CONEY ISLAND 5k

I just did the 5K race last weekend. A great race put on by some fantastic folks. I can say with confidence that I was not alone in finding the deceptive conditions very challenging. My warm-up swim did not expose the strong current that ran parallel to the shore beyond the jetties. I think if I had paid attention to the 1mile heats it would have been helpful. After rounding the 1 mile down current buoy I found myself in the middle of what turned out to be my race. I knew there were a number of swimmers off the front, but I came together with a small group of swimmers. The group pared down to 4 for the seemingly endless 1.5 up-current leg. The pack of 4 finally broke apart nearing the dial turn-around buoy as we each emptied our tanks for the final half mile. It turned out that out of the 4, 3 of us were in the same age goup and filled the top 3 spots. I got second in the AG and the winner was clearly the strongest. The swim times were longer than I expected and the water which did not feel cold at the start put a serious chill into some of us. Someone told me that there more than a few DNFs.

I just did the 5K race last weekend. A great race put on by some fantastic folks. I can say with confidence that I was not alone in finding the deceptive conditions very challenging. My warm-up swim did not expose the strong current that ran parallel to the shore beyond the jetties. I think if I had paid attention to the 1mile heats it would have been helpful. After rounding the 1 mile down current buoy I found myself in the middle of what turned out to be my race. I knew there were a number of swimmers off the front, but I came together with a small group of swimmers. The group pared down to 4 for the seemingly endless 1.5 up-current leg. The pack of 4 finally broke apart nearing the dial turn-around buoy as we each emptied our tanks for the final half mile. It turned out that out of the 4, 3 of us were in the same age goup and filled the top 3 spots. I got second in the AG and the winner was clearly the strongest. The swim times were longer than I expected and the water which did not feel cold at the start put a serious chill into some of us. Someone told me that there more than a few DNFs.