Queen Surf and I are not on speaking terms today. Seems every time I get in the water for a competition, Queen Surf is rocking and rolling and today was no different. No one can tell me that it's the time year either. When I did Tin Man triathlons in July, same god awful conditions. The year I tore my rotator cuff in a training accident and did I not swim, Queen Surf was like a pond and you could almost walk the whole course. It's me......I'm jinxed and I apologize to all the other competitors.
Looking at the conditions before the race it didn't look that bad. Once we got in and started swimming to the buoy those 5 to 8 foot swells predicted by Guy Hagi came rolling in with waves breaking in the channel. Of course! The Pattie curse.
I do not like to swim in rough water or in deep water and spend a lot of time convincing myself I will not drown or be eaten by something. Today was everything I hate but I thought I can do this and instead of hanging back started with the pack. This resulted in getting kicked in the face which left me a little disoriented. As I got my bearings I got slapped by a couple of waves which left me struggling. Put my head down and started my crawl toward the buoy. Then my silly left foot cramped up. Kept trying to flex my foot and resolved the only way to get out was to finish the swim. The goal was to control the panic before the stress asthma kicked in. Today was probably the worst swim of my life. I managed to add eight whole minutes to my swim. Only plus was I got out on my own and no stress asthma.
I spent the whole walk.....not run to the transition area questioning my sanity. Next year I am sacrificing a chicken so I can have nice flat conditions. Yikes! You see, I'm still compromised. I'm thinking of abusing myself in the same way next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment