Ok so I have swum my last swim before my first ever OW event on Saturday, and now the panic is really setting in. I tested the goggles/contact lens combination this morning and that works :). I still need to get the logisitcs clear....return home from dance lessons with kids at 10.40, get them changed and get bigger kid ready for birthday party.
Get me changed and make sure I have everything. Drive 1.5 miles down the road and try to find somewhere to park that is closer to the lake than than my house and pick up the swim packet between 11 and 12. This includes the chip - what do I do with the chip? does it go round your wrist or ankle or somewhere else :afraid:?
Warm-up is at 12-12.20. Should I do a 750m lap or just paddle around?
Apparently the water at entry is deep - its an in-water start and the jetty you jump of is all slimy - ewww.
So what if I get a case of the "eww its a lake" and freak out because the water is all brown, or I can't cope without a black line? Do I just go and find a kayak to rescue me?
And then once I'm racing, what happens if I end up on my own with no-one close to follow and get way off course? Do the kayakers herd you closer in to the buoys, or can you actually get lost?
And how do you finish? Will there be pads in the water or will we need to climb out and run under a finish line on the jetty?
So I think I'm done panicking - feel free to respond or not!
Enjoy the first one and don't worry about the time.
Start to one side of the pack or the other -- not in the middle.
Warm up, or don't warm up. Doesn't seem to matter for the first one. You can always use the first 500m as a warm up.
No matter how much you tell yourself you'll start slowly, you won't. You'll sprint like crazy like the rest of us. Tell yourself to slow down once you're capable of conscious thought after about a 100m.
Have fun. Once you've finished, you won't be able to wait until the next one.
Enjoy the first one and don't worry about the time.
Start to one side of the pack or the other -- not in the middle.
Warm up, or don't warm up. Doesn't seem to matter for the first one. You can always use the first 500m as a warm up.
No matter how much you tell yourself you'll start slowly, you won't. You'll sprint like crazy like the rest of us. Tell yourself to slow down once you're capable of conscious thought after about a 100m.
Have fun. Once you've finished, you won't be able to wait until the next one.
