Hectic Weekend

Friday started off with the 4th swim in 4 days, however it was an easy 4k swim to “rest” before the 6km Open Water race on Saturday. After that I was off to work, 1hr run at lunch, and 1hr bike ride in the afternoon. Before going to sleep I prepared all my race gear (I was happy that for a swim race you need to prepare way less things than for a tri) and went to bed. I woke up 9.5 hrs later, yes, I was that tired…

The alarm went off on Saturday at 6:30, just 2 hrs before the race. I had my usual pre race breakfast, just a little toned down considering that it was 2hrs before the race (not 3) and that I was going to be swimming 99.5% of the time (the 0.5% will consist of 4x20m runs around a marker on every lap and to the finish). Definitely did not want to overeat! 1hr before the race I got to Kits beach and found Patrice, my swimming buddy, with who I constantly battle every morning workout. I knew he was racing and it was going to be fun! 5 minutes later I see a familiar face walk on the beach, wait, is that Jeff? Yup, Jeff Symonds was in town and now the race became that much more interesting! It was going to be a 3 way battle…

8:30 am the gun goes off and Ian Young (a pure swimmer) takes off in the lead, he was way too fast and from then on was a race for second place. The first lap was controlled and strong, I was “leading” the pack in second place and I could not tell who was / was not in the pack. After 1.5km we come out of the water, I look back. Its only 2 of us, a rematch of the previous weekend (well, on the swim portion only…), however this time he (Jeff) was on my feet. 2nd lap goes in cruise control, there was much more swimming to do to start burning precious fuel… 3rd lap starts, only half of the race left, Jeff still on my feet. What are my options?
A) Slow down and let him lead
B) Keep things the same as lap 1 and 2
C) Try to get rid of him and make him work alone (which will hopefully tire him a bit more than seating on my feet)

I quickly decided not to go for Option A, it was weak, slowing down? What? Also, I could not really tell where 4th place was. What if we both slowed down and then got caught? What if he was about to break down and I just helped him out? Option B was not an option either. I was in a disadvantageous position and I had to do something to revert it. Option C became the name of the game. 3rd lap consisted of about 4 or 5 100-200m attacks to drop him. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful, I redline a couple of times, and now I was out of gas for the 4th lap.

4th lap starts and this time I could only slow down, I was not towing him to the finish! We swam side by side, shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow bumping each other. I could tell we were both done, but none was going to give an inch. After 6000m of swimming, approximately 1hr 26minutes we stood up in the sand with water knee high at the same time and sprinted 20 m to the finish. The result was similar to cycling, we both got the same time, but he got the Green Jersey and the Sprinter points. Jeff: 1:26:03, Facundo: 1:26:03. This was a race for the books: I suffered, was exhausted, in pain, could not feel my triceps for a couple of minutes, got out sprinted, but loved it! (Thanks Jeff for the picture, I stole it from your blog)

So yeah, it was 10am, 15 minutes to eat at the food tent, home, change, and as if I didn’t have enough already at 10:45 I was in a 3hr ride including Cypress with the Leading Edge squad. I got home at 1:55pm, at 2:05 I was on my way to the airport to pick up my friend Christian from Switzerland. Get home at 4, do some stuff around the house, head to Patrices house where he and his wife Fred put out a great bbq. I was absolutely dead, exhausted, since 6:30am I did not stop for a minute, but hey, I had a great time and I would not have changed a single thing -except for the sprint finish =P.

8hr sleep and Sunday consisted of Gym and run in the morning. Lunch, Caribbean Festival at Longsdale Quay with Enej and Christian (it was so hot and sunny that I went through 1L of yoghurt icecream: literally). In the afternoon went for a 1hr TT, then had awesome BBQ brochettes made by my brother and chef Eze, and sleep time.

I said it was a hectic weekend… nonetheless it was FUN FUN FUN!

Facundo