Be always prepared for the worst possible scenario and always exceed expectations. Nothing new, just a refresher delivered in the form of a race that was projected to be my best, but ended up becoming my third-worst in terms of finish time, and the first NC (Not Classified) in my career. While it’s not a DNF (Did Not Finish) and puts me above 15% of non-finishers and probably ahead of around 100 finishers, it’s clearly nothing to be proud of.
After my last year’s worst 70.3 in Happy Valley this one was planned to be a breeze. Way up in the cold, cold North (almost Canada for you!), with a projected air temperature of 65-84F and water temperature of 72F (wetsuit legal), it was literally meant to be a walk in the park.
Everything was going well until just two days before the race, when the lake water temperature jumped from 73F to 76F in a single day. On race day, it hit 78F. In an instant, my race plan (as well as most other athletes plans) relying on a fast wetsuit swim was ruined.
But well, that’s nothing new – a 1.2mi lake non-wetsuit swim is something I’m ready to handle any day, since last year.
Expectations fell short again and the water was choppy that morning. Again, nothing new. Having swum from Alcatraz twice, I thought waves would be an advantage, not a problem.
But swimming in fresh, choppy water without a wetsuit turned out to be incomparably harder than navigating the salty, choppy San Francisco Bay in a wetsuit. Without the buoyancy of a wetsuit or saltwater, and with waves in the lake being very different in a bad way, it became a struggle. Unlike sea or ocean where wavelengths are more predictable, lake waves are chaotic, kicking you in the face from all directions and making breathing extra challenging.
It became the worst swim in my life, and for many others too. The historical DNF rate for the swim portion at Musselman is typically under 0.1-0.2%; this time it jumped to 4.5%. Nearly 100 athletes (including myself) didn’t make the cut-off but were allowed to continue the race as NC.
Overall, I’m glad that I finished, given that it was an extra challenging race due to weather anomaly (15% DNF vs 4% average), but NC definitely hurt my ego, which requires a quick remedy.
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