White Lake Half-Ironman

White lake half ironman, originally uploaded by weissjeffm.

I did the 1.2 mile swim today in the White Lake Half Ironman (in southern NC).

Well, the water was really as cold as it looked. Do you see anyone in the picture above insane enough to be in there without a wetsuit? Well I was one of three people (out of 800) who went with bare skin. As I entered the water, I experienced "inhalation response" for the first time in my long swimming career. That's when you enter cold water and you have involuntary rapid breathing. I am glad I knew about the phenomenon, or it would have been even more alarming. (This is why I suspect the water was colder than the announced 64 - I've been in mid-60's water before and never had this happen). I don't think I've ever before been unable to hold my breath even for a few seconds.

I managed to get my breathing under control in the few minutes before my wave was started, and felt ok for the swim. I was (obviously) cold, my legs weren't getting good circulation and very soon felt crampy, even though they were only doing my usual lazy 2-beat kick. The water was clear, so I had an easy time navigating the buoys and the slower swimmers in front of me (from the earlier wave starts).

I got back to the dock and there was a line of about 5 people trying to climb the ladder to get out of the water! That cost me about 30 seconds. As soon as I got my legs under me, they started to cramp - not from being tired, it must have been from lack of blood flow. So I then had to run (rather gingerly) 150 yards to the transition area, at which point the cramping really flared up. But at least I had already passed the timing chip to my teammate and he was on his way.

I experienced another odd sensation later on - about 20 minutes after putting my parka back on, I felt warm again, but then I felt blood rush into my legs (which I guess were still cold) and suddenly got cold all over. That was my body reconnecting my legs to the blood stream, I guess. Weird.

The day warmed up dramatically (too late to be of any help for my leg of the race). By the time Tom (the biker) finished, I had shorts on and it was a perfect day. Our relay won! Our time was 4:23:07, which was slightly faster than the individual Elite winner, and 10 minutes ahead of the next relay. Nice work, Tom and Scott.

All in all, a pretty good day.