So the breakfast buffet at the Loong Palace is great, hundreds of items from all over the world, and a pretty good assortment of "normal" food for the visiting athlete. This will come up later. Literally.
Henri and I took the team bus back out to the Shisaling Reservoir for today's Aquathlon World Championships. Aquathlon is an obscure format of multi-sport racing, of which there are only a few in the U.S., but is hotly contested in eastern Europe and many island nations, and warrants a championship of sorts somewhere, so... Along with the Olympic and Sprint Age Group World Championships, Beijing is hosting a list of World Championships this week including: Elite (professional) Junior (under 19, sprint distance) Under 23 (a short, odd distance for neo-pros) Paralympic (disabled racers including amputees and blind athletes) and the Aquathlon, which consists of a 2.5K run, a 1000 meter swim, and another 2.5K run.
Some of us on the US team were granted entry into the Aquathlon World Championships based on our qualification for the triathlon, and some submitted criteria requirements. It is a short, intense race without the hassle of the bike, about three days out from the main event, so I jumped at the chance to rev my engines early in the race week, and check out two-thirds of the course we will be racing this Saturday. Careful what you wish for...
The rest of the world takes Aquathlon pretty seriously. The entire field of about 400 was split into about six waves, and I went off with all the 40-year-old+ athletes. In triathlon we always start with the swim, but this format called for us to first toe the line as a pack in our running shoes. For the few seconds before the start, I had images of blasting off the line and going out with the lead pack, as I consider running my best of the disciplines. Ten seconds after the gun, I changed plans as about 20 of our group launched into a low five minutes-per mile pace. I decide right then and there that I wasn't an "aquathlete," and that it was a stupid name, and really a dumb, obscure, European sport for people who can't afford bikes.
We ran out of the reservoir stadium and back, and transitioned on the blue-carpeted platform in front of the grandstand, grabbing our goggles and lunging down a boat ramp and into the water. Turns out it is quite difficult to settle into a swimming rhythm with your heart (and breakfast) in your throat, and I struggled to maintain my position of about 30th and followed the toes of a Mr. Anderson from Australia (ITU rules require athletes to wear identifiable national uniforms with your last name on your rear - great way to meet people while enjoying the outdoors.) After cruising out and around Ming's Tomb (the iconic temple in the middle of the reservoir) I exited the water still staring at Mr. Anderson's butt, and quickly transitioned back to my running shoes. I managed to catch one of the Americans ahead of me, and Mr. Stine and I worked at catching a couple more of the masters' category. I pulled away from Todd coming up the spillway and into the stadium, only to pull over and project the morning buffet over a race barrier and have Todd catch me. Must've been the adrenaline. I gathered myself and took off again, finishing the last kilometer quickly, and crossing the line in about 40 minutes, about 50th overall, 12th in my age-group, and second American Master. A 22-yr old kid from Spain won, and our age-group was won by a tall lanky guy from Tahiti. He should learn how to bike so he can move up to a real sport.
It was a great way to re-con the course for Saturday's main event, and to get rid of the usual pre-race jitters, and maybe some unnecessary calories. I think Saturday is going to be even faster, and more competitive. For a gallery of images from the Aquathlon, go to www.usatriathon.org, and click on ITU Aquathlon Championships, and look for the photo gallery.
Henri filmed the race, and then was interviewed himself by another gaggle of starry-eyed Chinese female reporters, who seem to think he is either an elite junior athlete from Norway, or a famous prodigy filmmaker. He is starting to claim both.
We went to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City in the afternoon, and logged another eight miles of walking, trying to get home through a series of electric rickshaws, the metro, and cab drivers who kept dropping us off in the wrong neighborhood. Beijing has 22 million citizens, and they are friendly, helpful, largely middle-class, and equally obsessed with their i-phones as Americans. Traversing the city in race gear, with numbers painted on legs and arms, and accompanied by a tall blond kid is an excellent way to meet new friends. We didn't get back to the hotel till about 9pm, but it was a great day of new experiences.
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