Distance Swim Challenge 10K

 

Venice Beach, California

This year I tackled the 10k distance. That is 6.2 miles of swimming. This race and this victory will hopefully validate any open water racing entry requirements I chose to attempt to qualify for in the future. In other words, this race and result on my open water swimming resume, opens a lot of qualification doors for long distance open water swimming. I put in a lot of training hours. In fact I was adding up training miles for last week and I swam almost as many miles as I have run this month. I didn’t swim as much as I should have, but apparently it was enough. My shoulders really started to hurt most of the last hour and especially the last mile.

Alyssa stayed with us and woke up at 4:00 a.m. to help drive Christian and I to our start points in the morning. I was very happy she decided to help us. I knew she would be at the finish line, so throughout the race I pushed and prayed for strength. I always want to do my best. But I was exceptionally motivated in this race because Alyssa would see me do this race and I wanted her to be proud of me. I swam hard asking for help because she was on the shore and would see me come out of the water. Honestly the only reason I probably won this race is because I knew my little girl would be at the fininsh line.

I am not going to lie, 6.2 miles is a long way to swim. The difference between the 2.4 I did the first year and the 4.8 I did the second year did not seem that big, but there is a big difference between 6.2 and the 4.8.  Maybe it is because I only did training swims up to 3 miles, but those last miles get hard on the arms, and especially the shoulders. I felt strong from a cardiovascular standpoint, but the shoulder muscles were beginning to get very tired and sore towards the end. When I checked the results I couldn’t believe it, I had won my age group. I came in second in the two previous years in both swims. The 1^st place guy was 9 minutes ahead of me last year. The 10k swimmers all wore white caps and were easy to spot out there. I kept chasing those white caps ahead of me towards the end of the race, hoping it would be enough. Apparently a lot of the 10k people seem to fade towards the end. My body is used to hard cardiovascular stress for up to 6 hours from doing all these 70.3 races this summer, so 3 hours does not stress my cardiovascular system. The swimmers out here got pretty thin towards the end.  We have to come in every 1.2 miles and time in. Going in and out of the surf is the hardest part of the race. On my last stage I was pretty much all alone out there.

Last year I had great drafting the whole race, this year I had none. I drafted off one guy for maybe 10 minutes, and then he got to slow. Christian wants to do this race again next year. He swam the 1.2 mile distance. Today was his 13^th Birthday.  I am not sure if I want to do this race again next year.  One good thing about the timing of this race is that in Arizona the months of July and August are so miserably hot to bike and run in, that it was nice to have an indoor swimming focus to keep me busy. I may consider doing the race for that aspect alone next year. It gives me an alternative focus to keep me in shape during the unbearable months of summer here in Arizona.
 

Alyssa took this picture:

 

 

Mountian Man Triathlon

 

Flagstaff, Arizona

 

Flagstaff is about 7,000 feet, and for two years in a row I have really had a hard time during the swim. Visibility was approximately 3 inches in the muddy water which also made for an unpleasant swim. I like the bike course. It rolls like Hawaii. I got up to 50 mph on one of the downhill stretches. The run has a hill that goes up for 1.5 miles. That is never fun in a triathlon. My time was ok given the course and the fact that I was a bit sick. I have some upper respiratory congestion. It was hard to tell how much of what I was experiencing was being sick or the elevation. It is a beautiful race, just not a race designed for my strengths.

 

Saturday Argument

The Argument for Saturday Races

Sometimes I hear people say that the success of a race is hurt by placing it on a Saturday. This is simply not true. In fact, I would say that scheduling a race on Saturday improves the races chances for being hugely successful. Here is why:

Travelers:

Triathletes are travelers. They love to travel to races. If you are traveling to a race, it is absolutely wonderful to be able to finish a long distance race on Saturday and go back to the hotel and take a nap, hang out with friends, share war stories and get a good night’s sleep before you head out on Sunday. The alternative leaves triathletes requesting late checkouts at the hotel and washing off in the hotel pool before they hit the road or airport dead tired. I can’t ever seem to secure a late checkout because hundreds of other triathletes always beat me to the 5 to 10 late check outs allotted by the hotel. Regardless of whether I secure one, I myself frequently don’t leave or get my stuff out of the hotel room until 2pm sometimes 3 pm. I am sure this doesn’t make the hotel very happy, but I am not going to pay for an extra night. Why do we want to set sponsor hotels up to have negative experiences with triathlon sponsorship?

Many triathletes enjoy being able to enjoy the location for a day after the race. Prior to the race this is difficult for most triathletes because they are wound pretty tight with careful eating, sleeping and exercise schedules.

Business perspective:

Let’s face it, triathletes are at least slightly OCD, over preparing, type A’s that will drive or fly in to the race at least one or two days prior to any race of this magnitude whether it is scheduled for Sunday or Saturday. If the race takes place on Saturday, triathletes will stay until Sunday. Scheduling the race on a Saturday will only guarantee sponsor and participating hotels hundreds of additional reserved nights and much less aggravation, thus leaving them anxious to be a participating or host hotel in the future.

My wife refuses to go with me for Sunday races. She knows that the entire weekend will be about the race. She will however go with me for Saturday races and bring the kids because she knows that she will be able to enjoy the location with me Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and Sunday. This post race phase is where we contribute most of our money to the local economy whether I like it or not.

Volunteers:

Many of the Saturday races I have participated in have an abundance of church groups, Boy Scout troops, and other organizations volunteering and running the aid stations that would for religious reasons not be able to volunteer their services on a Sunday.

Saturday History

For those who claim that Saturday races have less chance of success, let us look at some triathlon history. Let me name just a few western regional long running and very successful long distance Saturday races. Many of these races sell out:

Vineman
Ironman Texas
Deuces Wild Deuceman 70.3
Wildflower
Ironman 70.3 California
Pumpkinman
Ironman 70.3 Hawaii
Tour de Tucson
Ironman Coeur d’ Alene
Ironman Championship

I would say that Wildflower, Vineman and the Ironman Championship are some of the successful most sought after races in existence and they all take place on a Saturday. I do not even take the time to mention the many very successful and sold out marathons, half marathon, and other cycling events that take place on Saturdays. Anyone who tells you that a Saturday race allotment is not wise is simply mistaken.