NAV-E-SINK OR SWIM - SwimOther

Once the pre race nerves had been tamed, I started out with a decent rhythm which was important for me. During my previous swim my heart rate had been jacked at the outset and I tired quickly. Not this time. This was probably my most comfortable swim ever in terms of pacing myself. I've been working on form and stroke rate to try and improve my overall performance and it paid off. This was my best swim pace for this distance by far. My sighting was very good and I made a very concious effort to swim buoy to buoy. I'd been reviewing videos of sighting on line and practising and this helped a lot. I managed to draft off knees of some swimmers at a few stages which helped. I took a solid kick to the eye about 10 mins into the race and had to adjust goggles and restart but I recovered pretty well which was great. As I rounded the third from last buoy I saw my watch read 23 mins with roughly 1/3 of the course left. This gave me a big boost mentally to keep going and do a decent time. I pushed on past the boats lining the jetty and I knew once I turned the corner I was on the home stretch. I really pushed hard to get to the beach and cross the timing match. There were lots of supporters cheering us on and I spotted Elizabeth just as I crossed the mat. My watch said 37:01 and I was very pleased with that. My goal had been to do the swim under 40 mins. Mission accomplished! I also have to say I was not at all tired after the swim. I felt like could have hoppped on a bike and rode 50 so my conditioning is improving slowly but surely.

Goggles. Those darned goggles. Foggy, misty, blurry, can't see thru 'em goggles. I bought a pair of Tyr socket Rockets a few weeks back, and they are great, once you adjust them they fit well and the visibility (when clear) is fantastic. For some reason in both pool and OWS they fog up very easily. I had to stop at least a half dozen times to clean them as I could not see the bouys through them. This cost me a minute at least over the course of the swim. So I think it's either research new googgles or try out some anti-fogging spray and see how that works.

Washed down with the hose, got dressed and said hi to my buddy Andrew from the GC Tri club, then headed to Red Bank for a nice brunch with Liz.


Stroke Rate, technique and foggy goggles. The first two just need continual work. I don't really kick at all with my legs, so I tried to focus on avoiding knee and foot drag, and work on rotation,keeping my elbows high on the catch & concentrating on my pull which can tend to go under my body and not to the side. Overall just keep working as I have been.


It was a great morning for a really nice race. I'll be doing it again next year for sure, as it's great mental preparation for the swim leg of a half iron. I thought it was a reasonably well organized race but they definitely needed "Portopotties" for that many competitiors. The resulting wait in lines were way too long.

http://raceforum.com/2010/navesink.html