Tri-Factor Series: Tri-Swim 500m Race Report

So for some reason before this race I was lazy. Granted I did turn up for both swim training days on Tuesday and Thursday...and I did have a personal training session on Wednesday....okay, I wasn't THAT lazy then....All the same, I can't say I felt all that confident on race day. I had trouble sleeping the whole night because for some reason, my stomach was just in knots.

Race day I woke up sleepy. Helped I couldn't get to bed, so read a book till 2am (yes, I'm not the brightest bulb in the room!). I arrived at Sentosa about 30 minutes before the start, which probably was a bit on the late side. Proceeded to get body-marked and then did a little warm-up in the sea. I realise I don't actually know how to warm-up before a swim race. I go through the motion of swimming ie I do a few lame strokes and then float around trying to figure out how strong the current is. It wasn't very strong, so just as well.

My wave was assembled earlier than stated and I actually think Tri-Factor is pretty well-organised when it comes to their races. That being said, I had about 20 people in my wave and they were a mix of men, women and children. Yes, very weird.

Some dood standing in front of me was wearing a full swim suit - the kind in Olympic swim meets - and I thought 'maaaaan, some people are real hard-core'. There was another old dood who was wearing Ironman (the Triathlon not the comic) compression tights which once again rendered a whole 'show-off' scream in my head. I actually am pretty bitchy when I put my mind to it. So there I was standing at the start line, looking around me and having a wee bitching session in my head whilst wondering who I could beat. From the tiny number of people, it didn't seem like I'd do all that well.

Once the horn went off and everyone went running and diving into the sea, it was just mad swimming all the way. I say that but about halfway through the swim I got tired. Really really tired. My heart was pounding, my arms were aching and the turn-around point just seemed too far. So I slowed down. I figured if I went on the speed I was going, I was just going to die and it wasn't something I was looking forward to.

After that little break I took I picked up speed again and found myself behind Ironman Tights. And it was a real bitch trying to overtake him. It wasn't as if he were particularly speedy, because if that was the case, I'd be perfectly happy drafting behind him. But no! He'd be breast-stroking, then when I swam left to overtake he'd go left freestyle. I'd cut back and he'd go back to breast-stroke. So I tried cutting right and the same thing would happening. It was really really frustrating. Finally I managed to squeeze between him and the ropes and with all that was left I kicked through and put some distance between us. It was bloody tiring.

That basically was the highlight of the swim. After I left Ironman Tights in the dust, I reached the turn-around point and managed a smooth (albeit uneventful) swim to the end - where I have ran and half stumbled to the finish point.

I bumped into a friend as I was leaving who had brought his dog down for a swim in the beach and he informed me that some ass had let their dog take a dump in the same damn lagoon I was swimming in! Dang! I went home to brush my teeth and gargled some Listerine. Dog poop waters. Not pleasant.

So, I found out yesterday, I got 2nd! Well, out of 5 people in my category. Which kind of sucks. I can't feel proud of myself because 2 out of 5 just isn't something worth getting all excited over. Darn....

Time: 12min 34sec