One of the areas that I need to improve on is my OWS skills, and it's fair to say that, though swimming in a pool helps me be faster and more efficient, I need to spend some time in open water.
the 2.4-mile swim in Franklin Lake, NJ (Lap-the-lake swim) of June 14th was a good opportunity to get the distance in, swimming in a wetsuit, and not worry about the bike and run legs.
How did it go?
1:03:37- The distance was 2.62 miles (and no I did not swim off course) 1:22/100yds
Since I've never had a chance to "know my limit" on an open 2.4-mile swim, the plan was to swim hard the whole time and see what my limit was to avoid pushing too hard on the swim leg of IMCA. I wanted to sprint hard to the first buoy and maintain a "fast pace" until the 5th buoy, and just hang on for dear life on the 2nd loop.
I did just that and found myself in the lead 300 yards into the swim, and felt great. I was pushing hard, but nothing I could not sustain. I got passed at the 4th buoy (out of 8) but I still felt good. By that point it was difficult to sight, and I came out of the first loop a lot more tired than I thought I would be. I was still in the lead pack, which was pretty cool knowing that I am not a swimmer.
On the 2nd loop, I focused on maintaining a good pace, swimming straight, and getting a better feel of the water. I was very happy with my sighting, swimming fairly straight for the most part. An older swimmer could not keep it straight and would zig zag the whole time. At the furn of the 4th buoy I started to feel really tired, and instead of trying to push harder, I focused even more on my technique, as I know that one's technique gets sloppy as fatigue sets in.
I came 5th out of the water, 2nd male OA, but got chicked 3 times.
I was disappointed by my time at first, as I really wanted to swim sub 1 hour, but only 1 person swam barely under the hour. also, 2.62 miles is close to 400 extra yards, so I'm confident to say that I would have swam sub 1 hour if the distance was right.
On another note, it was great to show up to an event without the pressure I seem to put on myself to do well. We went to the event, swam for an hour, and went to go get breakfast (which was terrible, btw). That was great. I am looking forward to doing more OWS during my mini training camp in Lake Placid in July, and look forward to racing the Jersey Shore Olympic this weekend.
Happy training all!
