IMLP Race Report - The Swim

Alarm went off at 4:00. I slammed down my first cup of coffee and got dressed, my kit carefully laid out the day before, of course. Because of all my OCD prep work, it didn't take long to be ready to head out the door, special needs bags, pump, swim gear, and breakfast in hand.

First stop was body marking. Just like 2012 I ate while the dude got busy with a Sharpie. I may or may not have spilled more than a few grains of rice on his head. 

Next stop was transition. This took approximately 234,029 times longer than it should have because that short valve on my rear tube was just not cooperating. After multiple tries that resulted in deflating it entirely, I finally got it up to 90 PSI and was good to go.

After that, I met my good friend Wes near the beach. We started together in 2012 and although he would be seeding himself further up than me in the new "streaming" start, it was good to see him before the race. He does the race every year and his calmness definitely helped me.

Pre-race is always better with a friend.

After kicking around and chatting for awhile, it was time to get in the water and then line up. I took one last photo with Dr. Z., gave him a kiss, and dove into the sea of people massed around the beach.

This IS his happy face.

I waded into the water and while the temperature was just fine, I got an inkling of the first major issue of the day. The water was completely contaminated from the fire the night before. They had tested the water that morning, but it was brown and had a scary chemical taste. I went right into troubleshooting mode but the only things I could come up with were "Rinse out your mouth with Skratch the second you get on the bike" and "Try to swallow as little water as possible." I was unhappy, but didn't freak out, which is a big step for me.

My massage therapist Tim managed to find me in line (I have no idea how he did that), and I got one last friendly hug before the wait began. The cannon boomed and...

,...nothing.

I had seeded myself near the front of the 1:45-2:00 group, and we didn't even move for the first five minutes or so, which seems an eternity when you're waiting to start an Ironman. After 15 minutes we finally hit the water, and it was the most insane battering I have ever taken in a race. I was also having trouble getting into the right mindset. I was totally over swimming before we even hit the first turnaround. Yes, I was near the buoy but I just couldn't find a good way to get around or away from people.

One thing I love about the IMLP swim is that you can slowly hear Mike Reilly's voice get louder and louder as you get closer to shore. I was so happy to finish my first loop but also not looking forward to having to do a second one. I wasn't tired or anything, just mentally not in "GRRRRR" mode and sick of all the contact, not to mention the disgusting water.

The second loop I tried to put a little more "Oomph" into my stroke and find feet, all part of my race plan, but while I "dated around" I never did find any feet that really worked for me.

When I finally hit land again and saw 2:03 or so on the race clock, I was horrified and pissed. Although it turns out I had PRed by a few seconds, I had misjudged when I got in the water and thought I had swam a 1:50.  Swimming about the same as 2012 was still very disappointing giving my open water times in training.

Matters weren't helped when my wetsuit got stuck and even the peelers had trouble, which used up more time. In fact, the band of my lap watch (which I was using for race time) got messed up, and since it was no longer displaying the race clock properly anyways, I handed it off to Dr. Z. as I ran towards T1.

I look pissed off (I am) and 50 (I'm not).

Swim: 1:46:18, 96 AG, 593 Women, 2208 OA. (Yes, I know. One of the last out of the water.

So grabbed my bag and ran into the change tent. This year I decided take the time to wear the Magic Bike Shorts and use chamois cream in hopes of being more comfortable and minimizing damage to the undercarriage. It made for a very slow (for me) transition, but my helper was awesome and got me out of there as quickly as she could. Unfortunately I did have to wait for my bike a bit, but soon enough I was rolling. Quickly rinsed out my mouth as planned and on my way for a little 112 mile spin.

T1: 7:53 (The only split I DIDN'T PR.)

Week in Training

Week in Training:

Well, in general it was a tough week. About half the volume of my peak for IMLP, but a lot of it was at sprint pace and this is the time of year where I start losing steam a bit. (I start my training season on January 1st.)

So without further ado, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:

• Did my longest swim (2K) since Tinman last night and DIDN'T die. (Yes, my swim volume has been THAT low.)
• This is probably worthy of its own log entry, but set ANOTHER PR at the Mini-Tri at Monday. Granted, most of that was from the swim actually being the correct length this week (biked a little slower, ran a little faster), but I'll take it. I was hoping to just break 1:20 this year, but my official PR is now 1:18:03. Yes, KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF 1:17. CRAZY. I'll be looking for those four seconds at tonight's Mini-Tri, the last of the year.

The Bad:

• Tuesday's 45 minute swim left me very tired, which is pathetic.
• My 9 mile tempo run was quite slow thanks to completely fried legs from all of the hard biking I've been doing.

The Ugly:

• Had a good ole-fashioned meltdown at the lake, after getting out and giving up 34 minutes into a 55-minute swim, tears and all.
• Got the bejesus scared out of me by the most insane crosswinds I've ever dealt with on my bike in my life and ended up cutting the bike portion of Saturday's brick short.

So yes, the very uneven training I tend to have this time of year. Hopefully this week will go better.

Double Swim PR Day

I know my weekly summaries have mentioned that my swimming's been going well despite only two swims a week, but today was especially good.

My warm-up was 200 yards swim. Without trying, I knocked a whole 5 seconds off my PR.

First set was 500 yards. Knocked THIRTEEN SECONDS off my time, and that was with alternating between easy and fast.

I've gone through literally WEEKS of poo-tastic swimming before, so this was a real treat.

Unfortunately payment came due during the last 1000 yards of my workout,but still - I am TOTALLY jazzed.

Now I just need to get similar improvements in my bike.

Last OWS of the Year

(Obviously yet another delayed post since autumn weather starts at the beginning of September around here)

Well, the last triathlon of the year is finished and that means it's the changing of the guard, where trainers (turbos) are set up and pools re-entered after a summer of riding on the open road and swimming in the lake.

First up - the last swim of the year. It came surprisingly late this year. Just as we had an early spring, we had a late fall. It is about a week from Thanksgiving and we STILL don't have any snow on the ground, which is unheard of.

Anyway, Dr. Z. and I went for our last swim in the lake around mid-September. It was going to be a short one - the water was really cooled by Hurricane Katrina, but the air was warm. Although the water felt REALLY cold at first, I felt great once I got going. My fingers were a little cold, but that was about it. I was soon in my own little aquatic world, watching the trout swim under me. The air was still and the sun was warm and I just didn't want to get out, but after 30 minutes Dr. Z was on the shore waiting for me.

So, off came the wetsuit and I stopped to take pictures so that I don't forget the beauty I'm surrounded by everyday. This is my pool, people:





And for one last time, the wetsuits were hung on the front porch with care:

COLD

Had a freezing bike ride this morning - it was 50, overcast, and WINDY. Froze my ass off because I refuse to wear UnderArmour in freakin' JUNE. Luckily it was a short ride.

An OWS is on tap for after work. It is all the way up to a scorching 60 degrees, and the wind is still guaranteeing some "fun" chop. The water itself will be comfortable enough in a wetsuit, this is what it's going to look like getting in and especially out of my wetsuit:



The killer part? Tomorrow is going to be almost 80 and sunny and all I have is a short jog. Sigh.

Gotta love the Adirondacks!

First OWS Swim of the Season! YAY!

Yep, Dr. Z. and I had heard rumor of people swimming in Mirror Lake despite the fact that at this time last year the water was still in the 40's due to an unusually cold spring, but we were leery of getting our hopes up too much until we tried it ourselves. Our original plan of going after work Thursday was trashed when a nasty thunderstorm rolled in. (In fact we've had thunderstorms every afternoon/evening for three days now, which is VERY unusual around here.)

Yesterday was more of the same - like I said, weird with the thunderstorms around here, but today we finally got to test it out BEFORE the afternoon thunderstorms arrived (and they did).

First of all, there is nothing sadder than a Northern triathlete trying to get on her wetsuit after almost nine months of pool swimming. Even with liberal application of BodyGlide it took me FOREVER. The fact that I'm still five pounds over race weight didn't help.

So...it was time to jump in. I was pleasantly surprised by how RELATIVELY warm it was (we're still talking in the 50's). My hands had me worried at first and I had to do a lot of "putting the face in the water and blowing bubbles" to get used to it, but once I started actually swimming - no problem at all. We swam out to the Mini-Tri buoy and back, which was 400 meters. At first I had to take a lot of breaks because as a "touch-turner" in the pool I'm used to a millisecond break every 25 yds. We came back to shore and after shooting the breeze with some other triathletes decided to do one more round. This time I made it the entire way back without any rest. Not only that, I didn't have the usual clausterphobic feeling I get when I start using a wetsuit again. All in all, I was EXTREMELY happy with how smoothly the transition to open water went. Yay!



Post-swim grin and proof I wasn't the only one crazy enough to get in the water.

First 4K Swim Ever

Sorry for the lack of posts but I've been training like an animal while trying to actually keep my job and it's just been CRAZY. Coach has me doing a bike block, which I need, but I just rode four days in a row and the legs are SHOT. (It doesn't help that we've had absolutely HORRIBLE weather - 40's and pouring - all week so I've had to do half of the rides on the dreaded trainer. Why oh why couldn't it be a swim block?)

Anyway, with the college pool about to close (yes, the only pool in Lake Placid, a town of swimmers and triathletes, closes for several weeks TWICE A YEAR, but that's a rant for another time.) I had a 4K swim. (I will be doing one 4K swim a week until the pool reopens at the end of the month.) I was a bit nervous going into it, but excited too. Nothing like a new challenge, especially in the pool.

Luckily the actual sets were pretty easy - some 600's thrown in there, but mostly 100's with plenty of rest. Helped keep the new distance manageable. I kept all my paces mostly around 2:25 until the last 600 at the very end. Although my "engine" felt fine, my back and shoulders were just shot. I could tell I was going at a snail's pace and my watch confirmed it: 16:00 or a 2:40 pace. Ouch. However, the rest of my splits were not groundbreaking but good. Considering that 1.) I've only swam once a week the past 2 out of 3 weeks and 2.) It was a 33% increase over my previous longest swim, I can't complain at all.

Now back to hitting the bike hard until the pool resumes normal hours (or the lake warms up out of the 30's).

Yet Another Swim PR!

Wow. Just wow. I don't know where these numbers keep coming from, but today's swim was a relatively light one - 100 WU, 2x900 Steady, 100 CD.

On the way to the pool I figured out that anything between 21:00 and 22:30 (2:21/100-2:20/100 pace) was reasonable and anything outside that range probably meant that I miscounted.

So I got in the water and did my warm up. I had that slow, clumsy "swimming in syrup" feeling the entire time. It was reflected in my time of 2:30. I wasn't too upset - I've had such amazing swim sessions lately that one bad one wasn't going to upset me too much.

I took my rest interval, too a deep breath, and dove in for my longest set since October. I went into what I call my "cruise speed." I wasn't even breathing hard until the end. When I finally touched the wall, my watch read 20:49 (2:18 pace). What. The. FUCK?!? I quickly debated whether that meant I missed a 50 and should leap back in. I finally decided that I had been swimming faster than THAT and that I'd take a "wait and see" on what my next 900 said. I REALLY didn't feel that I had lost count anyway.

So, rest interval over, I dove in for some more punishment. More than I signed up for, actually. Shortly after I started a bunch of little kids got into the pool and started splashing around, make waves. I tried to look at it as mass swim practice AND incentive to finish the hell up as quickly as I could. I really started to hurt at about 600 yards in when a "swim angel" appeared in the lane next to me going the perfect pace to keep me honest. I latched on and tried to hold on, which I did successfully until the final 50 when he kicked it and dropped me like a bad habit. Once again, I touched the wall at an astounding 21:27 (2:22 pace). To me, this confirmed my time for the first set.

I cooled down a bit quicker than I should have, but I was sick of being pummeled around by waves AND my goggles had started leaking.

So...unless I had a really bad day AND miscounted BOTH sets, I just killed it in the pool. Holy CRAP.

Now I just have to get my bike up to this level.

Oops!

*dusts off blog*

*dusts off anyone who actually is still reading this poor neglected thing*

What can I say? It's been a crazy busy month. Shortly after the last entry Dr. Z and I went on our annual canoe camping trip down the Buffalo. It was awesome - 126 miles in 4.5 days AND I kept up my run training. (Since I have from February to June to go from zero running to HIM (all with a very conservative increase in mileage), Coach Karen decided I couldn't afford to take the week off.

Since we've gotten back, it's just been shear craziness. Work has been INSANELY busy and as promised, Coach Karen REALLY ramped up the training in April. All this means that my house is currently a disaster area.

So, here's a summary of how my training in the three disciplines is going:

Swim: This is what I've been working the hardest (especially since it will be hard to find a place to swim next month, but that is a different entry altogether), and it shows. Before I was busting ass to try to stay sub-2:30/100 on anything longer than 100 yds, and now after a bunch of 3K workouts my new "cruising speed" seems to be 2:21/100, even for 600 yd sets. (Haven't done anything longer yet.) I also set three PRs last week, including an insane (for me) 58.22 50 yard.

Bike: This is currently my weakest area (says a lot about how much my swim has improved that I'm saying this!). What little time I spent in the saddle over the past few months was too easy, as I found out once I got off the trainer. I definitely don't have the engine I had at this time last year. Even Roo can't give me speed out on the road right now. It's all good though - Coach Karen assures me that as much as this is Swim Month, next month is Bike Month. If she can do for my riding what she's done for my swim, I will be more than ready to go for Tinman.

Run: This goes. I'm back up to 10:30 miles (the fastest I'm currently allowed to run) and my heart rate averages have slowly been dropping. In other words, I may have to keep the running easy, but I AM getting my run fitness back. I'm still run-walking my long runs though.

So that's the past month in a nutshell. Hopefully I can be a bit better about updating.

Roo's Home!

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I disappeared again. Sorry about that. Work and training have me seriously nose-to-the-grindstone.

Finally got Roo home on Thursday night. She had been cabled up last weekend, but I want pink bar tape and they were trying to find some. (They don't have as many supplies in the off-season.) Anyway, they finally just threw some black tape on her for now and said they'd replace it free of charge when the pink comes in. That with a pink bottle cage and pink bento box will be a very cool look.

So today was supposed to be my first ride on her, but thanks to a lovely cold/asthma type thingie that's just shredded my lungs, I'm taking a "wait and see" approach. I'd take a "talk to coach" approach, but (as luck would have it) she's doing an adventure race today. Sigh. I'm hoping I can at least spin lightly this afternoon/evening.

In positive news, my swims this week were bumped up to 2200 yards each - 1.25 miles exactly, as it happens, make them the second-longest swims I've ever done. (Longest being a 1.5 mile open water swim when I was peaking for the Vermont Half last summer.) I am going to be SO much better prepared for the Tinman swim this year. Hurrah! That's the nice thing about picking up a new sport (I've only been swimming for a year and a half): there's a very steep rate of improvement.

Next week the schedule is really shaken up since I'm departing for my annual Canoe Camping Marathon Paddling trip with the hunny on Friday. My first swim/run bricks ever - how fun!

Killer Swim Set

Yesterday was the first (and only in these first two weeks) tough, non-Zone 2 session I had. I had been dreading it ever since receiving my schedule from Coach Karen. (Actually, it felt good to actually bust it out a bit. Zone 2 is essential for early-season HIM/IM, I know it, but it still gets BOOOOOORING for this former miler/5Ker/go-balls-to-the-wall-all-the-time girl.)

So it was 50's, but on less rest than I had ever done hard 50s on. The first two came in at 1:05, not bad for being sore from shoveling and not having anyone pulling me along. (I have trouble going fast in the water without a rabbit in the next lane.) Unfortunately, the times went quickly downhill from there.

I took my pulse using the lap clock right after finishing (before going into my cooldown) and my heartrate was about 180. WOW! Any other discipline, Coach Karen would have my head. Because it was swimming, she was doing the online equivalent of cackling evilly:

100 in 2:11! Woohoo!

I know, I know...I haven't posted since Monday. Between still catching up on work after being gone for a week and instituting Coach Karen's Plan of Pain, I've been busy.

(I kid, I kid. She really is easing my out-of-shape ass into the swing of things.)

Anyhoodle...

Tuesday - First official session on the trainer. Nothing hard, just Z2 right now, but BOY do I need to harden my ass back up. Even with bicycling (as opposed to tr) shorts I was squirming around. The lady-parts were NOT happy. (And nobody likes unhappy ladyparts.)

Wednesday - Hit the roads. That's right, a light jog in SNOWPOCALYPSE. Who am i kidding? I freakin' LOVE running in the snow! Will be buying YakTrax however - all that sliding around got me out of Z2 even at a ridiculously easy (i.e. Turtles were passing me) pace.

Today - SWIMMY SWIM SWIM! After I warmed up, I hit my first 100 in an insane 2:11! Crazy! Unfortunately, I paid for that (and the FIVE TIMES I shoveled during SNOWPOCALYPSE) and my times went steeply downhill from there. Still, not a bad workout at all considering.

Tomorrow is another run - it's been sunny and low 20s all day and supposed to be more of the same for tomorrow, so the streets should be much clearer. Hooray for radiant melting!

Here We Go!

So...today started my official training for Tinman. 21 weeks to go. What better way to kick things of than hit the pool? Now, ever since returning after the holidays, my swim sessions have been like this:

(via Steve in a Speedo)

Sp I was pleasantly surprised when all of my sets (it was a 1500 yd form workout) were under 2:30? My first 100 was even 2:20. Not where I was in October, but a definite improvement. I felt really good in the water aside from a rough 200 where I lost my form a bit and started "attacking" in the water.

All in all, a great start to training. Tonight is Karate and tomorrow it'll be bike time. I'm actually really looking forward to Wednesday - run in a snowstorm. No, I'm not being facetious. I LOVE running in snow! Expect pictures.

5 Day Swim Streak! DONE!

As everyone knows, the swim is BY FAR my weakest event. So what better to work on in the very early season than swimmy swim swim. The biggest limiter was my back and arms. I would have loved to have swam 2.5K a day, but a couple days all I could handle was 1K before my form fell apart.

So...3.5 miles in 5 sessions. NICE! The pool is only open four days next week, but my goal will be 4 miles in 4 sessions.

Also, I am officially registered for Tinman. Check it:



(Click to see full-size. Stupid Blogspot.)

Oh, and exciting new news to be announced. I'm holding off until I can get pictures.

First Two-a-Day of the Year!

Man, it's only Tuesday and I can tell that I'm going to be TIRED after this week of training. Makes me wonder how I did 12-14 hour training weeks for Tinman last year. Thank God it's only January - gives me time to get back up to that fitness level!

Anyway, last night's Karate class was pretty good. We started off with the black belts working bo kata, which rocked. I hadn't picked up my bo in ages and it was a nice surprise that I really wasn't too rusty. Impressive considering I really have to work hard at that weapon. (I'm a sai kind of girl.)

This morning I did another quick, easy 2.5 mile run on the treadmill at a 9:30 pace. STILL no IT band pain, so I'm hoping to up it to a full three miles next week.

At noon I did an equally short, easy session at the pool. I was still embarrassingly, ridiculously slow even for me, but I upped my long sets to 400 (10:27 and 10:34 - YOUCH!)and did a couple sub-2:25 100's. A total of 1200 yards in the same amount of time (35 minutes) as I did 1000 yesterday, so an improvement. I just pray I can get back to the swim form I was in back in October. My swimming just never recovered from that trip to Phoenix last November.

So...first two-a-day of 2011 has been completed. They were both short and easy, but it's a start.

Outdoor Bike! Pool! Running! AWESOME!

Oops...already lost a couple days of updating. In all fairness, it's been CRAZY. I have been training though.

Saturday Dr. Z. and I did indeed get outside for another (for me) seven miler on our mountain bikes. It was a blast. I would have taken mud pictures, but we just didn't get as messy as I did the day before. AWESOME!

Sunday, after a long day of shopping up in Plattsburgh it was time to hit the treadmill. I upped it to a 9:31 pace, which I was able to hold for 2.5 miles with absolutely no IT band pain. AWESOME!

The pool re-opened from semester break so I hit it as soon as they opened today. I expected to be even slower than usual (a.k.a. Bricks and snails go flying past me in the next lane. My 300 yard warmup took 7:50. Yep, almost a 2:40 pace. Admittedly I was warming up and nowhere near trying hard, but damn.

Speaking of warming up, the water was cold. I mean "Take five minutes to even get in and then have your breath taken away when you put your face in cold." Once again, DAMN!

I spent the rest of the time doing 300 pull buoy/100 drill to try to get my feel for the water back. After I had completed 1000 yards, Dr. Z. said he was done. (He had wanted to go longer but wasn't feeling well and exhausted.) He was willing to wait for me, but stopping made me realize I was already sore. Can we say out of shape? At least I wasn't fatigued. AWESOME!

Tonight Karate starts back up after being closed all last week for the holidays. AWESOME! I'm also hoping to hop on the trainer for about a half-hour...not so awesome.

ANOTHER swim breakthrough!

Today's swim workout was a nice long warmup followed by a 1000 yard time trial. I've been having some serious breakthroughs lately so I was psyched to see how I stacked up.

I started with a nice easy 300 yards to warm up. I felt stiff and sore from yesterday's strength training, but kept it easy. Was shocked to hit the wall in 7:13.

Next was 6 x 50 hard with 15 second recovery. The slowest was 1:07. And this is was with no one to pull me along, which is always a problem for me.

So, after 600 yards and then a full minute recovery, it was go time.

I decided to bust for all I was worth. At one point I wasn't sure if I was at 300 or 350 yards so I checked my watch. 6:50, which could only be 300 yards. Holy shit. I was fully in the hurt locker, but tried to hold on. Wanted to quit so badly, not being used to pushing myself on the swim for that long, but kept at it and finished in...are you ready for it?

23:50. Holy FUCK. 2:22/100 pace.

Now, any swimmer or even triathlete would laugh at that, I know, but that is a HUGE breakthrough for me. Just a month ago 25:00 would have been a breakthrough. I even double-checked to see what the pace would have been for 950 yards in case I missed a lap, but that would have been 2:30/100 even and I was definitely hauling faster than that.

I was supposed to do 3 x 200 at that new T-pace afterwards, but I was SO shot that the first one was 5:00. That (and having to leave for a meeting) told me it was time to go. However, I was more than happy to have left it all out there for the time trial. I'll take that over being able to do the post-work any time!

Broke 2:30/100 for long swim!

YES! After trying for a year to get to sub-2:30/100 for my long swims (i.e. Any set over 500), I FINALLY did it yesterday with 1100 yards in 27:15. Sweet! I actually thought I had gone sub-2:20/100, but idiot here double-hit her watch twice, making it appear I had done two laps more than I really did.

I'm still really happy though, especially since:

1.) That was my first time using my lap button to keep track during a long swim and I KNOW it slowed down my turns at the wall

2.) I'm pretty sure I could have kept a sub-2:30 pace going for longer.

In other great news, despite my last entry saying it was the last outdoor bike ride of the year, tomorrow is going to be in the 60's, so it looks like my trusty mountain bike Beast is going to get a late-season spin. It actually ended up in the 60's today, but idiot here already got on the trainer this morning not realizing how warm it was going to be.

Exploring the NCCC Weight Room

Hit the pool today. Unfortunately my lack of swimming over the past week and a half showed - my splits weren't HORRIBLE, but they weren't that great. Did hit one 1:06 50 yard sprint with the help of Dr. Z. Like I said, nothing great. Actually ended the workout early to spend a good 15 minutes on technique drills.

After that, I went to the NCCC weight room for the first time now that I've canceled my membership at the gym. (Sad, but it had to happen - they lost their partnership with the pool.) It was small but had everything I needed except a pulley machine for rows. Luckily they had a weight machine that was very close. It should work out just fine for my routine.

Now it's FINALLY cleared up and warmed up. So tempting to try to get out for a quick bike ride. Sigh. After the long time at NCCC I must work instead.

Evening Swim

Had to cancel my bike ride today thanks to torrential rains all day long. I think I'm going to remove the slicks from my mountain bike Beast, put the knobbies back on, and use him for bad weather. I haven't ridden in a week and I'm NOT happy about it. (Admittedly the other missed workouts were my fault - I've been dealing with insomnia all week and it's affected my training.)

Anyway, had a nice evening swim with Dr. Z after work. Went out to the first orange buoy after the yellow ones in ten minutes. Had a panic attack when I went to cross over to the other lane to head back and ended up fighting the wind-driven current. I switched to breaststroke and managed to get to the other line without completely losing it. Once I was on the line again, I was fine. Something about the buoys soothes me even though I'm not tall enough to stand on the line. It's like I feel connected to land and civilization as long as I can just watch the line under me. Got back REAL fast though - 18:30 when I hit the last buoy. Since it was so early in the workout, I went back out four buoys and this time DIDN'T freak out crossing over. Still finished early at 28:00, but just wasn't feeling it today. Will hit it again on Tuesday. I do get nervous heading out much further without an escort boat though. Don't know how other triathletes do it.