Ocean City NJ 1 mile ocean swim - Swim

This was by far the hardest mile I have ever swum. When I saw how far out at sea the buoys were I decided to treat this as a training swim, rather than a time trial (ok so I wimped out). I talked with another tri guy at the start who was doing the same thing. I went out in the back of the heat to avoid being swam over. Getting out to the first buoy (through the surf) was the hardest part, after that I fell into a nice rhythm. The waves made sighting more difficult than in a river or lake and I had difficulty timing sighting with the waves. Sighting sometimes meant treading/breaststroke for a couple seconds to wait for a wave to pick me up so I could see over the wave in front of me. I know I swam offcourse a little bit more than once. I tried to concentrate on breathing and a smooth stroke. I managed to pass a couple people and held off the 2nd heat until the last buoy. There were alot of serious swimmers - most of who did not wear wetsuits and kicked my butt. Unfortunately I did not swim fast for any part of the race, as I did not want to tire that far out at sea. By the time I got to the last buoy I knew I had too much left in the tank. My time is discouraging because I thought my pace was a little faster than it was, despite not going full tilt. Even if I went all out my time would only have been a couple minutes faster. This was a good training swim and I'm sure I will do this race or a similar one again. Hopefully I will have enough confidence now to find that higher gear and swim a bit more aggressively in the ocean.

Get there earlier to park. Walk the beach and count the buoys (so I can have an idea of distance). Remember to start my watch at the beginning of the race!! Train a little harder the couple weeks before the race. Pick up the pace at around the halfway point.

Walked around the beach with my wife and kids. Drank an Arizona Ice Tea.


Fear of swimming in the ocean and not knowing how I was going to feel in rough water.


The race was pretty well organized and very competitive. It seemed like most of the entrants were very good swimmers.