S.O.S.

Last weekend I volunteered at S.O.S.  The S.O.S. is the Survival of the Shawangunks Triathalon held in the Catskill mountains of New York.

The event consists of a 30 mile bike race, a 4.5 mile run to Lake Awosting, a 1.1 mile swim across the lake, a 5.5 mile run to Lake Minnewaska, a 0.5 mile swim across that lake, an 8 mile run through the Mohonk Preserve to the Mohonk Mountain House, a 0.5 mile swim across Lake Mohonk and then a 0.7 mile run to Smiley Tower which is all up hill.  Wow!  What an event.

I was stationed in a kayak on Lake Awosting in a line of twelve other kayaks and several scuba divers.  My job was to keep swimmers from drifting off course and to assist in any way I could without moving them forward in the water.  At this stage of the course many participants can suffer excruciating cramps and need to hold onto a boat for a minute to stretch a calf or a hamstring.  The weather was beautiful (70 degrees with low humidity) and the water was warm; there wasn't much for me to do, so I sat back in my front row seat and watched as 300 swimmers passed fifteen feet from my kayak over the course of three hours.

Every swimmer was unique.  Most methodically performed the crawl, but some cycled between the breast stroke and treading water in order to break-up the monotony.  Some appeared to have gills as they rolled through their stroke siphoning air through a minute aperture they had created between their mouths and the undulating surface of the water.  Others gasped with every other stroke and craned their necks often in an attempt to see the bright orange buoy located on the other side of the lake.  Swimmers cut the water with their arms in a variety of ways that ranged from an elegant salute to the swatting of an insect.  Some kicked forcefully while others moved quickly with a gentle rotation of the hips.

At first the sexes were indistinguishable.  I knew the men would be the first to enter the water because an abundance of testosterone would give them the advantage in the preceding thirty mile bike race.  But after half an hour I started to notice subtle differences in shape and intention.  The athletes were like lemmings wearing goggles and caps and many wore similar swimming singlets.  Several resembled aquatic mendicants with their floating bags containing the paraphernalia they would need for the following run.  What set the women and men apart was how they turned their heads and breathed.  But I was never really certain who was a man and who was a woman until the person exclaimed or asked a quick question.

It was strange because all the swimmers were determined in their pursuit of a similar goal but some slogged while others sailed.  All had competed in either a half iron man or a full marathon below a certain qualifying time.  These athletes were experienced and knew how to maintain a high level of performance over a long period of time to reach the finish line.

The benefits of endurance training have been questioned of late.  Traveling long distances with an elevated heart rate (HR) might be deleterious to the heart and the arteries (especially if you don't rest enough between sessions).  But there will always be a segment of the fitness community that lives to compete in these events.  It is appealing to have a definite goal that requires not only athletic stamina but also emotional strength and determination to accomplish.  These races are, after all, a microcosm of our all-too-short lives on planet Earth and who among us doesn't enjoy surviving an epic?