Garden State SwimRun - Biathlon (swim/run)

I did pretty well through the swim segments. Jeff has video of me entering swim 1 and very smoothly situating my pull buoy, getting my goggles on, and diving in. I passed four people on the swim start alone, and quite a few others during the swim itself (including Mikey - pictures indicate I got him on swim 1). Swimming felt pretty awful, like I was swimming through molasses with those heavy shoes dragging behind me. Swim 2 was a bit better, but swim 3 was so long afterward that my arms had gotten tight. Overall, the swims were definitely my strength, but not as strong as they could have been. My heart rate was pretty high from trying to swim at a regular pace with all that drag, and that took a big toll on my swim-to-run transitions, which were rocky.

I need to train with drag in order to be strong enough to pull all that stuff (especially the shoes, but also the tri suit and sports bra). More strength training would be good, too, but I think swimming with some drag suits on a regular basis would be enough.

No transitions - this is swimrun!

The runs were tough - I don't train in terrain like that. Since the lakes were obviously at the bottom of the hills, the long runs both started with significant uphill sections. Since I was beat from dragging my shoes through the swim, I had a very hard time getting my heart rate down and getting into a good running rhythm. The hills didn't help. On the two longer runs, I took awhile to get into the groove. When I did, though, I think I was running well. I have little experience on such a technical run course, but I think I did well with it. I tripped three or four times, but only when I was distracted and lost focus. Most of the time, I was able to navigate quite well.

Train hills and technical sections. Jeff suggested Tyler State Park in Newtown for some training runs. Also, being better able to handle the drag on the swim would put me in a better position to start the run, easing the transitions.

Stood around talking to my spectators. No real warm down. Stayed in Rutherford most of the day, so didn't get a bath or anything (though I did get a short nap in the afternoon). I was pretty tight over the next few days.


I completely underestimated how difficult swimrun would be (though the hilly, technical run course was a big part of that).


This was an amazing race - a great opportunity to try out swimrun at home in New Jersey. The race itself was well-organized and quite challenging. Since it was the first year, I got the impression it was underfunded and underpublicized, but everything was well planned out for the small crowd that ran it. I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely be back next year!