Too ambitious a goal?

Originally posted by sharkbait Are you doing the 1 or 2 mile for the September Splash? I'm thinking of entering that one, or else the Rainbow Challenge, though both of them are a fairly long drive and I don't know if I can get away from home. Hope I can do one of them; they both look like really nice swims. These are both good swims, although if I had to choose, I'd do the 2.6 mile Rainbow Channel race - it is a very good course. The Rainbow Channel 1 mile is not an inspiring course, however. The September Splash course isn't exciting, but it is in a protected area and it is about as close as you'd ever get to swimming in pool-like conditions and still be in salt water. Hope to see you at either one. -LBJ

FindingMyInnerFish, Wow, you're a marathon runner too. I can't imagine ever going that distance, though I would like eventually to work up to an 8K and maybe a 10K. How long have you been running? It's encouraging to know that the first 5K is the hardest. Before and during, I wondered why I was doing this, but afterwards it felt so good! (I feel like that on training jogs too, hard to get going, but it's great when it's over. Maybe it's the endorphin release...) Are you doing the 1 or 2 mile for the September Splash? I'm thinking of entering that one, or else the Rainbow Challenge, though both of them are a fairly long drive and I don't know if I can get away from home. Hope I can do one of them; they both look like really nice swims. I want to do the Lake Montclair swim (which is closer to home) but can't decide on what distance. They have a 1 and 2 mile swim. The time limit on the 1 mile is 60 minutes, which I know I can do, and 90 minutes on the 2 mile, which would be a bit of a stretch. (My 39 minute ocean swim was with a favorable current, although the water was cooold and the sea was rather choppy). I haven't done any lake swimming since I was a kid at summer camp, so don't know if ocean or lake is more difficult (am I a dumb newbie or what). Don't care how I place, but I really do want to finish, which makes me think the 1 mile might be better, but then again, chancing a DNF with the 2 mile would be a better preparation for the Bay Swim, so I'm tempted to go for it. Any advice on which distance I should try? Anyone?

First, Leonard, apologies for not responding to your message just before mine... I think we were writing at the same time, so I didn't catch yours. Since it was a while back when I did the Sept. Splash, I don't remember the problems Leonard mentions.... Ha ha, subconscious blocking maybe? But I did remember it was pretty calm and swimmable. The RBC swim isn't likely for me.... time and $$ this year. But I expect to be easily able to get to the Sept. Splash. My bf has been very good about coming w/ me to these swims, even tho he's not a shore person... and not having a car, I've found that very, very helpful. But I won't ask him to go w/ me the night before again unless I reserve somewhere... When I did the Plunge for Patients, we got a campground finally but it was a sheer headache to do so. I expect we'll start fr/ the Philly area early a.m. and the two mile might require an earlier start than he'll want to make. The one-miler should be manageable, however. As for the Sept. Splash, one other item I remember about it: you don't start from shore (at least not for the mile)... you have to swim out to the start... not all that far--maybe 200ish yards? I remember having gone out almost to the start and then we were all called back for some sort of meeting, then sent out again. So it felt like a lot of swimming before I even started the race. So it's good to be ready to swim more than the distance they say. I knew NOTHING about open water swimming then, absolutely NOTHING and didn't even train w/ a masters' group. I was an injured runner who badly missed competing, and since I was using swimming as a substitute for running, decided maybe I'd try a swimming race instead. It was a lot harder than I expected, but I had no regrets... actually enjoyed it despite being s-l-o-o-o-w. Learned from that experience that you can have a good time without having a "good time." (i.e. a fast time.) And that it's good to test your limits, take some risks. Once I'd recovered from the running injury, I turned my attention back to running, but a few years later, when the opportunity arose to try a masters' swim group at my local Y, I jumped at it. I won't substitute swimming for running now, but I see it as a necessary and fun component to my training.

Sandra - Sorry not to get back quicker. WRT your questions: 1) I don't think that the Rainbow Channel race has a time limit per se, but it might depend on the direction of the tide. If the tide is going out, you would have it with you for the first half of the race and against you for the second half. Also, I believe that it would get tougher as time went on since they usually time the start around slack-ish tide. You can contact the race director, Polly Thieler, who is a very nice person, via the web page for the race, which is: www.rainbowchannelchallenge.com/ 2) The water at the September Splash, while not tropical, isn't all that cold. Last year it was probably 72-73, if memory serves me correctly. There are people in your size range (some are kids, too) at the race without a wetsuit. BTW, two slightly icky things about this race: a) There is dog waste everywhere in the park area that this races starts/ends at - watch where you step. b) The finish has some broken concrete under the water that you can't always see. I got several cuts on my feet last year. 3) Hotels & driving: It really depends on the race and what else is going on in my life. The Atlantic City area is about 3-3.5 hours away from my house, so I often get up at 3:30, leave by 4:00 and get there by 7:00. I did this for the September Splash last year and got there at about 7:15 or so. Because I am an extreme morning person, this is no great hardship. The other thing is that hotels in that part of the world aren't exactly cheap unless you luck into something. If I have to go the night before, I will either camp or will stay at the Red Carpet Inn in Williamstown, which is 30 minutes away from AC and about 40 minutes from the Rainbow Channel race. The September Splash, however, would be farther still. This is not the greatest motel in the world, but I've never had any hassle there either. Hope that helps. -LBJ

Don't apologize Leonard, you got back to me very quickly! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer all my questions: I really appreciate that amd yes, it does help a lot. I'll email Polly Thieler about the time limit question. Looking at the start time and awards time and the awards time, it would seem that only 1 hour 45 minutes is available, but then again, they could let the slowpokes finish after the awards begin (I won't be winning any of those; at 2.6 miles I'd be delighted with a last place finish). Saw that you won your age group last year - Congratulations! That is awesome. Thanks for letting me know about the Sept. Splash. It's so much better to know about things like the concrete in advance (why can't these people pick up after their dogs? that's just part of having one). And if I can handle about 68 degrees for one mile, I should be OK with anything over 70 for two miles. If I could do both races, that would be a nice end to my first summer of open water swimming since being a kid at the beach. Are you doing the RBC again? Both of them? It would be great to see you there (and I'd try not to deluge you with too many more dumb newbie questions...) Sandra

Sounds great, let's both do the Sept. Splash! It would be great to see you there. As long as my daughter doesn't have some important event that Sat., (I'll know by early Sept.) I should be able to get away (I'd have to stay overnight before the race because it's about a 5 hour from here drive each way). We're about the same in the body fat department, so it's good to know that you were OK without a wetsuit. At about 68 degrees it felt cooold at first but then it felt all right and up until near the end, when I felt the cold again, it wasn't too bad. Someone (sorry I don't remember who or on what thread; I'm new here and have been gradually reading past posts) said that wearing a neoprene cap without a wetsuit worked because a lot of heat is lost through the head. Maybe I'll try that. And I'm close enough to the beach that (hopefully) I can get there once a week to swim and get more acclimated to cold water. If I'm going for the two mile, I need to pick up the training. Given the start times for the races, looks like this one allows for a 45 minute mile pace, but I don't know what my two mile pace is because in the pool I space out and lose track of time and how many laps I've done. But this looks doable. One mile or two, we'll have a great time. Maybe I'll make it two for two on finishing dead last :) which would be OK - my ultra long term goal is to be like the 82 year old man who did the 1 mile ocean swim. Now that is amazing. Not surprisingly, he got the loudest and longest applause for winning the 80+ age group!

So, Sandra, you're thinking of the Cross bay swim... that would be cool... guess I'd BETTER get all trained for it, in that case! btw, they have an internet forum for that event, and people offer their services as kayakers, so that's one possibility. What is the Swim for Life?

It would be totally cool if we could do that one together! I just found out about the Swim for Life from reading old posts here (had I known earlier, I'd have tried it this year). It's in Chestertown, MD, in the Chester River, and you can choose a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 mile swim. They want $100 in pledges, but there's no registration fee, and it's for a good cause, people with HIV/AIDS. It's a much smaller event than the Chesapeake Bay swim, and they feed you after the race... www.swimdcac.org/.../swim4life.html Maybe I'll wind up doing that one next year instead of the Chesapeake Bay Swim, which fills up very fast. Yesterday a guy at the track club who did it this year said that the Bay Swim filled up 15 minutes after online registrations opened. Sandra

InnerFish, Wow, your first open water mile sounds so much like mine! I've never been on a swim team or done any masters swimming or any training with any group, for that matter. The Jack King swim was my first race of any kind (so it's not surprising I finished last). I really need to train more systematically. There's a group at the Y that meets at 5:45am, but I'm not much of a morning person, and it doesn't fit my schedule right now, though that will change, at least for a while, by the end of Aug. I'll have to check them out. Other than basic swimming lessons as a kid, I've never had any coaching, so obviously I have a lot to learn. Every summer as a kid at the beach with my family, I always wanted to swim out way too far. Once when I swam parallel to shore and we measured the distance with the car and it was two miles. That and the one mile last month is the extent of my open water experience. So I know absolutely nothing, too. It's great that everyone here has been so patient with my dumb questions. I wish I could make it to all of the swims on the east coast (that is, the ones I have a chance of finishing), but like you, time and $$ and family will inevitably get in the way. Oh well, for the ones I can't make this year, there is always next year, and then I'll get an earlier start. This year I did the Jack King as sort of on impulse, but now I want to do more and more and try new distances and challenges. I don't care where I finish or if my time is veeery sloooow, I'm just gonna enter and enjoy myself and set the goal of going the distance. The Sept. Splash start sounds like the Jack King start. You have to swim out past the buoy and start from there, then round the buoy at the end and swim to shore and run to the finish line on the beach. The water felt really cold while treading water waiting for the start, but once I got going it didn't bother me that much. And even before that I got in the water and swam a little to try to get somewhat acclimated to the cold. I'm glad your running injury healed. Maybe someday I'll work up to the 8K distance. After I strained my shoulder, for about two weeks I didn't swim at all but ran (actually jogged) a 5K six days a week, and that reverse cross training seemed to work. There's a Run Swim Run next week (I think) in VA Beach, a 1K beach run, 1K ocean swim, 5K boardwalk run. I don't think I'm ready for it as doing just the 5K was a challenge, but maybe next year. And maybe next year for the Great South Bay Swim, if I can get ready for it by then, get a kayaker (no idea how to go about doing that), and get it all organized. I went to their website and it looks like a great swim. Another goal: if I don't get in the Chesapeake Bay Swim, then I'll do the Swim for Life (either 3, 4, or 5 miles, I'll decide when the time comes). Always something else to look forward to... Sandra