Splash and Dash #1--- a recap!

Last night was the first Splash and Dash of the year which means one thing: it's getting close to summer time.

Except it's June 3 and I wore tights today. Tights!

Spring did not happen this year. And yesterday's race was a cold beast.

I did this race last year. It is held the first Thursday of June, July, and August at Stevens Creek Reservoir. The race starts at 6pm, is a .9 mile swim and 5k trail run. I met up with my mermaid pals at the race, and set up the worlds most disorganized transition. I pulled my wetsuit out and remembered, "Oh yeah, I forgot to rinse this off after Monday's Ocean swim" (more on that later). We got into the reservoir ( a little chilly) and waited for the race start. And then we were off.

The swim was two loops, and was a little choppy. I chose the race to try out my brand new goggles, as I had massive goggle issues on Monday's swim (again, more on that later). The Aquasphere goggles were amazing, I had never had such great sighting, though I still swam crooked. However, I didn't quite have them on right and every once in awhile water would get in.

I finished the swim and got to transition, took wetsuit off, put on a cotton shirt over my tri-shirt and headed out to the run. Yes, I said "cotton." Uh, durrrr...not a smart choice. My shirt was soaked the whole run.

The run was hard, but I felt strong. The swim was difficult too, but I felt strong. I felt my potential--that if I keep doing the workouts my coach tells me and don't have junk training days, maybe I could be race ready.

The great thing about these races is you really do get to race yourself. I can use the June race as a benchmark for the remaining races and see if I improved. Plus, it ends with pizza!

So, onto Monday's swim. I met up with some friends for an ocean swim in Santa Cruz. It was super cold in the water. When we got in, we all shrieked and put off putting our heads in until the last minute. It felt like needles were stabbing the non-wetsuit covered portions of my body. My goggles were thrashed. I think the coating came off and they got majorly fogged. I felt paralyzed and blind. My friend Diane kept asking me if I was ok. I was not ok. I could feel the panicky, hard to breathe sensation that I experience last March and told her I was heading back. I swam back, tried to control my breathing, tried not to freak out, and --most of all--tried not to get super irritated. What is up with this? I swam EVERY single day in Maui last month and was as happy as could be (seriously, my hubby nicknamed me labrador because of my eagerness to jump into the ocean). But the cold ocean here was become something to fear. I have never had this issue before.

So, the answer to this issue? Swim more. Swim more in my wetsuit and in the open water. And maybe sign up for a crazy swim as a goal to get into the water more?

Hmmmm...perhaps. I do have a swim in mind. Stay tuned. It isn't official until I register.