USMS 10k Open Water Swimming National Championships - SwimOther

Race: About 60 or so athletes jumped into the water for the in-water start. Armed with the pleasant news about the swim cap rule, I had my goggles underneath it, my ears stuck out Dumbo-style, and the cap propped on the crown of my head like a yarmulke. I lined up about 10m to the left of the start buoy, opting for a longer line but a cleaner starting point. We treaded water for about a minute and the official then began the :10 countdown. 3-2-1-BANG, we were off…and within two stroke cycles, so was my cap. Ahhhh, cooler already.


What is there to say about a 10k swim? It was a lot of swimming. I held true to my self-promise that I would not go out too hard. There was one swimmer who was out from the start, and I figured that either he would be away for the day or he would pay for the pace later in the race. Around the 2000m point of the first out segment, a group of three of us settled into an even-paced rhythm fairly side-by-side. I deduced I was probably swimming with true Masters swimmers, not triathletes, as their lines were a bit zig-zagged. As we can all attest to, sighting in open water is a bit more difficult than following the black line at the bottom of the pool. I had a feeling my compatriots in lunacy were pure-play swimmers by their semi-drunken paths.


When we hit the first feed boat at the 2500m turnaround, the three of us all happily grabbed some Gatorade, I exchanged a friendly “hello” with one of the triumvirate, a woman I recognized from her infrequent drop-ins at Emory Masters. The three of us headed back towards the start, a long 2500m away.


I’ll skip the boring details of segment 2500m-8500m because it’s more of the same – a lot of swimming, some thirst from the infrequent Gatorade/GU stops at 5k and 7500m. The first place leader had established a good lead, probably around 400m, so going into the final 2.5k segment we probably all knew that the podium would be decided by our group of three.


Around the 8500m mark, our group of three began to splinter. The woman and I put in a surge in pace, nothing too dramatic but enough just to see where everybody stood as we entered the last mile of the competition. We held the pace for a good 300m and soon the other gentleman in our trio dropped back. She and I kept driving towards each successive buoy, as the finish line now seemed imminent compared to where we were two hours ago.


I was hoping to get the race for 2nd down to the last 100m because I felt like my pure speed was better than hers. It was a fairly obvious tactic, so I hoped for the best because I knew that even with the slightest increases in pace, I would probably be cooked. The fatigue in my delts was increasing from the pace, and I knew it wouldn’t take much for the wheels to come off. Sure enough, the smart competitor next to me probably didn’t want to get it to a 100m sprint, so with a kilometer left, she shifted one more gear. I kept up with her for maybe 50 more meters and then began throwing haymakers – no elbow integrity, no turnover. I was cooked. Without the volume, I had no muscular endurance to get to the other gear without blowing up. Now I just had to hand on for 3rd.


Fortunately for me I was able to hold what form I had together to finish up in 3rd place. Two hours and 19 minutes after we started, I crossed under the Finish buoys and swam towards sweet land which was only 10m away. The race organizers had a ramp leading to shore from the lake, and I could see my wife, Elizabeth and daughter, Elle, waiting patiently for me. Elle could recognize her father even dressed like a frogman in his Point Zero3+, and she ran towards the lake to greet me. I picked her up, gave her a big squeeze and a kiss and headed towards Elizabeth to pass on some more family love. We dipped Elle in the lake for good measure – she was flush from the heat – and exchanged pleasantries and thanks. I had made it out of the water in one piece and with a solid time to boot. I had figured 1:30s/100m as a nice, safe pace and come out with 1:23s/100m – not too bad for a triathlete in a swim meet.


3rd overall and National Champ in 30-34 AG! Let’s be serious here about the result, though – not too many people are dumb enough to do something like this, so the field was pretty darn small. Been there, done that, don’t know if I have any more 6.2 mile swims in me, at least few if any that are done over one shot and not 3 Masters workouts.

3 Gatorades and chatting with my wife and daughter


Limited swimming volume


Great volunteers and well-organized course. Probably could use a couple of more proactive feed stations.