Chicago Masters' Big Shoulders 2.5k - Swim

Hung around the outside of the start line, just a bit back. This was a swimming event, so figured more of them would be faster. I tend to end up going outside much of the time anyway. When the horn went off, started walking out (it was waist deep) letting the others get going first.

Surfaced and started swimming. Tried keeping a solid pace that wouldn't wear me out. Wanted this to be at least somewhat useful for HIM pacing. Sighting on the first leg was a bit difficult as I couldn't see the buoy past all the heads in front. Kind of knew where it was and just swam that way. Felt ok, but some stroke hitches that had come up this past week were showing up here too. Worked them out as best I could and kept going. Mainly a little torso positioning and rolling the barrel instead of clomping down on it. Felt a little burn in the lats which was ok as my body was getting going. Faded a little later on this leg.

Turned the corner and headed towards the skyline. They had announced it was easier to sight off the black & white striped building than the buoy, and this was right. Felt the earlier issues working out some at times and felt speed picking up because of it. No idea if it actually was though. Can't see anything relevant to tell out here. Saw a couple pink caps go by out here. These were the lead elite swimmers on their second lap for the 5k, starting 24 minutes ahead of me. A couple broke an hour, so they were really moving!

Made it to the turn buoy and went around easily for the home stretch along the seawall. Still felt good here, but knew I'd been swimming for awhile. Saw the bright yellow finish arch on shore and just sighted off that. Most people thought this leg felt really long, but it felt shorter than expected because of the way the map had been drawn, rather lopsided. About halfway down I figured this was about where an HIM would finish and picked up the effort just a bit for the remaining stretch as I had the energy for it. Lats were definitely tiring, but not drained.

Could see the bottom coming up as I got closer to shore and kept swimming until it was shallow enough to affect my stroke. Hip was still bugging me and wanted to run as little as possible, especially in the deeper water. No one else was around somehow, so had an easy time running up to the finish line. Plenty coherent to see the time and factor out the wave start time.

Get in the water and warm up.

Hung around near the finish line and watched for others to come in. I was the first of the two 2.5k swimmers in our group and some of our swimmers are fast, but not like the first elite guys, so I was out first.


Nothing too major, but some smaller things that would help.

Warm-up. Wasn't tired, but didn't taper going in. Swim straighter. Get rid of the form hitches.


Fun event. Will get back someday to do the 5k non-wetsuit.