The Swim

Woke up early – jet lag early – at 4am. Thought it would be novel to get in a training swim at 7am – the event start time. It turns out that about 200 other people had the same novel idea. Furthermore, the Ironman officials were prepared with Gatorade and personal items bag check. I found watching all the fish while swimming to be very relaxing. Also, although the official athlete’s guide indicates that motion sickness is the #1 reason people drop out of the swim, I crossed that stress item off my list. I felt at home in the water. I grew up in the Hawaiian waters, how can it make me sick?

The whole time I was swimming my mouth felt like I just gargled salt water. This made me chuckle as I recalled a comment Ted made to me the other day. I had been lamenting on the large quantities of recommended electrolyte tablets (5 or 6 tablets per hour on the run – at 40mg of sodium/tablet!). Ted’s suggested that I could avoid the pill popping by taking a few extra gulps of water during the swim.

Put my bike together today. Took pictures of the packing job with hopes of being able to pack it myself on the return trip. It took a while to put it together. I had only 3 or 4 parts left over.

Celebrity sightings! Spotted Desiree Ficker – our Austin pro who placed 2nd in Kona in 2006. She was out taking pictures of the swimmers. We wished her all the best. Also spotted was Norman Stadler – the German pro who NBC Sports caught puking his brains out on the bike portion of the 2007 Kona event. It was hard to miss him – his team drives around in a van with his picture taking up most of the rear window.

Mom and I picked up some fruit at the local farmer’s market. You know, just some guavas, dragon fruit and dwarf bananas. Just the week to try something new…