The plan was to maintain an easy "Ironman" pace for as long as I could hold it, which was hopefully for the entire swim. Was hoping to get some good "Combat Swimming" experience and maybe also some additional drafting practice.

I started toward the back because I noticed that the field is full of High School and College swimmers with the local USAS clubs and they are going to be blazing fast. (This turned out to be a great choice)

Start went well and was able to find a nice piece of water to swim in without getting kicked or bashed. (Plenty of bubbles though) After the 1st turn I was able to draft behind a guy for what turned out to be the better part of the first mile. Did not take much effort and his pace and sighting seemed right on. (Did not touch his feet once I and I bet he never knew I was there)

Then my draft buddy started to swim off course and slow a bit so I moved over and passed him. Still maintaining a very comfortable pace at this point but having problems sigting the last bouy as it is getting lost in the visual clutter of the pier.

The second mile started off fine but I did start to notice a bit of a current. I had to put a lot more effort into staying on course.

On the backside of the course the ride got very bumpy and after the race I figured out why. (Jet Ski Rec area is right next to the back side of the course) getting tossed about and am constantly having to sight and adjust course.

About 3/4 the way into the 2nd lap I get clobbered by a group of swimmers who I guessed was the lead pack. They just swam right over me and kept right on going :(

That is what I was here for after all; To get used to getting clobbered while trying to maintain proper form. The 2nd mile finished up and a quick glance at my watch and I was right on schedule pace wise.

3rd mile got tough as the current picked up and the Chop really started tossing me around. Was having a lot of trouble staying on course and had to sight about every 10 seconds and adjust. (Felt like I was spinning in circles)

As I rounded the last bouy and headed toward the beach, I finally started to feel some fatigue and labor in my breathing but figured it was mostly from bursting to the finish.

Ran up the beach and into an almost empty finish corral. I was not DFL at best the front of the BOPers. Jeez those USAS folks are fast. The lead pack all finished this darn thing in well less than 1 hour. (I was really out of my league)

Nothing. This was a tuneup race and time/place was not part of the goals. The goal was to practice IM Pacing and I would have been very pleased with my performance had the first 2.4 miles been IMLP. (Given the conditions this would have been ~ 1:15 Finish Time)

I still had plenty of gas in the tank at the finish and considered taking off for my planned 17 mile run right there.

Got some nutrition and headed home to take a quick nap and the head out for my 17 mile run.

Gordo Byrn recommends a longer workout after a race like this was a great workout. I was definitely not disappointed.


I was still carrying a lot of fatigue into this swim and rounded out 13,000 yards for the week. (A Taper would definitely have helped)

Residual fatigue from my 5k run earlier in the morning as well as accumulated fatigue from 6 months of IM Training certainly did not help.


This was the 1st year of this event and my hope is that it will continue. There are not many 5k Swim races here in SoCal and this one is very convenient.

I will be back next year but I doubt it will be an "A" Race. I will be recovering from CdA a week earlier. (Unless they change the date)

I was missing from the results and the final Mile split and final time are a bit long. (I forgot to stop my watch at the finish) I EMailed the RD and hopefully they get things worked out. (My official time should be about 1 minute quicker)