2019 Open Water Swims

I thought you might find it interesting to see the data on my Open Water Swims during 2019.  I have 46 of them (so far)--at least my Garmin has recorded that many.  I probably have done 3-4 more but either my watch died, I didn't start it properly or in one case, recorded it as a run for some reason.

In any event, here is the raw data:

Lot's of info here (sorry bout that).  But basically, I did my first OWS on June 1st, just a couple of days after returning from Bolivia.  My yardage ranged from about 1,500 yards to over 6,000, when I swam across our lake in Minnesota.

Let mer explain the color coding.  Firstly, I had 5 swims down in Avalon that were assisted to varying degrees by a tidal current.  In the charts that follow, I exclude them from the averages and trend line analyses.  The other 41 swims were all neutral from a current perspective.  These have colors that represent my progress vs. objectives I set for myself at the beginning of the year:

Pace (per 100 yards):

Red: 1:43 and higher (about a 72 minute IM pace)

Yellow: 1:40-1:42 (70-72 minutes)

Green: 1:39 or better

My slowest was 1:53/100 and my best was 1:30/100. (26% variation)

Distance per Stroke in Meters (DPS):

Red: below 1.60 meters/stroke

Yellow: 1.60-1.65

Grey: 1.66-1.69

Light Green: 1.70-1.74

Green: 1.75 and above

My worst was 1.49 and my best 1.82 (22% variation)

Strokes per Minute (SPM):

Red: 30 or less (note this is 60 spm if you count both hands)

Yellow: 31 or 32

Green: 33 and up

My worst was 29 and my best was 35 (21% variation)

Basically, my objective was to try to swim 1.75 meters/stroke at a rate of 33 spm or an average pace of 1:35/100 yards (66:40 IM pacer, which is my PR back at IMFL in 2007).  I was actually only able to do both of these just once, on 10/1 when my pace hit my best at 1:30/100.

This chart shows the average progression by month:

Basically, I didn't make a lot of progress on my pace until September and October when I really began to go after my swimming (after focusing on the bike for most of the summer).  Strangely enough, all the improvement seems to have come from my cadence (spm) as my stroke length really didn't improve much despite my attempts to make it longer.  I'm not sure how to interpret this but you can see it clearly in the charts below:

In any event, I'm pleased with the progress, especially given my limited investment in swim training this summer.  I feel good about my swim and don't anticipate any issues at IMAZ in November.

Onward and Upward!