Monday, June 2, 2008

Big Swim Week and First OWS Event

This week was my highest volume swim week ever and it included my first ever open water race.

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 10,650 yards
Bike: 85.2 mi
Run: 25 mi

May Totals:
Swim: 30,350 yards
Bike: 264.2 mi
Run: 72.5 mi

This weekend Jen and I participated in our first open water swim race ever. The big difference between this event and the swim portion of a tri was the fact that you could not wear a wetsuit. I really didn't know what to expect for a time and I really didn't try to "race" it; I was just happy to survive. We both opted for the .75 mile course instead of the 1.5 mile course. Several of the people from our masters team did the .75 as a warm up then raced the 1.5 mile - that didn't sound the least bit fun to me, maybe next year.

When I swam the .5 mile leg of the NAPA sprint earlier this month it took me 13:49 or something like that. This .75 mile swim without a wetsuit took me 25:37 - granted I didn't try to race it but I was still surprised at the length of time it took me compared to the half mile swim in the tri. Something else I noticed was that I was not nearly as wore out as I was after the NAPA swim - this could have been due to the fact that I was not swimming all out but I think a large part of it was better conditioning thanks to masters practice. The real test will be this Saturday when I race the Showdown at Sundown - the swim is only 400 yards and I plan on swimming hard (for me that means 1:35-1:45 per 100) so we'll see how well conditioned I actually am.

Saturday Jen and I ran 10 miles up near Moraga on a paved trail that she really enjoys running on. It's an out and back with the first five miles on a consistent up-grade and the return slightly down. Our average pace ended up being around 8:57 w/ a significant decrease in average mile pace for the second half. That afternoon we relaxed around the house and I baked some cookies for the OWS event which was Sunday morning.

Sunday after the swim we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed out on the Iron Horse trail for a nice 50 mile ride. There are quite a few sections of the trail that are very lightly used so we were able to get into a groove for some pretty long stretches. Once we turned around we ran smack into a headwind which lasted for 20 of the second 25 miles. Once we were home we relaxed with some chips and salsa, drinks, and a movie.

My evening swims are in limbo for a while due to the fact that I will be working late most nights for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to get them in on the evenings when I can and make the best of it - hopefully I can make it at least twice a week.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great week! The swim sounded cold but you seemed like you were really relaxed in the water. Was it as cold as a dip in Yellowstone Lake?

"What you get by achieving your goal is not as important as what you become by achieving your goal."

Dragonfly on the Water...

jen said...

You did great on the OWS! I know you'll hammer out a fast swim this coming weekend, especially in a wetsuit. Great job! :) Thanks for joining me on the run and ride over the weekend too.