'But Megan Melgaard, 31, of Georgia Masters, may have had the most masterful performance of the games. She not only was the first female overall in the open water race, she beat all the men. Her time for the 3K was 34:35, nearly a minute faster than her closest competitor.
She thought the games, her first Pan Am Masters but not her first Pan Am games, were “absolutely amazing. Rio is … unique with its bustling city streets, tropical climate, vibrant nightlife, and beautiful beaches. The 3K open water event was held on Copacabana Beach. It was a two-loop course totaling three kilometers. … The water was slightly rough, but it was the 69-70 degree water [that] kept most of us doing our warming up on the beach. There were over 50 lifeguards on paddle boards, boats, jet skis, and in kayaks, which was absolutely wonderful. The race was very well organized.”'
101 Movers And Shakers In The Open Water Swimming World
Open water swimmers who wield power and influence do so in a variety of ways and roles: as swimmers (both former and current), administrators, judges, coaches, officials, writers, reporters, producers or photo/videographers.
Some have impact in a subtle manner; others are aided by the media or their own marketing efforts. Some seek to be influential; others merely wield power by the force of their actions, achievements statements or prose.
I am having a wonderful time being a tourist and just taking in the sights and sounds of Rio de Janiero. I am here for a 3 K open water race as a part of the Pan American Masters Swimming Championships.
I arrived on an overnight flight from Atlanta on Saturday morning. The 9 hour flight kicked my rear end, so I took a nap after arriving at the apartment where I was staying in Flamengo. I decided I needed to go swim for a flush, so I headed out on foot to the Fluminense Futbol Club. The club is amazing, with a large soccer stadium, enormous pool, diving well, clay tennis courts, volleyball gym....and the list goes on. I had a great swim (which really helped my legs) and fueled back up at the cafe on the grounds before walking back towards the beach.
That night I was exhausted from the flight and ended up sleeping a full 12 hours. I was thrilled to get that much sleep, but waking up, was in dire need of coffee. I went for a walk to find some before heading to another pool on the NW side of town. I wandered and wandered, wondering where I could get something in the size of 'venti.' Unfortunately, it seemed as if the tiny espresso size was the only thing I could find, so I decided to go ahead and put two of them back. I immediately went to the grocery store and bought something in the form of instant coffee in order to satisfy my ultra large morning caffeine habit for the next day.
Off to swim. I took the bus to the pool at Parque Aquatico Julio Delamare in Maracana, again with looking with head on a swivel, at the sights. Rio is like New York, but in a tropical climate, bigger, and there's lots of water. Very bustling and always something going on.
After a good swim, I headed down to Copacabana Beach, where the 3K Open Water race will be held. The water is cool 69 degrees and today there were some strong 8 foot breakers. Yee haw!! It's a 2 loop swim and apparently we will have a high to low tide and calm winds on race day. One leg will be hard racing into the current, then the next 3 should be good with the current, more or less. It is a short walk to Ipanema Beach, so I strolled that way and watched the surfers for a moment. There were SOOO many people just out and about, enjoying the beach, the sunshine, riding bikes, rollerblading, walking, running, etc.
All that walking and swimming made me very hungry. I was thrilled when I found what I was looking for: an enormous plate of rice and beans and chicken and something else resembling cornmeal. Oh yeah, and french fries to top it off. That was too much for me in the carbohydrate world, so I saved the rice and fries for one of the many homeless people I saw on my daily journey.
Now I am back at my home base to put my legs up and get ready for a morning ocean swim. I'm sure it will be a good rest with a day full of walking, swimming, and food in my belly!
What is RAAM? It's the Race Across America, otherwise known as 'The World's Toughest Bicycle Race.' I will be racing the 3,005 mile cycling race with Shelley Ruiz, an incredible athlete and dear friend. We will be coached by Tony Myers of Athletic Training Services, the 'guru' of cycling, who has completed RAAM twice as a part of the Georgia Chain Gang, a 4-man team. Our team name is the Georgia Chain Chix. You can follow along with our training and progress by visiting our Facebook page (Georgia Chain Chix) or website www.georgiachainchix.com.
The race kicks off June 18, 2011 and we aim to finish in about 8 and a half days!
Through this amazing yearlong journey of intense training towards the finish line, the Georgia Chain Chix strive to drive awareness and the importance of health and fitness to female adults and adolescents through a holistic and athletic lifestyle. This includes a focus on nutrition, activity, and daily living, with an emphasis on awareness of eating disorders, child obesity and the Female Athlete Triad, which generally occurs in adolescent females.
Please help support our cause by donating or pledging to support some miles! www.georgiachainchix.com/Donate.html
THANK YOU!
I had the pleasure of visiting Haynes Bridge Middle School today, where I was invited to speak for their annual Career Day. With a multi-faceted career involving racing, film-making, website production, teaching swimming, and water safety, we had quite a few elements to cover in a short 15 minutes. The students were all very well mannered and it was fun to share pictures and stories about filming 'The Guardian' with Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner, as well as what new exciting adventures are coming up next!
Thanks for a warm welcome and great visit!
It has taken me a week to get this blog out, maybe because I am still recovering from the 30 Hour Adventure Race I did last weekend. Well, 27 hours and 48 minutes, to be exact. But who is counting? Either way, it was a long way to go, and my muscles are still thanking me for the countless repetitive movements I signed them up for. 28 hours of paddling, mountain biking, hike a bike (for those ultra gnarly sections that were too hard to ride), orienteering, running and trekking.
So why would someone do this?
I decided several months ago to do something very out of the ordinary to celebrate my 30th birthday this year. I thought about throwing a big birthday bash; I thought about going to a fun concert; to Las Vegas; however, none of those ideas really struck a cord with me. I wanted something to look back on and really remember how I rang in my 30th birthday. Well, I think I did a good job on picking something I definitely would remember!
I originally started the 3 person team with 2 other females. Unfortunately, while training the Monday before the race at the rock climbing gym, one of my partners suffered a terrible hip dislocation injury. A family emergency that Wednesday led to the other female having to drop from the race. 3 days before my 30 hour adventure, I was left with no partners, to no fault of anyone, just circumstance. So I did what needed to be done…got on the phone and called every single person I could think of that might be or might know someone as crazy as I, to embark on a random 30 hour adventure race in the North Georgia Mountains.
Thankfully, there are other like me out there, and I was able to find 2 males willing to slug it out with me, only 48 hours in advance of the start of the race. I had no idea what to expect anyway…this was an adventure!!!
So with my injured partner, who was now acting as part of the Support Team for our race, we loaded the bike, canoe, 5 changes of cold weather rain gear, and tons of food, and headed up to the mountain top to meet my new racing partners. The team hit it off right away at the race registration, which I am so very grateful for. (I won’t mention that I got lost on the way up there….who said navigation was my strength?!?!)
We received our map and first 19 checkpoints to plot our course for the next day, which would cover between 75 and 90 miles throughout the duration of the race. Back to the cabin for course prep, food prep, and sleep. Up at 6 the next day to get 4 changes of clothes ready, as the rain would most certainly begin early on in the day.
Leaving the cabin, we noticed the car had a flat tire. What a way to start the day! However, in no time, with GREAT teamwork, we were able to change the tire in less than 10 minutes and be back on our way.
We headed down to the lake (getting lost once more….), to the start of the race. The race would begin with a short, but insanely steep 1.2 mile run for 1 of each of the 36 3-person teams. This would spread out the start, so for the first canoe leg, not all canoes would be launching on top of each other.
We did quite well on the 15 mile paddle for never ever having paddled together. 5 hours later with 2 very tough over-land portages (one ascending a 17% grade, super steep hill, then down the other side through the brush), we were ready to get out of the boat and onto the mountain bikes. A quick transition and some great food from our support team, and we were back on our way.
It began to lightly rain at the end of the canoe, and steadily picked up as we were on the mountain bikes, climbing over 2,000 feet to the top of Ft Mountain. Road, Fire Road, and Single Track welcomed us over this 4 hours of climbing. Back again to transition, where we spent a good deal longer here, knowing the next leg would be 10-13 hours, in the dead of night.
35 degrees and rain required some heavy duty gear. We also had to carry all of our food, water, supplies, and emergency kit on our backs. Needless to say, I burned quite a few calories that day. (I roughly calculated 18,000 or so. Now THAT’S a diet plan!!!)
The night riding was fantastic, when I could get my light in place. It would have been neat to see the full moon and stars up above, but the light reflecting on the fog and rain made for an eerie coolness that I will never forget. Super steep drops were to our left a great deal of the way, with one mishap sending you down the face of a mountain. With racers spread far out along the course, the only lights I saw were of my own, and teammates. Sometimes, after going around a mountain curve, the only lights I saw were my own, creating a sense of how small and vulnerable I was along this course, praying that we were able to simply stick together and stay safe the whole way.
We were thrilled to hit checkpoints that were ‘manned,’ or staffed by the race crew. This meant food! At one CP, we were given warm ramen nodules. Another CP was at a cool mountain biking lodge, called Mulberry Gap, where we were given homemade barley soup, hot chocolate, cookies, and various other snacks. Needless to say, it was hard to leave and head back into the cold rain, but we forged on.
At that point, the heavy descending from our 2nd time down the mountain had fried my brakes. In other words, I had burned them out and had none left. This led to the decision to skip CP 18, which would have made us descend the mountain and climb back up a 3rd time. I opted for my life. Descending 3,000 feet with no brakes surely would have ended in a disastrous tree episode, or certainly something of the like!
Dave’s knowledge of the area and trails helped us immensely. We were able to get back to the last transition at 5 AM and our support crew looked like saints. (Actually, they were!! NEVER have I had better support for a race: calculating nutrition, supplements, providing warm food and drink, smiles the whole way, and concern for our health and safety. There is no better support crew out there!) We were also lucky to get a 30 min nap before heading out on the last section for some orienteering.
Mike was a true champion, nailing our orienteering checkpoints like you wouldn’t believe. 4.5 more hours on foot and the rain finally let up.
Crossing the finish line for our last checkpoint was noting special, simply internally satisfying. In fact, we called our support team when we finished, grabbed a couple of boxes of pizzas, and went back to the cabin to clean up. You could say it was almost anti-climactic, but after running on pure adrenaline for almost 28 hours, I don’t think any of us really cared. It was the internal gumption, respect for each other and self, and ability to push the human body to its limits beyond belief that became the ultimate reward.
I was thrilled to complete the race with two fantastic individuals and two extremely wonderful support team members. We all played a part in keeping the team moving. I honestly would not have been able to complete the race without Shelley’s contribution to my nutrition and supplements. I felt like a champ the whole way! (That being said, I cannot wait to race my next ½ and Full Ironman races….never did I think I would EVER say that!?)
All in all, would I do it again? I guess the answer to that is…will I ever turn 30 again?
This past Saturday, I competed in my first open water race of the year, the 40th Annual Ft Lauderdale Rough Water Swim. It was, as the name indicates, a rough water swim. What made it rough wasn't really the choppy waves that were churning up the shore, or the fear of a shark coming up to eat me, but a not-so-glorious battle that ensued between myself and another swimmer.
We started on the beach, conveniently in front of my hotel. It was a beautiful morning and I early anticipated the start of the race, which would be my first for the 2010 season. I would be in the 4th wave of swimmers, based on age groups. At the start of the horn, the mass of the 4th wave ran and leapt full force into the water to begin the 1 mile ocean swim. A good kick off the start and the implementation of new strategy around the buoys helped me get an early lead on the rest of the female pack. I quickly fell in line after 2 males, as another crept up to my side. I was not in a good position to draft, so did my best to maintain position in the point to point race, using the shore as indication of my position. Swimming stroke for stroke, my new racing partner and I battled for position. Literally. We occasionally body slammed each other, trying to maintain our line.
It was frustrating, as neither one of us was getting any benefit from working against each other (as opposed to helping each other draft) and body checking each other through the race, not allowing proper stroke form. I don't have the fortunate ability to train in the ocean, so I sighted more than usual due to the waves and my circumstance with my neighbor. With the lack of sand and beach training, my neighbor, upon exiting the water, quickly passed me on the sand up the chute to the finish line, along with 2 other guys who were behind us. That goes to show you the importance of circumstantial training....you don't get much sand here in Atlanta to train on.
Either way, It was a very fun race and I'll just have to become creative on how I can get better for water exits. All in all, I came in 1st female overall, and 7th overall including men. Returning back home from Ft Lauderdale to 17 degree weather was a real shocker, which made me think I'll take a battle on the beach over this weather any time!!!
