It was very windy going up Emigration Canyon to Park City at 6:00 am. I picked up Russell at his house since I needed him to be my kayaker. When we arrived it was 7:00 am and it was freezing outside! I was afraid that it would be very cold in the water. I stretch my legs out especially my calves. Usually I start cramping in the arches of my feet and then in my calves.
We filled out the waiver and met for the safety meeting. I took a Buzz Bite knowing that I needed something to power me through this 5K race. The race started at 8:10 or so. When they started the race I started my stopwatch. It was all bunched together and I couldn't see Russ for quite a while. I knew he was behind me somewhere, so I just followed the others that I could see on my right side.
When I hit the 1 mile mark it seemed to be longer than that. I wasn't tired, but it seemed to take longer than 24 minutes. About 30 minutes into the race I started getting some serious cramping going in both of my calf muscles. I would kick with my
feet flexed, and then when it got bad would do about 10 seconds of breast stroke. Then when they cramped fast like lightening I would stop and go underwater, then grab my toes and stretch out the calf muscle. A couple times I got cramps in my quads and then I'd do breaststroke for about 10 seconds.I was swimming hard. Good long strokes, my breathing was good, the water wasn't cold, dirty or funny tasting. It was the perfect swim except for that damn calf cramping! I wasn't tired, or winded. If I could have gone cramp free I would have cut probably 2 minutes off my time. When I neared the finish buoy, I sprinted for about 100 yards. I went so fast into the buoy that I jammed my thumb. I stopped my watch: 1:23:16
Dang! I was going for under 1:20. I was disappointed. I was about 2 minutes behind Brad from the Bountiful Masters, who also beat me in the 1500 M at the Summer Games. I was hoping for 1:17 or so. Not even close. I took 4th overall in the 5K (out of probably 12 or so), and the 2nd and 3rd place guys didn't even get under 1:20 so I wasn't feeling too bad. The official results will probably be posted in a couple weeks. I had a great time and am looking forward to breaking the first official time of 1:23:16! Here's a link to the final results for all the events.
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Bill just called and suggested potassium pills. I failed to mention that I ate probably 12 bananas for the three days leading up to the race. That is only 4.5 grams of potassium though. The US RDA of potassium is 3.5 grams so that was barely enough to satisfy the recommended daily allowance for one day, which I took over three days.
So I thought I had actually boosted my system with potassium when in fact I did not. Next time I'll take the advice of my father in law, Potassium pills!
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