Monday, September 15, 2008

5k Swim results

Well, I did it Sunday morning. I wouldn't say it was fun, but I got through it. I sort of compare it to the difficulty of a 1/2 Marathon for me. Roughly the same amount of time and fatigue.

My wife went with me to the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, CA. and helped me keep track of my laps and my time which helped a lot.

I swam 100 lengths of the pool, which is 5,000 meters or 3.1 miles. My 1K split times were:

  • 1k 19:54
  • 2k 21:28
  • 3k 22:16
  • 4k 21:32
  • 5k 21:02

Total -- 1:46:22
At 2.4 miles my time was about 1:19 (this is the Ironman Distance). This time would have put me around 1200 out of 2027 swimmers in the Arizona Ironman race earlier this year. Even my total time of 1:46:22 is well within the IM cutoff time (2:20:00) so that's a good confidence booster too.

I tried to take it nice and easy so I wouldn't burn out. On the second half of the swim I started doing a lot more breast stroke and side stroke to give my shoulders a break. I don't think that will be a great idea on race day because the breast stroke uses my legs a lot more and I don't want to burn out my legs before I get on the bike. I did the whole thing without taking a break for food or water and I didn't feel too hungry of thirsty afterwards, so I'm happy about that since I won't be able to eat or drink on the race course swim.

Overall it was a success and I don't feel sore at all today which is a good sign. I really makes me respect the 10 mile ocean swim my Master's coach is going to do later this month.

Friday, September 12, 2008

5k Swim

This weekend I'm going to try to finish a 5k (3.1 mile) swim.

I wanted to try an organized open water swim, but the majority of them are between 1 to 2 mile swims, and I've already done a 2 mile open water swim, so swimming another 1 or 2 mile open water swim does not fit my desire to push my limits out to the 3 mile mark.

I found a 5k swim down in Long Beach, CA. but they didn't allow wetsuits, and you need to provide your own kayak and paddler which I don't have.

So instead I'm just going to drag myself down to the local long-course (50m) Olympic pool and swim 100 laps (lengths? - I still don't know what to call it).