My funniest training story

Today I was sitting around thinking of the training I have to do for IM Lake Placid, and that got me to thinking about swimming and of how sometimes swimming in Open water, especially around NYC, you can end up with interesting situations.

I think 2006 in the Park to park race in NYC. I was doing this race just to get some open water time and experience in the Hudson river as I was training for the NYC Triathlon. As such it was training session for me. Now I have to say I have done the NYC triathlon. 2 times and have done the park to park also 2 times and I always enter the water of the Hudson with a bit of suspicion. Maybe it has to do with all those Law and Order and crime shows where you see a body floating in the rivers around NY. Or many it has to do with the large number of times I have seen condoms and other lovely artifacts floating in it. Anyhow, that mentality probably set the stage for what happened.

I was swimming along after the gun went off and I would say maybe 5 minutes into the swim I am cruising along nicely feeling comfortable, when suddenly I feel something long wrap itself around my shoulder and start to wind around my Neck, I though " damned seaweed" at first I was going to continue and ignore it. But it felt slimy on me so I slowed and went to pull it off. As I pulled I felt it tighten around my neck! Immediately In my mind I thought, "Wait there is no seaweed in the Hudson river! What the F is this?!" The more I pulled it just tightened. It was not long before I was rolling around in the river struggling with this thing, thinking I was possible at war with some mutant strain of something or other ( no doubt a creation of the garbage processing plant upriver!). It seemed like forever, but It was really not even a second. After I got it off I realized It was a long, clear, sheet of plastic wrap that must have been tossed into the river by some picnicker up along the park in upper Manhattan. I realized that Kayackers were coming in for me, they saw me struggling and assumed I was in need of help.

I waved them off and continued on a bit embarrassed. About a minute after I had to slow down and stop mid river because I could not help but start laughing at myself just imagine what I must have looked like rolling around in the river as if I was fighting some anaconda in a Tarzan Movie.

I suppose thats why I like triathlon, due to the huge number of time you are out there training and doing things in situations that are NOT an everyday occurrence, you get to have allot of these weird experiences that makes for well adventure.