Great Ohio River Swim

4th Annual Great Ohio River Swim takes place tomorrow morning. Going to try to make it across the Ohio River without drowning or catching a disease. Also looking forward to a dominant performance by Dan and Kip!

2010 Race Schedule

Here is my tentative 2010 race schedule. I will probably compete in a few adventure races and perhaps a few more swims.

1/22/2010 - USMS 1 Hour Postal Swim, Kettering, Ohio - Swim as far as you can in 1 hour

Goals:
-Complete 4700 yards in 1 Hour.

6/26/2010 – Columbus Open Water Swims, Alum Creek State Park - (1.5K, .75K and 3K swims)

Goals:
-Podium in all events
-Swim the 3K strong from start to finish

2009 Results
1.5K Open Water Swim - 19:51
.75K Open Water Swim - 10:23
3.0K Open Water Swim - 41:46

7/10/2010 - Muncie Endurathon, Muncie Indiana - Half Ironman Relay (1.2 Mile Swim)

Goals:
-Win the overall relay division
-First out of the water
-Swim Under 26 Minutes
-Have nice solid hit out before next week's "A" race.

7/17/2010 - USMS 2010 10K Open Water National Championships
Noblesville, Indiana - 10K Open water Swim

Goals:
-Podium in the 10K
-Swim under 2:15
-Hit my taper.

7/24/2010 – Great Ohio River Swim, Cincinnati, Ohio - Swim across the Ohio River and back.

Goals:
-Defend Title!

2009 Results
~.8K Open Water Swim - 8:46

9/2010 - Big Shoulders 5K, Chicago, Illinois

Goals:
-Finish Season STRONG
-Go under 1 Hour (will depend on conditions)

2009 Results
5K Open Water Swim - 1:05:36

3000 Postal

Completed the USMS 3000 Postal last weekend at the Kettering Rec Center. I did the swim with my friend Kip while Chris timed us both.

I didn't have real high hopes for the swim as while I had been training but hadn't been putting up huge efforts. I started off a little too fast with a 5:42 500. I think had I gone just a few seconds slower here I could have pulled back more time down the road.

Here were my splits by 300:
300 split 0:03:24.89
600 split 0:06:50.46
900 split 0:10:15.35
1200 split 0:13:42.11
1500 split 0:17:11.11
1800 split 0:20:44.78
2100 split 0:24:15.84
2400 split 0:27:46.39
2700 split 0:31:16.35
3000 split 0:34:39.95

I am going to take a little time off and then start building a base for next season. Have some exciting races planned for next year so I will have to get to work soon!

Great Ohio River Swim

On Saturday I competed in the Second Annual Great Ohio River Swim Race held in Cincinnati Ohio and put on by the good folks at Cincinnati Triathlon.




I still was not feeling like I was in great form for this race as I was still working off a few extra pounds put on while in Mexico. I didn't really rest for the race and I just figured I would give it a go and see what happened.

According to the race officials the course is about 900 meters long. It is a "V" shaped course and starting on the Ohio side of the river and finishing further down river on the Ohio side.



For equipment, I went with my Team Aquaphor issue tri-shorts and a pair of clear Speedo Vanquisher goggles. And of course I used Aquaphor on my ankle(for the timing chip), neck and between my legs to avoid chaffing.

I started off very conservatively as I was unsure what role the current would play in the race. To my surprise, I got to the first buoy in second place with another swimmer just ahead of me. On the way back to shore I could feel the current playing a much bigger part in the race. I had to sight often and make a conscious effort to make sure that I would not over shoot the finish. On the way back I did not really see any other swimmers. Part of me thought that was good and that I had taken the lead but I was also concerned that I had picked a bad line and that I had missed a group. In the end I came to shore in 8:46 in first place overall. It was a great feeling as this was the first open water race I had done where I was the overall winner.


My buddy Kip also swam and he did very well with a 19th place finish. Nice job Kip!


As always I owe a big thank you to Courtney who got up early and supported me all of the way. She is the best!

Here are a few photos care of Michael E. Keating from Cincinnati.com. They are the photos posted in this blog.

Columbus Open Water Swims

I have been a little MIA recently putting in some solid training volume. I have been prepping for the first series of Columbus Open Water Swims put on by Fat Rabbit Racing. I have done these races for the last couple of years and always have a good time.



There are three events: 1.5K, .75K and 3.0K help on a .75 loop course. There is usually about 15 minutes between events so there is not much recovery time.



Overall, I am happy with my performances. My times improved fairly dramatically (although the conditions were a bit better this year) and I felt strong while not really resting for this event. One thing I am realizing that I need to continue to improve on is making efforts throughout the race to stay with the pack. Surges happen periodically and I need to be ready to react and not lose contact with the lead group.



Here are the results with a comparison to my times from last year. Peace.



2009 2008

1.5K - 19:51 1 .5K - 21:27

.75K - 10:23 .75K - 11:10

3.0K - 41:46 3.0K - 47:49