2007 Austin Triathletes 1 Mile Open Water Swim

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In case you haven't already figured it out, May is event month for me. I'm currently working on 6 weeks with an event every weekend. It's completely insane, I know. I started with a 10k several weeks back, followed by the Rogue Open Water Swim 1 in the 1 mile distance, last weekend was The Rookie Triathlon, this morning I race the Austin Triathletes Open Water Swim in the 1 mile distance, next Monday (Memorial Day) is CapTexTri and the following weekend I swim the Rogue Open Water Swim 2, again in the mile distance. 

The two Rogue swims and the Austin Triathletes swim constitute a series if you swim the mile in each event, with awards at the end of the series. This morning's race was also an event in and of itself, with awards for the top male and female finishers and also 3 deep in each age group so I really wanted to do well. 

They started the 5k people first (doing 3 loops of the mile course). Then the 800 meter folks were sent off in a big wave, doing a non-competetive event mostly geared for beginners. I swam the 800 meter race last year. Finally, those doing the mile (wearing white caps) started. 

When the airhorn went off, I sprinted out from the start line (like everyone else does) and tried to find a pair of feet faster than I swim to draft off of. Every pair I found though I either quickly lost or were too slow. I tried about three people before I gave up and passed each of them. Two others disappeared. 

So I was alone. As I swam, I could see a cluster of white caps up ahead but the gulf began to grow so I just focused on swimming my own race. The course for this race was different than for the Rogue swim. It went up along the shore for a long time, then back down the shore and into the cove for a lap before finishing (the Rogue course was three laps in the cove). Swimming out to that buoy up the shore seemed to take forever. I just took it strong and steady and sighted off the shore, but I was working much harder on this race since I couldn't do any drafting. 

Finally I made the turn around and really focused in on my body position and form and making each stroke strong with a good catch. The journey back seemed faster (I don't know if it was) and I made the turn into the cove. I didn't have to contend with many 800 meter folks and actually I felt like the 5k people were more in my way than the 800 folks. I passed a bunch of people, but none of them had white caps and I was beginning to feel disappointed that I wasn't doing as well as I had wanted to. 

I swam up to the finish in shallow water and stood up when I couldn't swim any more. Unlike last year, there were no volunteers to help you up and out and I had to run/wade through the water to get to the timing mat. The rocks underfoot hurt a lot and I now have a bruised red area on my right foot where I stepped particularly hard on a rock. Finally, I got on shore and crossed the mat in 27:48. 

Final time - 27:48 1:44/M pace
2 out of 11 in my age group
5 out of 49 women
10 out of 76 overall

Two weeks ago I swam the mile in 28:00 so I was a little faster today (or the course was slightly shorter which is also a possibility with these open water courses). I was hoping to place a little higher up in the women's, but this race had a lot more participants than the last race so I'm still pleased. I'm happy with 2nd in my age group (I got a little red ribbon). 

Last year, I thought I might come back and swim the mile. I never dreamed I'd swim the mile and end up 2nd in my age group and the 5th woman out of the water. It's pretty crazy how far my swimming has come.

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