Jim McDonnell Lake Swim - 2 Mile - SwimOther

It was only my second open water swim and previous one was 750yds so maybe a bit ambitious taking on a 2miler. Pleased to have got around, although disappointed with the time. I was hoping my Garmin could shed some light on what happened but it seems to have gone haywire and recorded me swimming 5.1 miles. Maybe I just navigated really badly? Felt great on the first lap, felt like I had loads in the tank. Concentrated on gliding on my side and really pulling my arms through at the end of the strokes. Treid doing some drafting but never quite worked, either people ahead were too fast or too slow.

Despite what garmin says, I think my navigation was good, was able to spot buoys well ahead and swam to them in what seemed a straight line.

I got swam over a couple of times, which I think was when being lapped. Not really a problem, but did make me lose my rhythm.

Second lap, I tried pushing it a bit, but think that was at cost of technique and probably ended up going slower overall. Really struggled for last 0.5m which was really new territory for me. Tried to stay strong, but found that my left arm was struggling to come out of the water cleanly and caught a couple of times. Probably looked very messy looking on from the bank! Was glad to finish, and was surprised how slow it was, but can only improve next time.

Gatoraded up, then 7 mile cycle home for a warm down


I think body positioning is main issue, as for 3/4 of the race felt strong and was probably not transferring it very well to the water.


Nice race to have on the doorstep. Looking forward to a 5km next year. Well organised and wave system worked well without too much thumping and jostling at the start.