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This week, the athlete’s guide for my next big triathlon came out.  Next month, I’m doing the Challenge Williamsburg Olympic Triathlon.  For you non-triathletes, that means it’s kind of sort of twice as long as the last race I did.  The swim in 0.9 miles (1500m), the bike is 24 miles, and the run is a 10k.  I’ve done an oly before, but the distance is still a bit intimidating.  Well, it’s not so much the distance, it’s the time limit.  4 hours and 15 minutes.  I can do it, but if anything goes wrong, it’s questionable.

And yet, while I’m freaking about my next race, I’m also considering signing up for another triathlon.  But a sprint distance, of course.

You see, I don’t have any races in July.  This is intentional.  July is hot.  But now two of my friends are signed up for a particular race mid-month.  And I could go race with them.  It would be good practice.  And if my race in June goes poorly, this forces me right back out there.  And it’s only a sprint distance.  These are all good reasons.

So I am debating.  Do I want to add another race to my schedule when I’m already freaking out about the races I have?  Should I do it?

Yesterday was a lovely day for a swim out at Fort Ritchie.  One thing I’ve learned is that I need to take advantage of every single open water swim practice that I can.  No matter how much time you spend in the pool, nothing compares to being out in the open water.

I actually spent the first half of the OWS as a kayak volunteer, keeping an eye on the swimmers. Talk about pressure!  Not that I would be able to do anything to save someone, but I could offer a kayak to grab onto.  That’s allowed in practice swims and it’s allowed at races too.  You just can’t have the kayak offer you any forward motion.  Of course, if you are drifting along with the kayak, that’s okay.  But you can’t have the kayaker pull you.  Apparently, at one race a few years ago, a swimmer tried to pull a kayak so she didn’t have to let go.  That’s not really going to work well for anyone.

So I kayaked the first half and cheered on some swimmers, then swam the second half.  I wanted to swim a full 1500 to be really ready for race season, but only got in 1000 because of the limited time.  Either way, it was a good swim and confirms that yes, the hour time limit on the swim at my upcoming Oly won’t be a problem.

It was an awesome day for a swim, but man, that gross murky water freaks me out every time.  Maybe I should just paint the lenses of my goggles so that I can’t see anything in the pool either.  Sure, I’ll probably crash into people, but that’s part of the fun of triathlon, right?