St Anthony's Race Report Part 3: Stressful Saturday

The plan for last Saturday, the day before the race itself, started with early open water swim at the race site. I met the TNT faithful and since I swam without a wetsuit on Friday I decided to wear the sleeveless just in case I was allowed to race in it. Hey, one's gotta hope. The wind was howling and the temperature was rising as we walked over the the swim start.

The first thing I saw was white caps. The water was churning. When you stood in water that was knee high the waves were hit your shoulders. The bobbing up and down made it a challenge to see where you were swimming unless you were at the crest of the wave. While I've swam in water this rough before, it isn't an enjoyable experience but I never swam in conditions like this without a wetsuit. Some of the folks were panicing while others just had a stoic face on. We all got the swim done.

Next up was a quick bike ride to make sure the bike was fine - it was. I rested most of the day, checked the bike into transition and headed over to the Team in Training Inspiration dinner. One of the featured speakers was the head referee for the race. In addition to reviewing all of the rules he noted how rough the water was that morning. Later in the day, of course, it was like glass. He stated that the RD really didn't want to cancel or modify the swim but had done so in the past and would if there was a question regarding safety. One of his closing comments was, "The current water temperature is 84.6. This morning it was 82.4. The only way this race will be wet suit legal is if it snows tonight."

I cemented a plan that if I was given the option to swim with a wetsuit, I'd take that option even though it might mean that I would be going off in a later wave. When I went to bed the wind died down and the water was smooth. Even so I went to sleep hoping that Frosty would make an appearance.

Tomorrow's post will be the race itself and the lessons learned. I know you are sick of this story already but humor me.