Smith, I hit the beach running and crossed the finish line 15 minutes more than my first time swimming one lap around the tank course.

The XTERRA swim should be a piece of cake now, as the big event will be two laps around a 750m course, followed by the 30km mountain bike, and 12km trail run. The Tagaman is a much longer swim at 2km, but now I have the confidence to take on the long distance swims.

The best part about the event is that I felt like I could hop on a bike and start the second leg of a triathlon without a problem. Kicking the smoking habit almost 11 weeks ago probably helped that. Well, in two weeks and one day I’ll see just how much all of this has prepared me for the big day.