Another thing on my life's list is done. I have wanted to do a long, long swim for a few years now and decided this year would be the year. Every year out in Kelowna as part of the triathlon national championships, they have a 1500 meter and 5km swim. Open water, long distance swimming has really become popular over the past few years...its an Olympic event now...the world championships were in Canada this year...its a whole new and crazy sport!!
We drove to Calgary on Thursday...holy forest fire smoke...that was not cool. It was like we were in a sci-fi movie and the world was ending. We could not see road signs...that's how bad it was driving into Calgary...what the hell was it going to be like as we got closer to the Okanagan? Well, it was pretty bad. I have pictures that I will post later but that cannot be healthy to breathe in all that smoke for two days!! My 4 year old sneezed from Calgary to Vernon...
Got into Vernon really late as we pissed around, stopping several times on the trip. Was a fun, fun trip! Fell into a few tourist traps...jeepers...those places were built for people like my husband...
Anyway, my Dad has a beautiful home overlooking Lake Okanagan and he graciously gave it up while he stayed at his cabin.
The race was Saturday morning and in Kelowna which is about a 45 minute drive from where we were. Up and early and exhausted...if you have children and you travel with them...you will know what I am talking about!!
Got to the race check in. The whole waterfront was triathlon city. The junior elite girls were just coming out of the water and holy crap...those girls could FLY!! At my race check in, they are pretty darn serious about this open water swimming. Signed the waiver, got my swim cap, they checked my finger and toe nails...told me to take off all jewellry. I left my wedding band on because I have not had it off in over 10 years...the gal said I would likely be dq'd...say what? So I hid my hand until we got into the water!! Crazy.
At the race briefing, they introduced a few people...the world record holder for this distance was there...some dude who had just swam the English Channel was there...the junior Canadian champion...I looked around and realized very quickly, I was in way over my head!! However, I do want to say that it was nice to be around other swimmer bodies...not necessarily small and tiny skinny girls, if you get what I am saying...these were my people!!!
The guys went off first and the gals went off 5 minutes later. These people were competitive. There is a world circuit for the open water long distance swimming and Kelowna wants to get on the circuit so the officials were doing everything to the letter of the law.
There were only about 14 women entered in total....about 11 of them took off like bullets at the start!! Holy SHIT!! I tried to stay on their feet for about the first 1000 meters but they were really racing. If I do this again, more distance and much more speed work...seriously, I was not prepared for how competitive this group was going to be.
The course was 5 laps of a 1000 meter course. After the first lap I was on my own and just kept swimming...I kicked the entire 5000 meters...the swells at the far end of the course were kind of weird to swim in...you would take 10 or so strokes and get no where...the lake was gorgeous to swim in...there were some that dropped out because it was cold, but I did not mind it. I guess they did not grow up going to lakes in northern SK!!! I got lapped by a few men and one woman...and I thought I was a decent swimmer!! These people were FAST!!! Holy crap.
By the last lap, I was getting tired. I swam that sucker hard! My lower back was aching from doing all the sighting. My arms and shoulders were sore. That was a loooong way to swim! I even got disorientated a couple of times so had to stop and do some breast stroke just to get my bearings. The folks here are so lucky to have these big beautiful lakes to do all of their open water swimming in.
In then end, I was the 2nd last female out of the water and about the 4th last overall. The field was about 30 people in total. And I was super HAPPY with my swim!! It was done in about one hour and 30-ish minutes. I thought I would be faster than this but again, I have alot to learn about open water swimming if I want to do that again!!
4 comments:
Great job, 5k is a long way to swim! At least you had laps to keep things interesting. There were some really talented people there!
Good for you! 2nd last sounds bad, but I'll bet you were fast fast fast. It's just those other people were a bit faster. Gives you some training incentive.
And I'm just looking at the results. A 50+ woman won the event, doing 5K in 1:12. Holy crap! And the guys, a kid doing it in just over an hour.
Way to swim girl! Who cares where you placed, to jump into a swim of that distance with a field like that! Holy crap! You rock!
holy crap you are fast! that's so awesome kelly! what a fantastic experience to have under your belt.
i noticed there was an open water swim race at kits beach the other weekend. i thought of you! maybe that should be your race for next year??? i think that one had a 6 km swim in it. very cool.
congratulations!
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