My company hosts a free bodyboarding clinic during the San Clemente (California) Ocean Festival every year, and since I was going to be there, I decided to race a couple of the swim/run events. It was a flat $40 for the day and you could do up to 5 or 6 events or as few as you wanted. You just show up when the thing starts and you’re off.
There are lots of swimmer types in these races including water polo players, swim team members, lifeguards, and just your typical broad shouldered/long torsoed types, so I knew I was in for a trouncing, but I really got humbled this weekend! In triathlons, I usually can finish the swim in the top 10-15% of my AG in most of the smaller to medium size races, but not here:
“Biathlon” (1-mile swim/5k run):
About one hundred people entered this, and I placed 51st. The water temp in the ocean was about 68 and you aren’t allowed to wear a wetsuit. I’m a bit of a cold water wuss, but I was pretty jacked for this race, so I didn’t really even notice it. However, I did notice that my watch said 21 minutes and change when I exited the water, which was in the back 25% of the field!!! I remember thinking either I just swam the fastest mile of my life WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF A WETSUIT and STILL got my ass handed to me OR the course was more like 0.75 miles. I’m going to have to go with the latter. I had planned to put shoes on once out of the swim, but at the last minute, threw the goggles and cap to my wife and just kept running. The beach was packed with beachgoers and the tide was medium, so no flat hardpack to run on, but it wasn’t too bad. I passed a few on the run and felt like I was going at a pretty good clip, and finished the run in 21 minutes, which would indicate a sub-7 minute/mile pace, which also flabbergasted me…without shoes on a slanted beach. WTF? Another inaccurately measured course I guess. Good fun though!
1 Mile Ocean Swim:
Same course as Biathlon, and the race started about 45 minutes after I finished the Biathlon, so I had time to sit down and eat a little sum’em sum’em. At this event, there were many more participants, probably around 200. Again, lots of Adonis types. Surely I can place better this time, right? Wrong. I felt great through the swim as far as my form, but the current had seemingly picked up and was taking me wide on the buoys even though I kept adjusting. I was starting to feel the chill in the water too, but still felt like I was covering the course at a good clip. Did a little drafting from a big dude who wasn’t kicking at all. At the end, a teenage girl and I exited the water together and her dad was yelling for her to catch me, but I kicked it into overdrive and crossed the line before her and found out I finished…141st? WTF? Damn I’m slow compared to these people! Humble pie baby! Just under 25 minutes this time! How did it take me 3 1/2 minutes longer to do the same course this time?
I had planned on racing a 400m swim/400m run/400m swim, but misread the start time and got there as the swimmers were halfway through the first leg, and just said “screw it”.
Highlights: Finally meeting HalfSpeed (who kicked ass by the way), and dealing with my cheap-ass fogging goggles. I’ve tried everything- spitting in them, baby shampoo, eye drops, they still fog like SF on a summer day! I’m convinced they are cursed.
Next race, IMC!