Race Coverage

My Pro Debut...

Saturday, 14 March 2015 01:10

Photo - Swimsuit models, Lisa and Heather Lendway ankle-deep in Tampa Bay.

By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)

Clermont Draft Legal Challenge Race Report - The week leading into my very first race of the year was busy and didn’t leave me with much time to actually think about my coming race.  Between work, workouts, running to appointments for my knee pain, packing and traveling, my mind was on overdrive and I was maximizing every free minute, even more so than usual.  My flight to Orlando on Wednesday night was delayed almost two hours so I didn’t land in Florida until shortly after 1am.  Stopwatch Greg was waiting patiently to drive me back to our rented condo just south of Clermont.  Greg had arrived mid day Tuesday and was all settled into our lovely two bedroom, two bath condo (surprisingly one of the most affordable places to stay) by the time I arrived.  My head hit the pillow around 2:30 am but I struggled to fall asleep....

Thursday I worked a full day but took a break for a hot run with some intervals (and snakes!) over lunch.  In the evening Greg and I ventured out to a local pool only to find it was closed.  After a few loops around Orlando we finally landed at the YMCA Aquatic Center.  The pool was filled with people, a water polo game was going on with parents filling the stands, swim practice, synchronized swimming practice, water polo practice, diving practice, swim lessons and intermixed there were some random open swim lanes.  I was able to get in a quick 2.5K and called it a night (I only got hit in the head by one water polo ball going out of bounds).  Leaving the pool I noticed the record board filled with the names of past and more current Olympians; apparently this is quite the famous pool.  I later found out they host the Junior National Championships every year and now that record board makes sense.

Friday Greg and I headed out to the race site at Lake Louisa state park in the morning.  I was able to ride a couple loops of the course and swim the in the lake.  I have never swum in a more foreboding looking lake in my life.  The water looked somewhat copper colored washing onto shore but swimming in it, your hand just an inch beneath the surface was blood red and after that thick black darkness.  The water was rough, there were white caps and honestly it was rougher than any ocean swimming I’ve done (the conditions didn’t change for the race).  The temperature was in the mid-sixties so it felt great for a wetsuit swim.  After my swim we headed back to the condo for a much needed nap. READ MORE