I headed down to Galveston this morning for an open water swim clinic put on by the Galveston Beach Patrol. They got permission from Moody Gardens to open the beach area where the triathlon swim will actually be, which was a great opportunity for me to both test out my wetsuit in some “real” water and see what the course will look like. It’s always nice to know what to expect on race day.
Observation #1: Offats Bayou. As I suspected, it is not really a bayou. It’s more like an inlet. And it’s BIG. Not huge, but certainly bigger than most other bodies of water in this area that are labelled as bayous. From the beach at Moody Gardens straight across to the other side is about 3/4 of a mile. Quite a difference from the mental picture I had in my head, which was based on the fact that the 15 foot wide drainage ditch behind my apartment is also called a bayou.
(Approximate half iron swim course in red)
Observation #2: Marine Life. I hadn’t thought about sharks, sting rays, or jellyfish at all…until the lifeguard giving the clinic starting talking about shark bites, shuffling your feet so as not to step directly onto a sting ray, and how cabbage head jellyfish are solid enough that if you bump into one it feels like a body. Yes, a body. Direct quote. Oh, and then he continued to say that cabbage head jellyfish and stinging nettles stings aren’t too painful(like an ant bite or a bee sting), but that if you get stung by a man-o-war, well…he won’t lie to you, it hurts a lot. Thank you, Mr. Lifeguard Dude, for making me think about something I was perfectly happy not thinking about.
Observation #3: Course Distance. They said the course they laid out today (supposedly close to what the 0.3-mile sprint tri course will be) was about 450 meters. I sincerely hope they underestimated, because I did two loops and it took me 27 minutes. (I wanted to do another loop, but the lifeguards were already pulling up the buoys; I guess they’d only intended people to do 1-2 loops.) Now, I was taking it easy, but not that easy. Sure, I was practicing my spotting (looking up every 10-15 strokes to make sure I’m not swimming off course), but that doesn’t slow a person down that significantly. In a pool, 900 meters would take me about 18 minutes and the full 1.2 mile race swim takes 45 minutes, tops. Yet today was indicating that the 1.2 mile race swim would take me more than an hour??
Thankfully, Google Pedometer saved me: a quick check shows that the loop was in the neighborhood of 0.4 miles, so that makes my 2 loops total 0.8 miles, or equal to 2/3 of the Half Ironman swim. 27 minutes is much more reasonable in that case!
Observation #4: Chafing. I didn’t have any in the pool, but today the back of my neck and inside of my arm are both rubbed a little raw from the wetsuit and salt water. Guess I’ll follow that bodyglide recommendation now.
Observation #5: Fog. My goggles fogged like nobody’s business. They’ve been getting worse in the pool as well. Time for either a good anti-fog treatment or a new pair!
Observation #6: Temperature. The water was 70 degrees, and with the wetsuit was really not cold at all. In fact, it was just about perfect once I got going.
Observation #7: Rocks. I’ve heard that the triathlon will have carpets and ramps in place to get swimmers into and out of the water to avoid rocks and oyster beds. I really hope this turns out to be the case. My right foot got sliced a couple times by some particularly nasty rocks; when I got out, I found that my toe was bleeding from one gash. This was the only real disappointment from this morning swim, since I need the cuts to heal by next weekend. A couple of them are right on the arch, so while they’re not big, they’re in a bad place.
Anyway, it was a good morning and a good practice swim, even if I didn’t get to go as long as I’d hoped.
Hurrah from the Chicago Cheeky Chorus!
I was stung by a Man Of War when I was a teenager. It hurt. Not end of the world hurt. Kind of like putting your hand in a nest of fire ants hurt (but with stings rather than itching). Actually the grossest thing was that I got the tentacles tangled up on my arms and I thought it was just sea weed, so I tore at them, and then they all came off and I had an arm of tentacles. Still freaks me out every time seaweed brushes by me now. Anyway, maybe that story made things worse, but it really should be better, because I am trying to say it isn’t really that big of a deal to get stung by a jelly fish. I wasn’t incapacitated with pain or anything. After the life guard put whatever salve they put on a sting I went back into the water and kept swimming.
Ooh, and my cousin go taken out by a sting ray. She has a really cool scar. Would make a great story if you did. But hopefully, since you’ll be swimming you won’t be dragging your feet in the sand too much and therefore will be unlikely to rouse one..
Oh, spitting in your goggles really does work to prevent fog. Really.
I was stung by a regular jellyfish and it hurt about like a bee sting. No comments on men-of-war. 😉
not sure if this will help but if you use your spit inside the goggles before putting them on it should prevent the fogging. i learned that while down in mexico…
I have been stung by both jelly fish and a man-of-war. The MOW really hurt. But the good news, if I remember correctly, is that they only hurt when they come into contact with hair folicles. So your palms and soles are fairly safe. Similarly since most of you will be safely enclosed by your wetsuit, you should be OK.
The spitting in goggles works, and so does some forms of toothpaste.