2 miles
6th overall (non-wetsuit), 49:50
On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I competed in what is technically my first-ever open water swim (standalone edition) and by far my longest continuous swim. This event offered 1 and 2 mile options and I decided to go for the greater distance just to challenge myself and see what swimming for close to an hour straight would feel like. I also targeted this swim because it is in the same lake as the Reston Triathlon in September with a similar course, albeit longer by about 1/10 distance, and of course two times around in this case.
The day turned out to be hot and sunny, perfect for me for an early swim. When I heard that the water temperature was nearing 80, I decided to switch to the non-wetsuit division. I was surprised to learn that there was no upper temperature limit for wetsuit wear for this type of event, as opposed to triathlon, and probably about half of the competitors still wore one. I think I would have drastically overheated especially as I got farther into the race, so I was happy to go without. After a very brief and probably unnecessary warmup in a 25 yard pool adjacent to the lake, I was ready to go. Waiting around for the pre-race briefing seemed to take forever, but then suddenly we were lining up for the 2 mile start and my wave was in the water and starting practically before I was ready.
While I was in the right position and had everything I needed, my goggles were not really sealed tight and this proved to be a problem as I fought to get to some open water with the rest of my wave. Since this event was seeded by time, and at least at the front people seemed to have seeded themselves appropriately, it was a crowded fight much longer than in a typical triathlon swim. I could barely see with my goggles filled with water but didn't want to lose any ground or get in others' way, so I waited as long as possible to turn on my back and quickly readjust them. That helped the problem a little but I unfortunately had to stop two more times during the first lap of the course to complete this maneuver until I finally got them sealed and could just worry about my swim.
Aside from this slight equipment malfunction, the race went well as I focused on taking a good line which involved less sighting off buoys than staying close to the shore until the far turnaround point. I didn't feel fast during the first lap, but I felt a surge as I came around to the start point and worked much harder during the second lap. It was really hard at any point to estimate where I was in the field so I truly swam my own race and had no idea at the finish how I had done. As it turned out, I was the 6th fastest woman in my division and 1st in my age group, so I got a nice medal for my efforts. I think that was not close to my best possible time for a race of this distance, but I enjoyed myself, paced well, and took a good course line which was my main goal. I was not focused on this race at all except as good training, and I think it definitely served that purpose. Now I know that a 2 mile swim is hard and does feel long during it, but is certainly doable, and I wouldn't hesitate too much to sign up for 3 or 4 miles. Longer than that, however, is probably not for me. I might take that back for a beautiful tropical area swim, but I will never be an English Channel style marathon swimmer.
I also feel very confident for the swim portion of the Reston Triathlon. Last year, I finished the 1500 in just over 23 minutes with a wetsuit, and knew that I had not taken a good line and had lost potential drafting and sighting benefit by not following the fast group that had stayed very close to shore. In this race, I finished 1 mile right around 23 minutes with no wetsuit, so I know I can drop a lot of time from last year's swim come September. And just as I plan to do for that race, and likely the Reston Sprint at the end of this week, I celebrated my 2 mile finish with delicious Flippin Pizza.
