Swim the Lake 2016

This week’s post nearly didn’t happen. Why? Well mainly because I didn’t do very much last week at all except for a Parkrun (didn’t get a PB) and a bike ride (60k, wasn’t very fast), both of which happened on Saturday. With tapering for a marathon this coming weekend and the weather being dire, I didn’t really feel like I had much to say… but then Tuesday happened and here I am all keen to share.

Quick note on the Saturday bike ride. This was the first time I have used my new tri-bars and I have to say that I am smitten. When I go into the aero position the speed difference is palpable, and they are really comfortable to lie in. I do think I need to tweak my bike setup to maximise the benefit of the bars, with a shorter stem and maybe take out a couple of spacers to make the aero position even more aero, I don’t intend to change my setup until after the Ride London 100 though as the tri-bars are not allowed for that event and the bike is currently set up nicely for sportives.

Swim the Lake 2016

I think this is the first time I have taken part in an event on a weekday. 7pm after work on a Tuesday night is not like me, I’m usually in bed by then. However I had been goaded into taking part in the enigmatically named “Swim the Lake 2016” race. The mystery lake was actually Ardingly Reservoir and I decided to go for the medium distance of 1.5km.

I haven’t exactly been working on my open water swimming, I think I have been swimming once since my tri. Coupled with the fact that pretty much every other swimmer in my wave was from a triathlon club, I didn’t hold out much hope for a top position. In fact, I was worried that I might have sloshed ashore near last but I actually feel that I represented myself quite well.

After the water warm up we were herded together to plop into the water from a floating pontoon. I had entirely forgotten about my goggles which I had on my head, and after I plopped, they pinged off and floated away. Fortunately my friend recovered them for me but I did spend a few moments contemplating how I would cope swimming 1500m without them. I need to be more careful next time.

At the start I positioned myself near the front at the very end of the swimming line so that I didn’t get caught up in the elbows-n-feet argy-bargy that I knew would happen in the middle of the pack. Right from the word go I went for it with my less than bomb proof front crawl. If I do say so myself I was actually not bad, I had to alternate between my crawl and breast stroke but there was a great deal more front crawl from me than usual. I was even enjoying it.

In the end I’m very pleased with my time. 00:33:35. Much faster than I thought I would be and I know I can do more to bring that time down (mainly by crawling more). Practice is needed.

Swim the Lake 2016 medal