HalfSpeed wrote:
Not a strange pool denizen, but ocean (big pool... yuge pool)
One in our pod, Scott, is kind of a leader and is well known among marathon OW swimmers. He's also a bit of a prankster.
Sunday morning, we're all meeting at the cove to ocean swim and he's already there with two other swimmers out by the buoy -- 200 yards out. They're slowly making their way back in as we're lining up to enter. He starts yelling at us to come out. Being the prankster he is, we ignore him. One of the two swimmers is marginal, at best, while the other is hanging on to Scott. We just watch, thinking Scott has a new girlfriend or something. The first one makes it in and stumbles through the surf, breathing heavy and looking like she's eternally grateful for having her feet back on solid ground. Scott drifts in with the other woman, screaming at us why we didn't come in to help. "Cuz, you're a goofball, Scott!" He pushes the woman towards shore after prying her off of him (he's in 5 feet of water at this time). She freaks, tries to swim head up, gets pummeled by a small wave, but makes it to shore crying. As she passes me, I notice her Roka wetsuit is unzipped. But what's odd is, I can see she's wearing an Orca wetsuit underneath!
They got their stuff and left immediately. We ask Scott what that was all about. He said they called him to get a few pointers on OW swimming before they tackle Oceanside 70.3 coming in a couple of weeks. My jaw hit the sand. They are in no way going to be able to get through that surf there (It's now a beach start.) Shaw's Cove is way mild compared to Oceanside.
Two wetsuits - that might have been the problem - chest constriction starting a panic attack - one open to help her breath easier[might have been opened while they were already in the water after she presumably started to panic] (and the second underneath would still have been tight continuing this issue). People do need to practice in open water, and I do applaud the girls for at least thinking about practicing in somewhat close to race conditions. I would rather they practice before hand and not toe the startline with the comment "oh, this looks a little harder than a pool..." (Says the guy who didn't bother swimming for 4 months and then did a full :D)
The bigger question will be whether they try again before their race, if they try to get more pool practice before the race, or if they just rock up race morning and either say 'f#ckit, too rough' (on the clearest, smoothest water that oceanside has ever seen) - or go out and give the water safety people a bad day.
In other strange denizens sightings - This morning the was the middle aged lady in a shower cap doing breaststroke in the slow lane. No worries, I am just a little confused about why she wouldn't put her face in the water for her numerous laps (well, at least 3x50m in 30mins), considering she did have a set of goggles, worn on her forehead. (are they a fashion accessory?)