Hopefully I will get these next posts out in a timely manner. Since Louisville my training schedule has focused on rest and recovery. What I am trying to say, is that without 6 hour bike rides on the weekends there is no excuse for not finishing this earlier!
2012 2013 Diff.
Swim: 1:38:07 1:20:16 -17:51
The course was identical to the 2012 course. Start in the channel between Tow Head island and the south bank of the Ohio river. Swim east about 800 meters, turn and swim the remaining distance west to the swim finish at Joes Crab Shack. Joes is the closest landmark to the Great Lawn and the transition areas.
The course may have been laid out the same but the course played very differently (borrowing a golfing term). First off the water temp was cooler than last year. On race day the temp was just over 80 degrees. Last years water temp was over 85. This cooler temp put the swim in wet suit optional status. This meant that you could were a wet suit but you had 2 restrictions. First you had to start at the rear of the pack. Second is that you will not be eligible for any awards or Kona slots.
I had very little chance to finish high enough to compete for awards or Kona slots so that did not factor into my decision to not were a wet suit. Simply 80 degrees is too hot to wear a wet suit. I was well aware of the lower water temp before leaving Texas and I did not even bring my wet suit.
The second difference was that there was much more of a current this year. this was very apparent on Saturday when then allowed athletes to swim a small part of the course. it is great to be able to swim part of the course the day before the race. You can get a feel for the temperature and any other environmental factors. They let us enter the water at the swim finish and they set a couple buoys for sighting.
I had planned on a 20 minute light swim. Since we started at the finish we immediately swam against the current. However you could not really feel any current. My plan was to swim 10 minutes out, turn and swim back. I swam a nice smooth easy stroke for 10 minutes and made my turn. Much to my surprise I made it back in just over 6 minutes!
There could have been many reasons for the different times; I got loose and warmed up at the start so the return was a little faster. I could have taken a less direct line going out and a more direct one coming back. None f these would have fully accounted for the difference. Also around me many people were discussing the same thing. Slow out and fast back.
So the question is what to do with this nugget of information. Is there any way to use this to gain an advantage. After all it is a "race". There is not much you can do to change the current so your best bet is to work with it. So my plan for this new info was to focus on drafting. Since the first part of the race was into the current drafting would be vitally important. With the current drafting may not be as important.
So as I entered the water I immediately got on the hip of another swimmer. Since I felt that drafting was hyper important getting a draft was the priority not the speed of the draft. Draft first, speed second. So I grabbed my draft and as a faster person passed me I drafted of them. The channel was quite narrow so as I changed drafts I did not have to swim in open water for very long (if at all).
Another benefit of this forethought was an easing of any frustration. The buoys were placed a set distance apart and they were numbered 1-whatever. So you could gauge your progress as you passed the numbered buoys. It seemed to take forever to get passed the first couple of buoys. For an instant I thought that at this rate I will never finish! Then I remembered the current and the difference between swimming upstream and downstream. I immediately calmed down and continued my focus on drafting. I was soon clear of Tow Head Island and into more open water.
I still had laser focus on my draft and was soon at the turn buoy. I made the turn and held my draft. The remainder of the swim went like clock work. The only problem was for the last half of the swim my drafts started to slow down and even stop. So on the last half of the swim I had to find a new draft a half dozen times. I really think I need to research a race and find a specific person to draft off of in the future. This way I can have a continuous draft off of a consistent swimmer.
As a final note: At about the 3/4 point in the swim I was wondering how well I was doing. I had started nearer the back of the pack (I thought I had got to the swim start really early). I had passed a number of swimmers. So I had a quick peek back over my shoulder. The wall of swimmers behind was immense. It looked like a tidal wave coming at me from behind. I thought holy crap! I better get moving!!!!!
Next post Bike report!
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