Soon enough, it was time for the third wave - my wave - to get in the water. I hopped in, got out near the start buoys, and (on the advice of nearby swimmers) tried to let my wetsuit hold me up instead of treading water.
Then, we were off! I focused on keeping my stroke smooth and slow-feeling, instead of too fast and entirely inefficient. There wasn't too much banging around with other athletes at all - if we were a blender, we were an off-brand discount model, because I came out entirely intact. I found a nice pair of feet and hung out behind them for the first third or so.
I was surprised at how good I felt! My breathing was smooth and relaxed, and I was thrilled to find that while the lake water was murky, I could see my arms stretch out in front of me! That made such a difference - I'm used to "watching" my arms go by in the pool, and it gave me a nice unexpected focal point. Not to mention that every time I breathed, I was treated to alternating views of the forested shore of the lake (left side) and the sun rising up over the lake (right side).
In my other open-water swims, sighting has been a big problem for me. I've been practicing the last couple weeks during my pool swims, and it made a big difference. I could tell I was feeling good, because I didn't feel compelled to sight every fourth breath. Instead, I would think, "Hmmm... how long has it been since I sighted? Guess I should take a peek."
I felt consistent all the way through the turn-around, and was excited to be headed back toward shore. At this point, I think I got a little more zig-zaggy - all I can figure is that I got excited and started pushing harder with my left arm and therefore started veering a little. When I hit the last "big" buoy, I turned on the legs and started kicking, hoping to get the blood flowing a little before I hit ground.
I came in, stood up and glanced at my watch - 37 minutes. A little longer than my estimate, but within bounds. (Learned later that lots of people thought the course was a little long.) Standing up after 37 minutes of listening to nothing but the rhythm of my own inhales and exhales, the crowd noise felt like sensory overload. So many TNT teammates had come out to cheer us along, and they were making NOISE! I stumbled out of the water, grabbing unsuccessfully to unzip my wetsuit. As I crossed the timing mat, I finally was able to pick a voice out of the chaos, "It's already UNZIPPED!" Ah. That explains things. So I stopped the fumbling around behind my back, yanked off my cap and goggles, and started to pull off my sleeves. Without even meaning to, I "stored" my cap/goggles in my right wetsuit sleeve... happy coincidence.
Made it into transition, got the wetsuit off without too much hassle, pulled on (well powdered) socks and bike shoes, gloves, helmet and sunglasses, and grabbed the bike. Decided against a transition gel - I had eaten some Cliff Shots before the swim and was still feeling good. There was an annoying short but steep grassy rise to run up, then I was over the timing mat, at the mount line, and off! I think I grinned through the whole transition - I was so happy that the swim felt so great. And excited to get on the bike.
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