🏊 Swim Recaps

The Leadup

This was apart of the swims that I was looking at the beginning of this year to build my resume for Lake Erie. I was excited for it, especially since I was able to get the 15mi Vermont swim out of the way first as a bit of a confidence booster. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations for myself going into this swim as I feel that I proved myself in Vermont already.

I drove up to Cleveland to meetup with my parents on Friday the 18th. All three of us headed up together to Michigan on the 19th for the packet pickup. We stopped in Ann Arbor which was cool to see as I've never been. We had really good timimg at the packet pickup as Mason Beck ended up almost directly behind us in line!

Grabbed the packet, went and saw the half way point at North Star Beach. Ate some great German food at Metzger's and went to bed!

Day of the race we got to the starting area at about 5:30am. This was probably for the best as the parking was filling up pretty quick. Went ahead and drank some preworkout and hopped in the line for getting in the water at 6:30am. I was a bit apprehensive about wearing my mirrored goggles as it was still pretty dark out, but fortunately it brightened up before we started.

The Race

Went out pretty strong. I know I definately ended up passing a few people in the beginning. Once I got to the end of Half Moon Lake, it got really shallow at the first bridge. You could definately feel the current at this point as well. The second lake I had a little bit of an issue figuring out exactly where to go, but it ended up being ok. At some points it was a bit challenging seeing the buoys, or you had to assume that there was a buoy around the corner that you couldn't see.

The current was pretty strong at the tunnel as well. I also was extreemly cautious making sure to not pass people, as they had made a strong point of doing so. At this point I was still feeling good but a little tired.

I finished circling the last few buoys at North Star Lake and hopped out of the water. A guy asked me for my number and if I wanted my personal items bag or not. I quickly looked down at my watch and saw that it was reading 80 minutes elapsed. I decided to forgo my bag so that I could get back in the water quicker (a lesson learned from Vermont where I spen too much time on the beaches!). I did drink a tiny bit of gatorade and water but then hopped back in the lake pretty quickly.

I was feeling a bit more tired at this point but still good. I saw some people doing the 5k that had started after I had hit the half way mark and decided to try and keep up with them. Once we reached the tunnle again I tried my best to make sure and give people some more space. This ended up slowing me down a little as I even stopped swimming at one point to wait on someone who was infront of me. The current going the opposite way felt great this time though!

I stopped at an aid station for the first time in the middle lake (4ish mile marker). I grabbed a gatorade quickly and left. I really wish I asked for some GU or somehting but I had no idea if they had it or not as it was not offered. However, at the 5 mile marker, there was the final aid station where they offered me a GU which I took. Not terrible but much needed. It was also nice talking to the aid station people for a few seconds as well. Probably spent one to two minutes there tops.

At this point I was figuring that I would be under my 3 hour goal so I was not stressed. I did try to pick up the pace a little but definately did not go all out. I tried to do some fly strokes again but my techlique was definately not there! I jogged into shore and crossed the finish line at 2:44.05 .

Post Race

I felt good yet disappointed at the same time. Not 100% sure why but I know that I could have preformed better. However, at this point I did get to meet Rob from LEOWSA which was great! We talked a little about the Lake Erie swim and I introcuced to Mason which was a goal as well. Things are looking good for next year. I just really need to keep up on my training and nutrition!

Epilogue

I'm honestly just happy that this one is out of the way. The event organizers did do a great job putting it on, but I think that I am a bit disappointed in how I preformed with this race. Some reasons why I think I am unhappy in no particular order:

• It was really up in the air until the last second if I was going to even make it to the swim or not. Up until the week before I had a conflict that could not be resolved.
• Yes I did hit my goal of sub 3 hours, but I feel that I left a ton on the table.
• After the high of Vermont with that distance, this felt a bit too easy.
• I forwent eating at the midway point which would have helped a bit. I also didn't understand that GU was at each rest stop until I had some at the 5mi rest stop.

Also, healthy reminder that there is a reason why swimmers use anti chafing creams! My underarms were a bit sore after that race. The desitin probably saved me in Vermont!