Eileen Swanson's Tales

>>August 21st, 2009

I had an amazing fun time at my last open water swim race at Lake Sonoma. My athlete and good friend John Jeha and I drove 90 mins to get to the race venue. We got there with little, but plenty of time to spare for a swim race After checking in and being placed in wave 1, we got in the 73 degree lake to warm up. The water felt awesome, warm and inviting. Only 2 people wore wetsuits, which was great to see. I love going to all these Pacific Masters sanctioned races where most everyone competes sans wetsuit. Although skin suits made by Blue Seventy and TYR are still legal, they won’t be for long which will be even more fun to see how everyone stacks up with a plain ‘ol swimsuit.

Wave 1 was a very eventful start. It was an in water start and we were treading water for 5 minutes before the start. We all agreed to head back to shore after 4 minutes since we were all getting a little chilly and restless. As most of us headed back to shore, the RD told us to go back and within 10 seconds we were off. Talk about brutal swim starts, wow this one was one of them! Most of the top PM swimmers were present and ready to fight for clear water. I was lucky to get in a great spot and get pulled along behind a super fast guy, who ended up winning. I felt great and loved every second of this full contact start I guess I just LOVE swimming so much that I feel in my element and super calm. As soon as we got out about 200 meters, I saw my friend John to my right. Since we are pretty close in pace, I decided to swim next to him and see if we could work together. But he seemed to be swimming off course a bit, so I took a hard line to my left and got slightly ahead of him.

As I approached the turn around buoy, I had this annoying woman slapping my feet with every stroke I took. This had to have been the most annoying swimmer ever. I kicked hard once to get away from her, but no luck there. I surged a couple more times and again she clung on. She kept pushing my feet down and clobbering my calves for the entire swim. I seriously considered stopping and yelling at her, but I know that is a total waste of energy. So with 100 meters to go I went hard, kicked tons and tried to make one last ditch effort to get rid of this nuisance. This time she came right up to my side and started slapping her arms down hard to try to get me to move from the most direct line. WTH?? Who does that? I sprinted at the end but this lady had the nerve after all that she had done, to almost trip me to get the half step win over me. OMG, I was so mad!! I couldn’t believe it. She looked at me and said good job. I couldn’t control my frustration and told her that she was totally all over me, that it was rude, bad etiquette, etc….. She didn’t know what to say except to shrug her shoulders and utter “that’s proper open water swimming.” NO WAY! I continued to tell her that she was wrong in what she did and she needs to learn some proper swim etiquette. I should have said more, but at that point my friend John had just exited the water and told me that she was lame and just to forget it all. It was cool to see the other swimmers tell me that I was in the right and that woman was totally rude and should have been dq’d. Anyway, I had a super fun race, was 3rd overall and 1st in my division. I was super happy with my result and even more happy to learn that I was beat only by an ex Olympian. The other woman who clobbered me all day, didn’t count. Great experience and another swim event under my belt. I’m starting to feel like a fish

>>August 14th, 2009

It’s been over 4.5 months with this foot injury. To make matters worse, over the last several weeks I was put in a removeable walking cast. Per doctor’s orders I was strictly confined to swimming and rest. I was not alowed to bike or do anything that would put more stress on my already injured foot. So, I swam 3 days a week, once I was able to squeeze in 4! Some people ask me why I didn’t swim everyday and all day, simple answer – I did not want to over do it in the one sport that I could still do! I added in some open water swims. Even challenging myself to a one mile 56 degree ocean swim sans wetsuit. Then I followed it up the following day with a 2 mile swim race. More on those in another post.

A week and a half ago on a Thursday, I became so fed up with the walking cast, that I ripped it off. I decided that I was going to run starting that day!! This may sound crazy to most of you, but the doctor said that if the pain did not go away with the boot, then my injury was strictly nerve related. With a nerve injury the doctor said he would allow me to do anything that I can tolerate. So, that very moment after ripping off my cast, I told Reid that I was going to run at the Team Lemon fun run (which I am suppossed to lead) and I was so determined. Luckily I had such great company from Team Lemon members that it made my first run back so enjoyable. It was actually more than enjoyable. I was runnign again, feeling strong, athletic, elated, beautiful, light…I can go on and on. I WAS STOKED to be running. I was smiling from ear to ear and no one could wipe that smile off my face. I even went to bed smiling

That amazing run was a week and a half ago. Since then I have ridden my bike a couple of times, run 2 more times, and coached a triathlon clinic down in gorgeous Pacific Grove, CA. Today I RACED! YES I raced in the local triathlon at Shadow Cliffs. It’s a super fun and popular triathlon in this area. There were 1300 athletes toeing the line today! I was so giddy and excited to race alongside 5 of my athletes. Thet are awesome. When the gun went off, I couldn’t believe I was racing again. Sweet! I exited the water 1st including men (and the race director yelled “new course record”). This added to my already big smile. I felt just ok on the bike and amazing on the run. I felt like I had trained for the run , which is crazy since I haven’t run much in forever. But I was happy to take that feeling and run with it HA! I had great competition on the run. A girl from SVTri club was running with me the entire run. She would make a move and I would respond and vice versa. It was exciting, I love this type of competition. I hasd one advantage and that was being the local chick and having so many friends, athletes, my fellow tri club members (FMS) yelling, screaming, cheering words of encouragement. It was AMAZING! Such an awesome feeling to be back in my element, doing what I love, and living my dream. I was feeling light, quick, and strong. Which was so surprising to me and made me truly believe in the power of the mind.

Back to the race, and the last 400 meters….the SVTC girl made her final move and I let her get 2 steps ahead. It was so exhilirating. I knew I could respond and start my kick. With 200 meters to go, I took off and was so moved by the loud cheers, screams, jumps…the crowd was going crazy. It was my day and I got the win! I was so thankful for my competition, she made me really work hard and again realize that so much of this sport is mental. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, Dream Big!!

>>August 5th, 2009

>>August 5th, 2009

>>August 5th, 2009