ya i know its a little chilly but im thinking ahead.
i was running by sunnyside beach the other day, and i realized i’ve never seen people swim training there. but behind the breaks looks like a great place. why don’t people use it?
any good spots outside the city for OWS/trail run combo? maybe heart lake? or bellwood?
thanks!
I’ve swum there a lot.
Since it’s Lake Ontario, you have to be careful with the water conditions - check every time before going. It can also get quite choppy with strong waves, so often it is best to stay on the inside of the rock barriers. I usually do the long stretch from there up and down the beach, which is ~600-800m, and use the small markers in the water to do in-water starts+sprint to first buoy and turn practice.
Swimming at Cherry beach cycling Tommy Thompson Park and running the lakeshore trail best option.
Those are good options in the city. A bit northwest of Toronto, C3 runs open water swims at the James Dick Quarry in Caledon, ON. It is a great place to swim. C3online.ca you can find the calendar.
I swim there, but I’ve barely been swimming the last few years. It’s not a bad place to swim at all, although it’s closed due to E. coli more often than many of the other beaches (notably Cherry). The Humber dumps out right beside, and particularly after heavy rains there have been raw sewage overflows.
Don’t let that scare you, just be aware of the last big rain. I wish the city would share the actual dates of the dumps to give us better info to go on.
I’d probably do Milton for the swim/trail run if you don’t mind climbing the ski hill to get to the trails. If you’re ambitious/brave/have a little wild streak I have heard that some people access the quarry just to the east of it where they do (did?) the Xterra race. AFAIK it’s supposed to be developed into a public park, but it hasn’t yet.
this is all super helpful thanks! didn’t realize the humber was the issue. looks like i should get used to driving.
The Toronto Triathlon Club runs an open water swim program at Cherry Beach in the summer, the program is free, the club has a pretty cheap entrance fee as it includes Tri Ontario membership… Which is useful if you want to ride there, because you can lock up with the group. I also swim with the North Toronto Masters at the Summerville pool, that’s a drop-in pay as you go program (you have to join Swim Ontario Masters, they sign you up on first visit) and a tough crowd, no dog paddlers there. It’s about 10k from where I live to either, so I run or ride to either. Don Valley trail mostly.
I live near Woodbine beach. So long as the ecoli levels are safe I swim there often. Water can be cold, but it is shallow and pretty safe (ie few power boats).
I usually swim in about five feet of depth along the shore. Can do intervals or continuous swims easily.
As others have mentioned, Sunnyside is very close to the Humber river and possibly to the Humber WWTP so it closes often. Cherry beach is usually fine. The quarry is my favorite spot but a bit far from the city.