CONEY ISLAND 5k

www.cibbows.org hurry and sign up already! who's in? This is an open water swim right? In that case, I will support the coney island hot dogs vendors instead.

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.

Chaos It had been 20 years since I raced in a rough water ocean race, but I have been back racing (open water) for the last 2 years. One thing that surprised me was how much quicker the top finishers were than the rest of us. The posted results had me 10th overall but a half hour back. I know they winners were much faster, but that spread seems way too big. ( 3 weeks ago I finished 12/142 in a 4K lake swim and only 5 minutes back. There were a lot of triathletes inthe race, but the top finishers were fast. I was in at 54 min.) I was surprised by the speed of the current and had never swam at the beach before. In retrospect I am curious if the correct strategy would have been to swim a line from the point of one jetty to the next and not further off shore? It seems that might have moved me into calmer waters on the up current leg and made it easier to sight as well. Is this a secret that you locals were holding back? :-) Also what was it with the white buoy? It was nearly impossible to see except at the start. Special thanks to the kyacker. Who yelled and pointed it out to me and the guy I was racing to the finish we both had stopped and were looking all aound for it as we approached the finish. the white buoy was hard to see going into the sun. i followed the buoy/kayak line pretty close even though as you noted, the current was less severe inside the jettys. (there was a DQ for someone who swam inside the jettys, so even the locals were held to a high level of honor! lol)

hey bob, anymore races on the east coast planned this year?

hey bob, anymore races on the east coast planned this year? No that's it for me. It was just by chance I did this one. I left swimming even for fun after a shoulder injury & surgery 15 years ago. 2 years ago I started to do triathalons when I realized training for them allowed me to work around injuries. It led me to rediscover my love for open water racing, but my main focus was still triathlons. This year after rebuilding my stoke I've been doing more OWS. I'm visiting my sister and decided I'd love to get a race in. I tried to talk my way into the Liberty swim but couldn't. By the time they opened it up to non-NYC swimmers I was already signed up for the 5K, which is my favorite distance, although it has NEVER taken me so long to finish the distance (actually good training because I'd like to have a go at a 10K). I knew I'd never get clearence from my wife for two races so I didn't try. I go back to Oregon Wednesday. I'm so glad I was able to do the race. Every one at the race was great.

No that's it for me. It was just by chance I did this one. I left swimming even for fun after a shoulder injury & surgery 15 years ago. 2 years ago I started to do triathalons when I realized training for them allowed me to work around injuries. It led me to rediscover my love for open water racing, but my main focus was still triathlons. This year after rebuilding my stoke I've been doing more OWS. I'm visiting my sister and decided I'd love to get a race in. I tried to talk my way into the Liberty swim but couldn't. By the time they opened it up to non-NYC swimmers I was already signed up for the 5K, which is my favorite distance, although it has NEVER taken me so long to finish the distance (actually good training because I'd like to have a go at a 10K). I knew I'd never get clearence from my wife for two races so I didn't try. I go back to Oregon Wednesday. I'm so glad I was able to do the race. Every one at the race was great. too bad about liberty... a bunch of us raced both days and rondi won 'em both! there was a 10k national championship in huntington bay a couple of years ago that had some strong currents. two loops around a 5k course. i didn't feed until over 2 hours into the race.... too late and bonked shortly after that. i finished, but it was ugly.

what a great event! so many people wanted to hang out all day... no doubt with a little help from the schmaltz brewing company. there is still another chance to race a coney island mile on august 9th. the 5th annual grimaldo's mile. anyone who missed out on the 5k can experience it any weekend during one of the group swims. www.cibbows.org for more details

Chaos It had been 20 years since I raced in a rough water ocean race, but I have been back racing (open water) for the last 2 years. One thing that surprised me was how much quicker the top finishers were than the rest of us. The posted results had me 10th overall but a half hour back. I know they winners were much faster, but that spread seems way too big. ( 3 weeks ago I finished 12/142 in a 4K lake swim and only 5 minutes back. There were a lot of triathletes inthe race, but the top finishers were fast. I was in at 54 min.) I was surprised by the speed of the current and had never swam at the beach before. In retrospect I am curious if the correct strategy would have been to swim a line from the point of one jetty to the next and not further off shore? It seems that might have moved me into calmer waters on the up current leg and made it easier to sight as well. Is this a secret that you locals were holding back? :-) Also what was it with the white buoy? It was nearly impossible to see except at the start. Special thanks to the kyacker. Who yelled and pointed it out to me and the guy I was racing to the finish we both had stopped and were looking all aound for it as we approached the finish.

results: cibbows.org/.../Results_5K.txt

too bad about liberty... a bunch of us raced both days and rondi won 'em both! there was a 10k national championship in huntington bay a couple of years ago that had some strong currents. two loops around a 5k course. i didn't feed until over 2 hours into the race.... too late and bonked shortly after that. i finished, but it was ugly. What a couple of great swims she had! Bonking on a 10k with strong currents? Yikes. Doesn't sound fun but . . . You finished. Sometimes that is what it is all about.