A Faster 1.5km Swim in the Key of S- Part 4: Smart

Closing out my Massive SwimSplosion of Advice about a faster swim leg of your next Olympic-distance triathlon is some musings on swimming Smart. Strategy during the swim is very important, and you can be as Smooth, Strong, and Sustainable as you want, but if you don't swim Smart you're going to be eating wake.
Thanks for reading.

***

Smart
Smart strategies are things that are important but don’t have any real place in the first three categories. These will help you think about swimming and plan your race better. A good swimmer is constantly evaluating, tweaking, and planning.

Tip#1- Warm-up
Thou shalt warm up before the race. Try to time your trip to the Port-a-Potty early enough to allow yourself ten minutes if splashing around in the water before the race starts. Yes, a 1.5km swim is long enough for a warm-up to happen while you’re going, but you don’t want to do that. Your muscles will thank you for getting blood flowing through them before the mad dash of a mass triathlon start. You can shake out the tightness, get a feel for the water temperature, fiddle with your cap and goggles, and pee (everyone else is doing it). A good, short warm-up can make a huge difference in that initial push, and will help you settle in once you get rolling.

Tip #2- Your Kick
There has been only one mention of kicking in this entire overview. The reason for that is simple- You don’t need to be kicking that much most of the time. What are you going to do as soon as you hit the shore? You are going to start cranking on your legs. The water is the only time you get to use your arms, so use them. Not to say you should not kick at all, but it should be steady and light. Freestyle is about 75% pull 25% kick, and I would say triathletes are more like 80/20. A regular kick can fix your body position, but that is not what its purpose is. Looking back at Smooth, the way to a good body position is pressing down on your T-Spot to bring up your hips. Kicking to bring your hips up means you are kicking down. Kicking down means you are using energy in the wrong direction. You want the force going back so that you will move forward. Don’t use your kick as a Smooth crutch.
Flutter kick does not generate from the knee, but from the thigh and glute. The degree of deflection is very small. Too big of a kick ruins your hydrodynamic property and slows you down. You want to remain torpedo-shaped. Your feet shouldn’t be jumping out of that and causing drag.
Keeping these things in mind, you should kick hard at the beginning of the swim (if you are trying to get out ahead of the main pack), then settle in with a regular, propulsive-but-not-hard kick. With about 200m left in the swim start revving your kick back up. This will force blood back into those big muscles, preparing them for the run to T1.

Tip #3- Self-Seeding
Most triathlons do some type of seeding, even it is just separating the men and the women. Big races might divide you up by age groups. Within your own starting group it is important to find a good place to start. Be it a beach or water start, should you be near the front, mid-pack, or in the back? That depends on your skills and your goals. If you aren’t a comfortable swimmer, start in the back. If it’s a beach start, that might mean you let the crazy people go, then wade in with the cautious ones. You won’t be the only one.
Start too far forward and you’ll be an obstacle. You can’t hear other racers cursing at you like you’re a big rig in the fast lane, but they are. Some might go so far as to climb right over you. Start too far to the back and you’ll be the one climbing and cursing. Best to be honest and err on the side of caution. It is better to try and find open water and swim around people than it is to be in the way.
BE AWARE- Any race that isn’t a straight out-and-back will probably have a buoy turn after a few hundred yards. Swim wide. The crush of people trying to cut that corner as closely as possible aren’t going any faster. You might swim a few extra yards, but you’ll stay away from the white water mess right against the floating yellow pyramid (orange sphere?). If there is a turn buoy right after the start there will be a mass sprint for it. Not a confident swimmer? Let them go, hang back. It isn’t worth it and the time saved is negligible.

Tip #4- Drafting
Drafting is illegal in most triathlons. On the bike. In the water though it’s impossible to enforce. Hundreds of bodies all swimming the same direction at the same time equals plenty of chances to slip in on someones feet and go for a ride.
Drafting in the water follows the same principals as drafting on the bike. You tuck in behind someone else and they create a slipstream of water you can follow. They break the slow water and as it flows around them it will flow around you too, meaning the person in front is doing a little more work and you are doing a little less. Some triathlons are so full that you can’t help but draft. You want to be a few inches off your unwitting engine’s feet. NOTE- Touching someone’s feet for 1.5km may result in your getting punched in the face. Nothing is more annoying than tap tap tap tap tap while you are trying to swim. So be there, but give them some space.  

Tip #5- Sighting
Open water swimming sometimes means getting lost. There might be a point where you pop your head up, look around, and wonder how you got halfway to Hawaii. A good drill to do during workouts every once in awhile is heads-up swimming. Ocean lifeguards use this a lot. You swim normally, but every five or six strokes pop your head up just a little during your breath and try to look at the same spot on the wall. In a triathlon swim you’re looking for a giant orange or yellow shape. You don’t have to have a clear view, just a fuzzy idea of where you should be going.
Some races are so busy you will barely have to sight at all. Those become a case of I Hope The People I’m Following Aren’t Lost.

Tip #6- Swim Up the Beach
The swim does not end when you can put your feet down. I see athletes all the time get to a point where they can stand, put their feet down, and struggle through 20 yards of hip deep water. You're slowing yourself down and wasting energy. Swim until you're dragging your hands through sand. Then when you stand up the water level will be at your shins. It is much easier and faster to high step over shin-high water then it is to bull through hip-deep water.  The biggest danger here is being trod upon by fellow athletes you swim past in those last few yards. But that's not a real issue and the benefit of this small change is huge energy and quickness-wise.

Tip #7- Positive Self-Talk
Don’t get down on yourself during the swim. If you are not a strong swimmer it is too easy to notice how many people are ahead of you and how many more have passed you and how much further there is still to go. If you become mired in those thoughts the swim will become an adventure in pain and self-pity. Once you begin to go down that road off ramps are few and far between. That mindset can follow you right out of the water and it’ll hop onto your bike with you. Stay positive. The best way to do that is constant stroke check-in. Move through your body. How are your hands entering the water? How is your reach? Are you finishing past your hip? High elbow on the recovery? Powerful thrust forward on the reach? Good catch? The more you think about the basics of Smooth the better your swim will go.
Sinking into a rhythm helps too. Use the first three “S”s and repeat them over and over like a mantra. “Smooth, Strong, Sustainable, Smooth, Strong, Sustainable.” Self talk that often helps is to remind yourself to calm down and settle in, especially after something unexpected that might spike your heart rate, like catching a wave in the face or accidentally bumping into another swimmer. “Settle in,” reminds you to, like the British say, “Keep calm and carry on.”  

Following the Four “S”s of Smooth, Strong, Sustainable, and Smart will help you become a faster 1.5km triathlon swimmer. Do not expect immediate changes. Many of the drills in the Smooth section do not work overnight. And ignoring the Smooth drills and focusing on the Strong section will not help either. You will just drive bad habits deeper into your muscles. The Major Key to being a better swimmer is technique! Swimming is harder to master than cycling or running. There are so many moving pieces, and each of those pieces has tiny adjustments that can be made. This four part essay was guidelines to a better, faster, more efficient 1.5km swim. If possible, have someone look at your stroke for a more focused evaluation. A good, Smooth pretty stroke will make a world of difference.
One last thing- Enjoy the water. Love the swim. All good things love water. Water holds you up when you’re feeling down and massages your muscles when you’re hurting. Swimming is how we started. It’s the most natural thing in the world. You can’t win a triathlon on the swim, but who cares? You’re swimming!

A Faster 1.5km Swim in the Key of S- Part 3: Sustainable

I proudly present the third of my four part Massive SwimSplosion of Advice series. In Part 1 I covered swimming Smooth, and in Part 2 I talked about swimming Strong. In Part 3 I'm covering what I think is the second most important part, behind Smooth, of a good Olympic-distance or greater triathlon swim- Sustainable.

***

Sustainable
Along with Smooth, swimming with Sustainability is the most important skill for a triathlete to have. It does a triathlete no good to get out in front of the pack, swim Strong to the first buoy, then completely come apart and struggle the rest of the way. The ability to Sustain a high intensity is paramount, behind only Smooth in importance. Truly, Sustainability and Smoothness are tied closely together. Having a pretty stroke for half the race and then watching your arms come off and float to the bottom of the ocean isn’t terribly useful.
As stated, a major part of Sustainable work will be focused on maintaining Smooth swimming. The other focus of Sustainable swimming is being fit enough to allow you to get out of the water after 1.5km and blast up the beach, through T1, and out onto your bike.
These will be longer sets, much like your LSD runs and rides. Maintaining a steady pace and heart rate is the goal, not cranking it to 11.
Be sure to warm-up before you go into your main sets with 200-500 yards nice and easy. This should shake the cobwebs out and get the blood into your muscles. You can also use active rest, 50-100yds easy, between these sets to ease the lactic acid build-up out.
Please note that under Set #2 there are many ideas for drill variation. Be creative with this. These are guidelines and ideas. They can be used on almost any of these sets. Many of the other sets also have variation possibilities.

Set #1
3 x 500- Sustainable pace/set rest
total- 1500yds
*Notes* Much like the 10 x 100 Strong set, this is an excellent benchmark set for Sustainable. While swimming these 500s you should be monitoring stroke deterioration, preventing yourself from dropping your hips, driving the stroke from your hips, letting your elbow fall below your hand, and cutting your finish short. Your goal should be to finish each 500 at about the same time. You don’t want to fade, you want to pace properly. This set is nearly 1.5km, and so is a good test set.

Set #2 (with Smooth variations)
5-10 x 200- Sustainable pace/ set rest
total- 1000-2000yds
*Notes* 200s are a great bread-and-butter set for 1.5km preparation. They are long enough that you build endurance, but not so long as to be intimidating. You can’t crank a 200 like it is a 100, but you don’t need to worry about swimming too hard and getting exhausted like a 500.
*Smooth Variations*
a) Mixing the 1, 2, 3, Swim drill into the 200 set is an excellent way to get both distance and technique worked at the same time. Suggest doing the first 100 1, 2, 3, Swim and the second 100 normal, while focusing on the grab.
b) Breathing drills are very helpful for Sustainability. A good breathing drill is 5, 7, 9. This is done by counting strokes and breathing on the 5th, then 7th, then 9th, then back to 5th stroke. It will hurt, but it will force you to Smooth your stroke out and make it more efficient. Efficient strokes use less oxygen. Breathing on odd numbered strokes also means that you will be bilaterally breathing, or breathing to both sides. Bilateral breathing is important because you don’t want to be breathing directly into a wave or another swimmer. Beginners should modify the 5, 7, 9 drill to 3, 5, 7. The goal is success, not failure. You will not get better through failure in these drills. You need to practice correctly. If getting all the way to 7 is too hard at the beginning only do a 3, 5 repeat. Do not Ego Swim.
Incorporate the 5, 7, 9 (3, 5, 7) drill into the 200s the same way you would incorporate the 1, 2, 3, Swim drill. As 100 drill/100 Swim.
c) Mix two drills into one 200. For example- 100- 5, 7, 9/100- Fingertip Drag.

Set #3 (with variation)
4/5 x 300/400- Sustainable pace/set rest
total- Varies
*Notes* Repeating heavier distances will be beneficial. Different distances and different numbers of reps allow for different intensities. The goal for all of these, like the goal in the 3 x 500 set, is for there to be very little fade between each swim. You want to be swimming hard enough to feel it, pushing it, but not so hard that things are going wrong.
*Smooth variation* Odd/Even- Easy/Hard swim. On the Odd numbered laps swim easy. On the Even numbered laps swim hard. So you are repeating 300s, but only swimming half of it hard. Mentally, this makes the set so much easier. Hard laps need to be done with a Strong intensity. A variation on this variation is to alternate by 50s rather than 25s. So Easy 50/Hard 50.

Set #4 (with variation)
Giant Ladder
1 x 100- sustainable pace/set rest
1 x 200
1 x 300
1 x 400
1 x 500
total- 1500yds
*Notes* Giant ladders are great. You need to be looking forward to that 500 at the end, so you need to pace the easier seeming 100 and 200 smart so you still have energy for the 500, but you don’t want to dog the early swim either. Nothing makes it harder to swim hard than to start out too easy. You get lazy and complacent. The most difficult part of the longer sets is staying within your body the whole time. It is very easy to drift and lose focus. When you drift your body begins to betray you and you lose intensity and Smoothness. Stay focused. Monitor what your hands, hips, core, head, elbows, shoulders are doing. Anything to be present.
*Higher difficulty variation* Climb back down the ladder. After the 500 do a 400, 300, 200, 100. Blast the 100.

Set #6
1 x 1650
total- 1650yds
*Notes* This should not be a regular set. It is a good test to do every once in a while. The key is staying within yourself and being sure to push the whole time. Focus on nothing but the lap count and fill your mind with positive self-talk. Don’t think, “Ugh, 40 more laps!” Break it into smaller chunks and think, “That was a good 200. Let’s do another one.”

*Triathlon-Specific Sustainability Notes*
The cliche, in case you haven’t heard it enough, is that you can not win a triathlon in the water, but you can lose one. Most triathletes, however, aren’t interested in winning. They want to finish, they have personal goals. For many triathletes the swim is that awful thing between the gun and the bike. Sustainability and Smoothness are how you go from hating the swim to tolerating or even loving it. It’s a chance to warm up, find your groove, and get your head right. Few things feel better than getting into T1 and seeing a ton of bikes.
But in order to be Sustainable you must work hard and, counter-intuitively, slow. Strokes fall to pieces when they are done too fast. Speed will come, but it takes a lot of work and even more patience.
You are looking for a lower stroke count (less strokes = more energy later remember?) in all of these sets. This will translate well into your open water swims. Long, Smooth strokes. The Sustainable sets are more important than the Strong sets.
Try and keep this simple tenant in your head when working on Sustainability:
A stroke that looks as good at the swim exit as it did at the start is a good stroke.
If you can do that, then your swim will be good, and it will get fast.

A Faster 1.5km Swim in the Key of S- Part 2: Strong

This is the second part of my four part Massive SwimSplosion of Advice series. For Part 1: Smooth click anywhere that looks like a hyperlink in this sentence because it will probably send you there.
In Part Two we will be discussing how to become a Strong swimmer. Not as important to your distance swimming, but not to be disregarded either.

***

Strong
Swimmer Strong is the ability to nail shorter, harder sets. A Strong swimmer has a powerful stroke. Strong does not mean bulky, big, or sometimes even all that muscular. Swimming makes you muscular, but it does not make you big. That unique swimmer’s body of Phelps, Lochte, and Yang is narrow hips, big back, wide shoulders. That doesn’t come from lifting weights as much as it comes from repetition. Those are muscles of function, not muscles of vanity.
Strong, powerful swimming means putting a lot of force into the pull phase of the stroke. Strong swimming will allow you to cut precious strokes off your total count, which will save you energy, which will allow you to gap the runners on the bike. You should do half-to-one Strong set a week. This is the least important of the first three “S”s.  

Information on Sets and Timing
Sets will be described as 5 x 100- 1:30. This translates as Five One Hundreds ( default to freestyle unless otherwise noted) on One Minute Thirty seconds. This means that, for this particular set, your timing would look like this:
1- leave at 0:00
2- leave at 1:30
3- leave at 3:00
4- leave at 4:30
5- leave at 6:00
This type of timing means that as you get tired your rest time decreases, forcing you to do the same amount of work with less recovery, which will help you get stronger. Beginner swimmers may struggle to find a happy time standard. You should be able to make 10 x 100 with plenty of rest of the time standard you choose. Experimentation will be needed. By 100s eight and nine you may only be getting five seconds of rest. This is good. It will make you physically and mentally tougher.
Your 100 time standard then translates to all other distances. If you are doing your 100s on the 2:00, then your 200s will be on the 4:00, 300s on the 6:00, 400s on the 8:00, and 500s on the 10:00. Having this baseline will help you gauge progress and see where you ard when evaluating race times. Please remember that open water swim times are normally slower than pool times. Current, waves, and the press of other bodies slow you down.
Another choice for timing is to give yourself a set amount of rest between each effort. So you can do 10 x 100 with 20 seconds rest. This is a good place for beginners to start, since you cannot fail to meet a time standard and it might be less discouraging.
It will be a good idea to use active rest between sets. Active rest includes an easy 50 or 100yd swim. Active rest is better than passive rest (hanging on the wall) because it speed recovery and gets lactic acid out of your muscles faster.

To prepare for a 1.5km (1640 yds) swim your workouts should hover around the 1700yd mark. Strong workouts might be slightly shorter and may include Smooth work as active rest. Sustainable workouts will be slightly longer. Harder, main sets should go towards the front of the workout, after a warm-up of 200-500 yards.


Set #1
10 x 100- Sustainable time
total- 1,000yds
*Notes* You want to be making the 100s comfortably for the first few, and by the end really be struggling. It is not uncommon to get 3 seconds rest with a Strong set. As stated above, that will make you mentally and physically tougher. This is a bread-and-butter type set. You can add Smooth drills to it, but note that turns it from a Strong set into a Smooth set. This is not a problem as long as your goals match your work.

Set #2
10 (15) x 50- Sustainable time
total- 500/750yds
*Notes* This is one of two times 50s will be suggested. Do not fill workouts with 50s, they won’t truly prepare a swimmer for a mile. But as far as creating a deep anaerobic hole to climb out of, its hard to beat them. Plus, while a 100 might be intimidating to a beginner swimmer, anyone will look at a 50 and think, “Two laps? How hard can it be?” With the highest amount of effort, very hard. Every single 50 should be as hard as possible.

Set #3
10 x 100- Build intensity over each 100
total- 1000yds
*Notes* In most pools 100 yards is four laps. In this set Lap One would be about 75% intensity, Lap Two 80%, Lap Three 85%, Lap Four 90-95%. Lap Four is the Chased By A Shark lap. In the case of a long course (Olympic-sized 50m pool) there should still be a line on the pool bottom marking halfway. Change gears there.

Set #4
10 x 50s- Breath count
Total- 500yds
Anaerobic work makes you stronger. Choose a number of breaths-per-lap or breaths-per-fifty and swim hard while keeping to that goal. Don’t give up, you need less oxygen than you think. This set should be on a set amount of rest rather than a time standard.

Set #5
Ladder to 200 by 50s
1 x 50- x time
1 x 100- 2x time
1 x 150- 3x time
1 x 200- 4x time
1 x 150- 3x time
1 x 100- 2x time
1 x 50- x time
Total- 800yds
*Notes* Ladder sets seem longer than they are. The point is to finish the last 50 with the same intensity that you did the first 50. Ladders also teach pacing. It will not take long to find out that maybe you shouldn’t have hit the 100 quite so hard now that you’re halfway into the 200 and sucking wind.

Set #6
5 x 100 IM
total- 500yds
*Notes* This is an advanced set. IM stands for Individual Medley, which is one lap of each stroke in the following order- butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle. Obviously, a swimmer must know all four strokes before attempting this set. Before you wave your hand proclaiming that you will never swim fly, back, or breast in a race you need to realize you will never put your bike on a trainer or ride that specific hill you keep struggling up in a race either. These strokes make you Strong. They make you use different muscles, and they make you struggle and hurt. It’s good for you.

*Triathlon-Specific Strong Notes*
A triathlete will use the skills they develop from Strong sets primarily in the first 200-300yds of a race. That mad dash to the first buoy, when the pack is still thick and there are elbows and feet everywhere. Strong swimmers will be able to get clear of the washing machine quickly without using up their entire store of energy, before settling in to a more Sustainable stroke. Remember, just because you are swimming all out, attacking the walls and breaking off pieces, does not mean your stroke stops being Smooth. The moment your stroke starts to fall apart take a step back. As will be discussed in the Sustainable section, a swimmer’s ability to maintain correct technique throughout an entire race determines their position coming out of the water. Strong does not mean splashing mess. Smooth still comes first.

Baywatch in Two Parts (Part Two)

For Part One Click Here
Speaking of punking out early, the reason I only swam for 40 minutes this morning was because I had an appointment with a physical therapist to talk about my running injuries. I made the appointment back when I couldn't run and could barely ride, but still had plenty to talk about. We discussed triathlon, my PT is also one of the tribe, and he quickly pinpointed my problem areas with a few questions and tests. Turns out my right leg is weaker than my left. I did a few one-legged squats and there was all kinds of inward wobble. That plus a few "Pull against me" and "Resist this pressure" tests confirmed it. Weak hamstring and gluteus minimus muscles mean a funky stride. Funky stride means greater risk of injury. So he showed me how to do hamstring curls using a balance ball, one-legged wall squats/supported squats, and side steps with a band around my ankles for tension.
Then, being a cool PT, he checked their schedule and lo and behold, a running clinic was starting in two hours and it had an opening! So I signed up, ran home, grabbed workout gear and Bikilas, ate a bagel, and headed back.
This was fun. They did a lot of talking about various stride choices, but pushed POSE Running heavily, focusing on a mid foot stride. I figured I had an in with this since my shoe choices pushed me into that style of running two years ago. Surely that would mean I had an edge.
Well, kind of. We got to do a video analysis of our running, first from the side and then from the front, and then they went through them one by one in slow motion telling us what they saw and how to fix it. My list, while not as big as some, was not exactly small.
The first this they noted from my video was I was still overstriding a little bit. I was the only person in the group with no heal strike and a very minor overstride, but it was there. The foot should contact the ground right under center mass with a lightly bent knee for impact absorption. I was still kicking a little bit forward.

They also noted that I'm wasting a lot of energy running with my elbows high my arms at smaller than 90*, which makes sense. I'm never as relaxed as I want to be. The last thing from that video they pulled was that rather than having a slight lean forward from the ankles to allow gravity to help me move forward I'm running straight up and down. Which is better than leaning back, but not great.
From the front view the PT confirmed that yes, I am dropping my hip on the right side, which would be caused by the hamstring/glute weakness and would cause the problems I'd been complaining of.

 Lastly, we did some drills to help get our feet under us and to strengthen all the muscles we should be using. The one I think will come in the most handy for me is focusing on making a 4 with my legs each stride. So pulling though the hamstring rather than pushing off or bounding. I don't think I push off too much and I know I don't bound because that would ruin my feet and ankles in my ultra-minimal shoes, but I'm also not pulling into a figure 4 like they suggested. You can see the 4 in the blue guy above, but you call also see it in this neat model below.

I'm thrilled I got to do this. It was through the Army hospital, Super Awesome Wife benefits! Being through the military, I was kind of surprised about all the talk of POSE running and mid foot stride and, while they never said we should go buy minimalist shoes, they did say a more minimal shoe is better. AND they suggested doing a few barefoot runs on grass, short 100yd cruises back and forth, to find your form before putting on your shoes to run. The Army is telling soldiers to run barefoot to fix their stride. This feels significant to me.
I haven't been thinking too much about stride recently. Well, not any further than, "I hope my stride isn't going to hurt me." For a long time I was running comfortably. If I was relaxed and comfortable and smooth, it was good. Now I'll be back to thinking a lot about what my body is doing. There are lots of things to work on, so I'll be slowing down and working them one by one. Can't try all of them at once, I'll get lost, confused, and fall down. And on non-run days I'll be working the drills and exercises they gave me. Times will get slower for a while, but that's ok. We think long-term here at Dirtbag Fitness.

Baywatch In Two Parts (Part One)

Swim
time- 40:00
distance- approx. 1,400yds

Why the hell would anyone get up at 5:15am to swim at 6 on a holiday off from work?

Ko'Olina Lagoon 4

That's why. Granted, when I got there it didn't look like that. It was still pre-sun dawn, chilly and brisk. Just bright enough to see across the lagoon, but there wasn't enough sun to warm the water yet. I should back up slightly. Diesel has begun swimming at Ko'Olina Lagoon 4 Friday mornings with a few other guys. This was the second time they went out and, since today is Statehood Day and I had the day off, I went with. Any excuse for quasi-open water swimming. I love swimming in the pool, it's how I grew up, but it is really nice to be able to go straight for 100+ yards without having to turn. And the Ko'Olina Lagoons are great because there is no current, no waves, no break, and if you go early enough, no other people. There is also a rock lane line under the water to follow so you don't have to be spotting.

 The only complaint is the water is freaking cold that early. Which really means that you just have to wade in and start swimming, and you can't take much time between laps to chat because you start to tighten up.
We estimate each lap is about 115 yards or so from end to end, and my times per lap agree with that. I wasn't pushing at all, that's not what this morning's swim was about. It was nice to get out and do some long easy swimming with friends. Yesterday's post has a minor discussion going on about group open-water swimming, the pros and cons, and while I agree that swimming is even more of a solitary pursuit than biking or running since conversation is nearly impossible, it is nice to workout with others. They pace, they push, and at least my ego won't allow me to punk out early unless I absolutely have to if I'm with a group.
Though I did have to punk out a little earlier than I wanted.
For Part Two Click Here

Swimtastic Weekend Part 1- NSSS Summer Sprint

 

 Open water racing is unlike any other type of swimming. Swimmers and race directors have very little control over anything, including the distance of the event. Sure, the race director tries to control the distance with buoys and lifeguards, but no one swims the exact same length race. It's impossible, the ocean is too big and the margin of error too wide. Even if I were to track right behind someone else, drafting and just missing their feet, eventually one of us would be swept to the side by a random current, a cresting wave. When I first started doing open water events, this was the hardest adjustment for me, coming from the uber-controlled swim meet environment. Now it is one of my favorite parts of racing. The Grey compares it to trail running vs road running. Yeah, you're faster on the road, but the trails are more fun. They also require a higher level of technical skill. 

And there's a chance you end up stuck on a rock.

I haven't been riding the bike nearly enough since the 70.3 so I decided that Super Awesome Wife would meet me down at the finish in the car and I would ride. That way I would be able to choose to ride home on the bike or in the car. It was fun to be able to ride to an event, the late-for-Hawaii start times of the North Shore Swim Series are great in that respect. Actually, in all respects. My back of knee pain was low level with occasional spikes for the ride, but nothing awful. And I wasn't worried about ruining my swim by burning energy with the ride because it's only about 15 miles from where we are staying to the swim, and a part of that is down Pineapple Hill. So if that wears me out then I've lost way more fitness that I thought. Especially because this was only a mile swim, which  shouldn't be hard. But it didn't because I'm Dirtbag Tough. Booyah and whatnot. It also poured for the last four miles. That sucks. 

I'd missed early registration so had to check in at the race, which made my comfortable time bubble pop, but I wasn't in any danger of missing the start. Even got to get in and warm-up. Warming up, by the way, just as the race director was calling everyone into the beach for the pre-race briefing. Whoops! Lemme guess, he said, "Swim thatta way. Obey the lifeguards. Turn at the buoy." Right? Right.

Gotta get the cap ready

Dirtbag Action Figure- Series 2

 For some reason, which I won't complain about, they started us in a men's wave and then five minutes later a women's wave. I don't know why, but I'm not going to ask because that makes the starting area so much more open. A more open starting area means a lower chance of getting kicked in the Dirtbag Handsomeness, which I'm all for. So all the men swam out to between two buoys and tread, waiting for the go. No countdown. One second you pop your head up to check position relative to the beach, buoys, and other swimmers and thenAIRHORN! "Oh, we're off then!"

We had a cheering section for the off

Like I said, this was a very wide open start. It might have been the first time I didn't worry at all about the washing machine. Instead I was trying to get a little more outside the break. The race went from two famous surf sports, Pipeline and Sunset Beach. Famous for their good break. Great for surfing, kind of not so much for the swimming. There was a lot of lateral movement, and plenty of up-the-wave-down-the-wave. Fun. Weeee!

I like going this direction, south down the coast, because the current works with you. I'm sure we were all getting really good pushes. I stayed fairly shallow the whole time, and the water here is so nice that you get a good view of the bottom while you're swimming. This means that when you catch a good current the sea floor goes wooosh by you. Please not that in a few swims, probably the Chun's to Waimea, I'll be complaining about looking at the exact same spot on the bottom for hours because we fight the current in that direction. 

I didn't rally pace this, nor did I waste much time looking around. There were four buoys. Two marking the start, two marking the finish turn. Nothing to look for. Breath to the left, keep the beach as far away as you feel comfortable, and go for it. Nothing else to it. And look for feet to draft off. 

Once, coming to the end, I got hit by a wave that broke a second before it got to me, which didn't tumble me but did surround me with white water for a few second. So I drift in streamline, enjoy the feeling, and wait to break the surface to I can get back at it. 

Waves were pounding at the finish, right on to the beach. I wanted to sprint past the guy right in front of me, but when I tried I also caught a wave and got dropped right onto his foot, so he inadvertently kicked me in the stomach. Well, let's be honest, in the rock hard Dirtbag abs. Grrrrr. Needless to say, I didn't get by him.

The next wave, which I tried to bodysurf in, crashed earlier and steeper than I wanted. Which meant instead of a smooth transfer from swimming to running up the beach I went up and then faceplant into the sand, getting dragged a few feet up the beach. Weeeee? I'm not saying it hurt, but it certainly wasn't a fast finish. 

I sprinted to the line, but fell just behind a group I couldn't catch. Damn.

RUN!!!

My official finishing time was 25:46.7, which put my in ninth for my age group. Not to complain, but I was only 25 seconds off fifth place. Which makes me happy. The dudes who won the whole thing did it in 17 minutes. Wow! Yes, dudes, because there was a sprint to the finish for first.

No, I didn't ride home. It was raining and Super Awesome Wife wanted to stop at Waialua Bakery for cookies. Who am I to argue?

Much thanks to Background Profiles, without whom I probably wouldn't have registered for this event so late. They rock. 

Stay tuned for Swimtastic Weekend Part 2- Aloha State Games