Sprint Triathlon in 36C/98F heat

The most difficult part of yesterday's Watarase Triathlon was waiting for the swim to start and absolutely baking on the concrete rim of the reservoir in our full wetsuits.   The race officials finally allowed us into the water which proved disappointingly warm (disappointing when you are looking forward to a refreshing dip into cool water).  For the entire 750 meter swim I felt miserably hot.  I don't recall ever feeling too warm during a swim in my ten years of triathlons and open water swims (most of which have taken place in oceans or in cold lakes in Seattle area and northern California).   I was so happy to stagger out of the hot, murky water in just under 14 minutes.

And then came the second most difficult part of the Watarase Triathlon -- the T1 transition.  Dazed from the swim I  struggled unsuccessfully to peel off the sweltering wetsuit as I hopped across an endless stretch of burning pavement in my bare feet.  It took seemingly forever to get out of my wetsuit, slather on sunscreen and get on to my bike.  

But the rest of the Watarase Triathlon - the 20k bike ride and 5k run - was no problem - a pleasant day in the park.  It felt refreshingly cool on the bike - and the course was generally flat and straight.  At a distance of only 5k the run was psychologically easy to deal with -- after having become accustomed to longer distances lately.  

I seemed to place reasonably OK given that I usually am relatively more competitive the longer the distance of the event.   I felt I was cycling well, staying in my aero bars, passing lots of other guys and that I generally improved since Nijima - though the results did not seem to support this perception.  

Swim -  14:26  (64th overall)

Bike  -   43;12  (145th overall)  includes my endless transitions

Run -    19;16  (9th overall) 

Overall - 1:16:54 (59th out of like 300 total entrants) 

Kamakura Rough Water Swim

I spent almost two hours struggling through 5-kilometers of ocean
waves yesterday in the Kamakura Rough Water Swim. 1 hour 55 minutes
and 30 seconds of swimming to be precise - more than 20 minutes slower
than my time in the same event last year which I have a vague memory
of being much easier and more pleasant.

Yesterday's event on the other hand was not particularly pleasant,
aside from afterwards sitting on the deck of the beach-house watching
the sunset, sipping a beer, and being glad the swim was over, and I
knowing I would not be doing any swims this long for another year.

I have spent considerable time on swim training since last year's
event and hoped to see a big improvement in time, but upon reaching
the first turnaround and seeing my split was 20 minutes, I realized my
time was going to be much, much slower than last year. And those
first 20 minutes seemed like hours and hours - it was distressing to
think I was only one-sixth of the way through the race. I tried to
stay positive and focus on each stroke. By the time I staggered out
of the ocean I was not so much fatigued from exertion as I was
nauseous from the swell and the salt water.

I finished 40th out of some 200 entrants (maybe a third of the
swimmers did not meet the cut-off time and ended up as a DNF). I did
not place as high as last year, though I am still pleased to be as
competitive as I was. Moreover I finished ahead of teammates Kimm-san
and Phil who are strong, natural swimmers who seem more genetically
pre-disposed to swimming than myself.