This morning I did the Centennial Lake Mile Swim, an open water swim held at the same lake as the Columbia Triathlon swim. This was part of my planned foray into trying out other types of races (bike, swim) than just triathlons which I can't actually complete. While I've done a number of open water swims as part of triathlons, this was my first actual swimming race since my early elementary school days on the neighborhood swim team. The long and short is that I had a great race, came in 2nd by .6 seconds, and came in 4th overall.
Preperation
As I laid out in a previous blog entry, I've done a lot of work on my swimming. For almost 6 months, with a few exceptions for travel, I've been swimming 5 times a week with my masters team and getting about 20K yards/week. The previous year, my first doing masters at all, I had typically averaged 3 practices, so this was a substantial increase in volume. During that period I've seen my pool times come down pretty significantly and my swim form and fitness improve substantially. This would be my first real test of just how much I'd actually improved. Apart from fitness prep, I also upgraded my equipment in the form of a new wetsuit. I got a good deal on a used Tyr Hurricane 5, a well regarded fast suit. This replaced the original cheap previous model year wetsuit I got in 2005 when I didn't know if I would swim more than one time in open water. I figure after 7 years and over a dozen events it was time to upgrade. I practiced with the suit early this week and felt really fast. I also like that it gives me a six-pack that I'll never get naturally.
Race Morning
I had commented in my previous entries on bike racing how much easier the logistics were than triathlon. This swim was even easier. The lake is about a 5 minute drive from home and the only equipment I needed was my wetsuit and goggles. The organizers sent a timeline before the race and just wanted us there about an hour before the start. This meant that I was able to do our normal weekend morning routine with the kids, which was especially good given that it was Mother's day and meant I didn't have to foist all the childcare work on my wife just to go race. After helping make "mommy" breakfast in bed, we all had our own breakfast, played for a bit and headed over to the race.
Pre-Race Registration and Sand Play
After parking, the whole family walked down toward the registration tent near the swim entrance. There was a bit of a line, so I got in line while my wife setup with the kids. Fortunately, my kids decided that the little sandy area outside the registration tent was an ideal sandbox to play in. Registration itself was a breeze, grab a little packet with my swim cap, get body marked, get a timing chip and I was good to go.
Swim Friends
The day before the race, the organizers sent out a list of the heats so that we would all know when we were going to start. Looking at the list, I immediately recognized the names of three of the swimmers in the top few heats (I was assigned to heat four). Two were swimmers from my masters team, Columbia Masters, and another was a frequent poster on online triathlon website Slowtwitch. I introduced myself to the Slowtwitch guy (Kevin) and we had a nice little conversation. Turns out he is coaching one of the other guys I swim with who is doing his first triathlon this year. I then caught up with the masters team guys as well as a handful of other familiar faces from masters swim practice. It appeared that Columbia Masters was well represented at this event.
Quick Warmup
After registration, the organizers gave us a chance to get in a quick warmup in the water. I jumped at the chance since I needed to sort out a bit of a goggle issue. I had bought a brand new pair of goggles (same model I'd used for a while) on Friday, hoping to eliminate leaks and fog, but at practice found that the new goggles leaked and were foggy. I managed to try out the new and old pair and figured out that the old pair was going to work better. It was also nice to get a sense for the water temperature, which felt perfect in a wetsuit.
Strategy
In my last two bike races, there were two distinct strategies. For one, you wanted to stay in a group so that you could draft and save energy. In the other, you were started staggered and it was illegal to draft, so you needed to meter your effort exactly. An open water swim like this can be a little bit of a combination. It was a time trial start, with heats seeded with faster times first going every 15 seconds or so, which should prevent large groups. On the other hand, it is both legal and beneficial to draft, so if you can catch up with someone ahead or if you get passed, you can save some energy by swimming right on their feet. I wasn't sure how accurate my relatively high seeding was; they asked for pool 1650 times and I guessed 20:00. So I didn't really know if I would be able to catch anyone or get passed, but I planned to try to draft if the opportunity arose. In terms of effort, I figured that it was much like the bike time trial, try to give the highest even effort that you can hold for the whole race. Unlike my triathlon swims in this lake, I wouldn't need to bike after, so there is no excuse to hold back at the end.
Start
The swim start was a time trial start done in heats of three swimmers at a time. I was in the fourth heat, which looked like it was going to be just me for a little while till another woman showed up. Being early but not first was nice, I got to watch the first heats run in, but didn't have to wait long myself to make the plunge.
What Happened in the Water? 22:43
Racing in open water is a little bit of a weird experience in terms of understanding what is happening during the race. You essentially live in a little sensory bubble that doesn't extend very far around you with periodic sighting ahead that you try to limit because it takes extra energy and can slow you down. So you are aware of any swimmers that are within about an arms length to the side or ahead and might be able to tell who they are if they are particularly distinctive (size, suit, etc). You can also make out where the splashing is ahead of you and make a reasonable guess how far ahead they are and whether you are losing or gaining ground.After we ran into the water, I was focused on trying to catch up to the swimmers ahead and never saw what happened to the woman who started in my heat. Based on my result, I assume I got and stayed ahead of her, but I certainly wasn't sure of that while in the water. By the first turn buoy a hundred yards or so into the race, I could tell I was gaining ground on one swimmer and tried to catch up to him. A few hundred yards more into the outbound straightaway I caught and passed a non-wetsuit swimmer who I realized post-race must have been my friend Reg. This was a good sign for me since Reg is a great open water swimmer (at a big speed disadvantage without a wetsuit, but at least in a distinct division). By the last buoy before the turn around point, I think I had caught one other swimmer, but don't remember clearly. In both cases of passing, I didn't stay in the draft much since I wanted to do my own faster pace. At that point, ahead I could see what looked like a pack of splashing that I wasn't making up much ground on.
A key point in the race came when I noticed that the pack ahead was swimming to the wrong turn buoy. The course went clockwise around two turn buoys at the far end of the course. The group was headed toward the right most buoy. I've done a number of other races on this lake with similar layouts, so I knew the course and figured out pretty quickly that they weren't going the right way. I could see that there was at least one person ahead going to the correct buoy and concentrated on trying to track that person down. The turn and the backstretch were pretty uneventful. I could see that the group had finally figured out they went the wrong way, but at this point they were going to get to the right turn buoy after me. I was able to keep the swimmer ahead in sight, but didn't make up or lose any significant ground as far as I could tell.
A final key bit of the race came right near the final turn back to the finish. The course goes around a small island and then back to the start. As we got to the island, I saw my new Slowtwitch friend going by on the left. He started ahead and must have been in the group that went the wrong way. I finally got the opportunity to draft for a little bit and managed to stay pretty tight onto his feet. I then noticed that he wasn't taking a good line to the finish going to the far side of a buoy that we didn't need to go around. I hesitated a little since I didn't want to get DQ'd right at the end, but eventually decided to try to peel off and go the more direct route. This proved slightly harder than I thought since there was another guy right behind who I almost turned into. After avoiding him, I headed to the finish. In the end it probably didn't matter much since I got out of the water just after those two swimmers. I guess I should have trusted my knowledge of the course, but it can be tough to make those calls quickly on the fly, especially when you think your getting a good draft. Here's the video of me coming into the finish.
Post Race
I had been a bit concerned about how long my kids would last post race and whether I would have to leave before they announced the results. Fortunately, the organizers had provided a nice little buffet of snacks for the racers and my kids were entertained by trying the different snacks and playing in the sand. This gave a nice chance to chat with my friends about how the race had gone.
I knew that I had done well, especially by making up some ground on stronger swimmers with some good navigation. Since there were awards given for two categories, wetsuit and non-wetsuit in each age group, I'll admit that I was expecting to win. When the announcer called my age group and said a different name for first, I was a little surprised. While I walked over to get the second place ribbon, it registered that he announced the first and second place times as a second apart! As I walked away and commented to my friends about how close it was, the announcer said something to the effect that it was actually just .6 seconds. I guess my 2nd place karma is very strong.
I am extremely happy with the race. It was low key, easy to do logistically and I had a great time. I feel like I swam well and definitely can see the hard work paying off. 4th place overall is higher than I had any right to expect. And 2nd place by small margins seems to be my fate. In the last year, I have four second places in various races by a grand total of less than a minute (11 seconds, 27 seconds, 15 seconds and .6 seconds). Next week I get to swim in the same lake as part of the Columbia Triathlon. Maybe my relay will get 2nd place?
Congrats, smoking fast time and good read on the RR. That really was a "close" second!
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