Discover your life aquatic

Roberta has been a close friend for many years, along with her husband Matt, especially as we all share a passion for being in the water. We first met as freedivers and have trained, competed and dived together over the years. After we competed in the Oceanman race in early August, she let it slip that she was doing the Rattlesnake race in Peachland. 

Roberta's account has some great info in it, especially about pacing over a long race, dealing with obstacles during the swim, and some practical things she learned for next time. 

You may also be interested in Roberta's own blog post about the race with some other photos and more tales of open water swimming and freediving with report on the Jericho Oceanman, Kits Challenge open water race and many others. 

Rattlesnake Island 7km Swim – Peachland, B.C. – August 11, 2011.

Watching from a boat as Peter Scott swam the Bay Challenge in 2008, I found myself wondering what part of himself he had to reach for to complete the swim.  I have always been intrigued by endurance sports and by that point in a long athletic pursuit when you have to dig deep to keep going.  Pete’s fortitude in swimming 4 hours and 22 minutes inspired me.  I started swimming shortly afterward and swam my first 1.5km race last summer; this year I swam the 2km Canada Day Challenge and the 3km Kits Bay Challenge before heading to Peachland for the Rattlesnake Island Swim.  

When I heard about the Rattlesnake Island race, I thought it would be a nice way to see how I would do on a longer swim.  I welcomed an opportunity to push myself in the relatively calm conditions of Okanagan Lake and gain some insight as to what I was capable of.  With Pete’s tuition and encouragement I have learned a lot in the past two years about technique, pacing and relaxation; but what I didn’t know was if I had the stamina to swim for 7 straight kilometers.  

A requirement of the race is that every swimmer be accompanied by a boat guide and my husband Matt agreed to kayak alongside me. The week before the race I ended up working some long hours but on Friday I got out of work early enough to throw my wetsuit, goggles and a bunch of clothes in a bag and get on the road by 6:30PM.  We arrived in Peachland at around 11:00PM, checked into our B&B and fell into bed, knowing we had to be down at the beach by 6:00AM to check in for the swim.  Unfortunately, due to race jitters, I didn't sleep at all.  

I was still in a sleep deprived daze while I signed in and suited up and was surprised when Matt kissed me good luck, got into his kayak, and paddled out to beyond the start zone.  I got into the water and waited with my fellow racers while the boats dropped the 3km swimmers off on the other side of Rattlesnake Island.  Ten minutes later the countdown began and we were off.

The Swim

My strategy for this swim was to just take it easy and see how 7km would feel.  I had never swum anywhere near that distance and didn't know how my body would fare.  I swam pretty much at the end of the pack all the way to the Island, following Matt's kayak.  He positioned himself to my right, so I wouldn't have to look into the sun, and just slightly in front of me, always pointing his kayak in the direction I should be swimming.  If I got too close or too far from the kayak I knew I was swimming off course.  This was a big help for me because my right shoulder and arm are much stronger than my left and when I tire, my left side drops early and pulls inefficiently.  I didn't rest or stop until I got to the Island and then only to ask Matt what the time was: 1:15 at 3.5km.  I was relaxed and still feeling strong, despite some pain in my lower back.  

Swimming around Rattlesnake Island was an incredible feeling.  After an hour of staring into the black depths of Okanagan Lake, getting to look at something was a nice change.  The water on the other side of the island was calm and still.  I passed a swimmer and his kayak and then was out on the open lake again before I knew it.

This is where I made my big mistake.  Though I started the swim thinking "slow and steady" and just determined to finish, I decided to increase my pace and make up some time.  I managed this for about a kilometer, at which point I discovered that I was exhausted.  The pain in my lower back had intensified significantly and I had to stop to pull in my knees and stretch it out.  I was also feeling pain in my weak left shoulder and my left arm was a little numb.  I bumped into Matt's kayak a couple of times which told me that my stroke was definitely affected by my weakening left shoulder.  In addition, my calves were cramping, especially my right one, and I was overheating.  

I swam a poor stroke for a while, frustrated and angry with myself for not saving my energy for the last kilometer while Matt tried to talk me in.  Flooding my suit every hundred strokes or so brought my body temperature down a little, but not nearly enough.  I struggled, mostly with my mind.  I was so angry with myself for making this mistake. About 1km from the beach Matt started cheering me on, yelling and pointing at the buoys that were now visible to me in the water.  I told myself to trust the technique, forget about the pain and just stop thinking.  As soon as I tucked my head in and worked on my rotations I could feel my swim smooth out and I knew I had it.  

At the entrance to the swim zone, which kayakers could not pass into, I stopped to thank Matt for accompanying me on this trip and then swam in.  Meanwhile he raced his kayak to the beach so he could run up and meet me at the finish line.  Standing up was hard, but I got my feet pretty quickly and ran to the finish line for a finish of 2:33:03.  How incredible to step past that line!

What to do next time

I learned a lot of lessons from this swim.  I didn't realize how weak my left shoulder was in comparison to my right.  At the end of the swim, my right shoulder and arm felt strong, like they could continue pulling, but my left definitely could not.  And the back pain was so debilitating by the time I finished that I don't know I could have continued for much longer.  Longer training swims would probably have prepared me a little better for this.  Also, proper hydration may have helped; I didn’t stop to drink anything while swimming.

The final problem was that I had to stop swimming to talk with Matt about where I was in the race, which broke my rhythm and slowed me down.  At the pancake breakfast the Peachland Recreation Commission organized after the race I met a veteran distance swimmer who told me that she and her husband had worked out a system for this.  He had foam cards on which he'd written times (:30, 1:00, 1:30 etc) and distance (1km, 2km, 3km etc) which he would hold up for her to see.  We'll definitely use this system next time.