Simple race. Start on the north side of Pensacola Bay and swim to the south side. 3.275 miles. The weather and water were quite nice. The water could have been a tad cooler, but the bay was pretty flat - so no complaints.

I kept the pace easy for the first half of the swim. I felt smooth and in control at the pace I set. After that I cranked it up a bit since I was feeling pretty good. I passed probably 10 people on the second half, so I paced well. I definitely negative split the swim. After 2 miles I cranked it up even further.

For the middle part of the race I was pretty much all alone. I did catch up with three swimmers with about 1k to go and left them behind - they finished about a minute back. A lot of folks complained about the current pushing them out away from the bridge. I never noticed a current. I guess I was so busy sighting and swimming I just never sensed it.

Felt pretty good all the way until the end when I started getting my all-too-common calf cramp issues. I gotta figure these out. I managed to hold them off until the very end. In fact, once I cleared the boat dock I sprinted the last 300ds or so in. As soon as I stood up my calves wanted to cramp. So I waddled the last few yards in.

Overall I am thrilled with this effort. I never found myself in any aerobic or muscular endurance type trouble. I probably could have done the 10k, honestly. The race sure didn't feel like an hour and a half. It felt more like about a half hour - the time passed really quickly.

Not only did I feel great, but posted a good time. I was really hoping for a 1:30 finish and managed to get it. On the other hand, of the 18 people that beat me, 7 were girls, and of the remaining guys one was 13 and another 64(!). Definitely some really strong swimmers out there.

As a comparison to previous swims the two sprint swims I did last year were at 1:40/100 for 600yds and 1:34/100 for 300yds. Massive improvement in 6 months.

I could have gone harder from the get go. But my strategy for anything new like this is to make sure I don't blow up.

Collapse on the sand.


Nothing.


Great race. They need to move up the award presentation. It drags out too long.