You Are In! - The SwimRun Adventure Begins

Nearly four years ago, I returned from Norseman with my eyes opened to a world of endurance racing and multisport challenges that I'd never heard about before. The most appealing event that I learned about from fellow competitors in Norway was Otillo - a SwimRun event in Sweden. "Otillo" translates to "island to island." In this challenging endurance race, you swim to an island and then run across it, and then repeat, repeatedly: 10K of swimming and 40 miles of trail running makes it a beast of an event.

In the past few years, SwimRun has become an increasingly popular sport in Europe. Then, it hopped across the pond - the first SwimRun event in the US was held in 2016 in Maine. The original Otillo event in Sweden is now a world championship race that you have to qualify to participate in. You can also get in by participating in regional SwimRun events and entering a lottery. The wheels in my head started turning as soon as the first US race was announced.

The thing that makes SwimRun different from triathlon (besides the absence of a bike) is that you do the race with a partner. The rules state that you have to stay within 10 meters of your partner at all times while swimming and running, and many teams have opted to accomplish this by tethering themselves together. The team aspect of the event appealed strongly to me, I think because in the early days of running with Shelly, we always behaved like a team, even when racing, and it was difficult to give that up and race "alone" in triathlon.

The appealing team aspect of SwimRun is also a challenge - how do you find a partner who swims and runs at about your same pace, and is willing to train for and participate in this adventure with you? Many have taken to Facebook groups and online forums to look for partners.

Luckily for me, I have a friend who's just as excited about this new sport as I am! Whiting and I met at a Smash triathlon camp three years ago in Arizona. We were placed in the same lane for the 100x100 swim at camp, and became friends that week. Whiting lives in Boulder and encouraged my move to Colorado. A couple of years later, here we are, signed up for not one, but TWO SwimRun adventures: SwimRun Lake James in April in North Carolina, and SwimRun San Juan Islands in Washington in September. The one in September is an Otillo qualifier. We immediately purchased new cool SwimRun specific wetsuits from our Big Sexy Racing team sponsor, Zone 3, which also sponsors SwimRun Lake James.

Another appealing thing about SwimRun - you get to use paddles to offset the drag of swimming with running shoes on.

Whiting and I had our first real SwimRun practice today. We swam/ran/swam/ran in the pool and on the treadmill at her gym in Boulder, and blew up our friends' Strava feeds with 4 workouts. We learned that the second swim was much more difficult than the first, and are both looking forward to our next practice set.

All smiles after our second treadmill run of the day today.

I'm thrilled to be back smashing myself on the weekend, training with a friend. It's exhausting and leaves you starving with jello legs, but there is nothing like it. I came home and emailed the race director of the San Juan Islands event; there had been some confusion over whether the acceptance email we received upon registration was acceptance into the event, or confirmation that our application had been received. He replied within minutes, "You are In!!"

Indeed, we aren't just in - we are ALL IN! I'm so excited for this adventure. I believe 100% that we are both going to love it and will be racing in Sweden one day. I'm really looking forward to our first race in April.

For an interesting and inspiring read about SwimRun, take a look at this article: Why a Swimrun Race Is the Crazy New Fitness Challenge You need to Try. Maybe we'll see you at the start line. :)

What Matters Most

In early December, at the same time as the "race prep/speed" portion of my Houston Marathon training was getting started, another appealing challenge began. My masters group, the Lakewood Dawgs, started their annual Dawg Days of Winter challenge: 12 days of swimming over a 2-week period. There was no question about whether I would take part in it. This was my biggest year of swimming so far, and I was up for the challenge!

I just love swimming, swimming's my favorite! Awesome silly selfie taken by Whiting. 

The swim challenge was fun. Each day had a different theme, sort of like the 12 days of Christmas. For example, day one was "an endless set of 50s, free" (yes, sing along to the tune of "a Partridge in a Pear Tree"). I learned immediately that the actual challenge of Dawg Days was to get up and swim at 5:30 a.m. masters for 6 days a week for 2 weeks. 

With 4 days left in the challenge, I felt smug about being disciplined enough to get up so early in the morning every day to swim. But I was also feeling a little tickle in the back of my throat. As the day progressed, a cough developed, and I called Dawn to ask for her advice about whether to do my scheduled run that day or to skip it.

Dawn asked me, "well, what matters most to you? The swim challenge or the marathon?" I answered without hesitation: the swim challenge, of course! And I skipped the run. I felt worse the next day, but still showed up to swim, commiserating with other swimmers who confessed that they weren't feeling great either. I showed up to swim the next day, and skipped that day's run as well.

Eventually I couldn't argue that I was "getting sick" anymore. I had a really bad cold that was moving into my chest. I finished the swim challenge and earned my Dawg Days T-shirt, slept for 3 days, and skipped a total of 9 days of running. It took more than 3 weeks to completely get rid of the cold.

Marathon weekend rolled around a few weeks later. I wasn't feeling confident about the race, but I figured I would see what I could do. Houston is a special race for me, especially this year living far away from my family. I was so excited to get to meet up with them in Texas and run this race for a third year.

The Expo displayed shirts from every year of the race's long history.
Here's Dad with the shirt from his race 1989: he still has his shirts from both of his Houston marathons at home.

My awesome nephews and niece - these kids actually enjoy spectating marathons. I'm assuming one (or more) of them will keep up the family tradition and run this race someday. 

On race day, I tried to hold a "moderate" pace at the beginning of the race, but even that felt too hard. I backed off the pace, and as the wheels fell off around mile 14, I thought about that conversation with Dawn. I had picked swimming over running; I had made my bed and now I was lying in it! If I had quit the swim challenge and given myself a chance to rest, I probably wouldn't have gotten so sick, and my performance at the marathon would have been much better. As I plodded along, my pace slowing, I grimly remembered my answer to Dawn's question.

I ended up with one of my slowest marathon times in recent years, a 4:32, and although my legs were hating it, I enjoyed the day. I loved seeing my family on the course and all the volunteers and spectators who had come out to experience the day. After Houston's difficult year, the city was displaying strength and resilience in celebrating their marathon, and I was grateful to be a part of it.

Faking happiness for the sake of Mom's camera.

That being said, until today, I've been feeling uncomfortable about my fitness based on that marathon time. Am I just getting old? Am I slow now? Do I just need to make peace with that? Today, I went for a swim with Whiting and Maggie, my two super-swimmer Boulder friends, and I was so happy to hit my paces on a challenging 4000 meter set. I beamed when Maggie and Whiting complimented me afterwards about how much my swimming has improved. The weeks and months of high volume swimming that I've been doing since September and the 12-day challenge in December have paid off. I gained a little bit of confidence today.

My amazing swimmy friends Maggie and Whiting at our New Year's Eve 100x100 swim.

Happy swim today with matchy matchy paddles, Whiting and I are training for our first SwimRun race.

I'm always excited to see what the lesson is, even if I don't like how it feels at the time. This year's marathon provided a lesson in making decisions and living with the consequences. My goal wasn't really to have a fast marathon, it was to keep up my swim and run volume through the winter to get ready for the next season of swim/run races and trail runs. Even though it would have been really cool to have a fast marathon too, I couldn't have it both ways. I'm grateful to have a mentor who asked me the right question and forced me to be honest. What matters most? Answer that question honestly and you're halfway there.

On the schedule for 2018 (so far):

• SwimRun Lake James (Nebo, NC, April)
• Leadville Trail Marathon (Leadville, CO, June)
• Silver Rush 50 (Leadville, CO, July) (!!!!!)