Tim Kerr Charities 1.2-mile Bay Swim, July 13, 2024, Avalon, NJ
Water Temp: 61 degrees/Surface Water was relatively calm
141 total swimmers. 25 in my 60-69 yo Male Age-Group--the largest of any Age-Group!
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Background
I have to confess. This race meant more to me. Not because it was some big prestigious race (although it's important to me). Not because now I'm trying to be the best open water swimmer (I'm not, nor could I be).
The reasons why start with my love of open-water swimming, especially with my 7-Mile Island Ladies Swim Team (of which I'm a proud invited member). Further, I envision a life where I can swim like this (maybe shorter and slower) into my 80s, so races like this give me a chance to see where my swim fitness is at. I think it's important to apply relevant yardsticks to things that are important to you--keeps you on your toes (or in your wetsuit, in this case).
Leading up to this race, my swim this year has been generally poor, and also more inconsistent than I remember. My volume hadn't been that much (although I did my biggest week, +30%, the week before this race) and I think the shift of focus to rehabbing my knee and reestablishing a modest ability to run has shifted the focus away from both my swim and bike. In my first triathlon, I had a 750-meter swim where I was about 20-seconds slower/mile then past races/my expectations.
During the summer, my best gauge of my swim fitness are my 3 or so 2,000-4,200 open-water swims with my team mates each week. All of this swimming together breeds familiarity and when our abilities are closely matched we really push each other from time to time--not always of-course, but frequently we do! Through this I have ready, 3X/week feedback on where my swim is at. Those comparisons were also not good.
So, the consensus feedback was not good. I hoped that my recent bump in volume and a couple of good days I had in the week prior to the race might indicate that I was capable of a breakout performance, but the betting odds against that would have been large.
The Race
This race is put on by race director Midge Kerr as part of the Kerr Family Charities. It's a 1.2-mile open-water Bay (inter-coastal) swim in Avalon, NJ. It is essentially three sides of a rectangle that starts around 21st Street and finishes at the Avalon Yacht Club. This race is part of a 4 race series of competitive swims over the summer that Midge produces. They are all great events.
Midge sets the time of the race each year to benefit from the natural tidal currents that predictably flow through the race course. Of course, you can't predict the exact tidal benefit and in practice it varies quite a bit from year to year.
This was to be the 6th time for this event, and amazingly, the 6th time in a row, even through CoVid (outside events ok with masks!). The race is very popular and Midge limits sign-ups such that there has been a de-facto limit of about 150 swimmers.
My objectives for this race were all centered around turning in a performance that comparatively indicated that my swim fitness was solid, where I would expect it to be, and that my triathlon swim earlier this year was something of a fluke, or at least before I got into good swim shape. Given that, I wanted to look at the following comparisons:
1. My overall place, relative to the field as a whole
2. My Age Group place
3. How I compared against the top swimmers who swim in the race each year
4. How I compared to Dan Fabrizio, who is one of my frequent training partners and who, from a historical race performance perspective, is one of my most closest matched competitors. Dan is a good swimmer. He was a lifeguard in his earlier years and is 5 years younger than me.
Here is what the race course looks like:
So you can see that its pretty simple with just two left turns to navigate. The numbers indicate 500-yd segments....
So here is how it came down:
Dan was in front of me 3-4 people as we lined up for the traditional time trial start (vs. a mass start). I figured I would start 5 or so seconds after him. However, when he jumped in there was some confusion as someone swam up and wanted to get on the dock. The net of this was my swim start was delayed (as it turned out I started about 20-21 seconds after Dan, although that fact would seem to elude me during this race.)
When it was my turn I jumped in and was immediately impressed at how cold the water was. Turned out it averaged 61 degrees, which is a bit of shock after being in 85-degree sunshine with a wetsuit on! I could see where Dan was (I know his wetsuit) and was surprised to see that he had veered left--out into the channel (above my red line at the start) and I immediately thought this was a tactical error as I hugged the straighter more direct line by the docks. I also immediately noticed that I felt great and I decided to ramp it up much more quickly than I normally do in a longer open-water swim race. In the first 10 seconds I concluded that my competitor was making a mistake and that I felt great--I was pumped and really started pushing it.
Very quickly, probably just half-way to the first left turn (200 yards or so) I had pulled even with Dan. To my further advantage, we are both left-side breathers, so I saw him but he couldn't see me. Looking ahead I could see that Dan's line was much more crowded from early starters than my line. What's not to like about this scenario? I could literally feel the confidence surge through my body.
As we hit the first turn I veered wide around a mass of folks hung up on the turn. I knew that Dan would have to swim through that. As I rounded the buoy I really upped my pace and after about 50 yards looked back and could see that I had opened up a nice gap to all behind me. As I looked ahead, I could see I was 50-100 yards behind the next swimmer s so I was in no-man's land and just decided to focus in and swim as strong, but comfortably as I could. I hit the first 500 in 7:55, which was a 1:35/100 pace. As I looked at my Garmin and registered this, it was just another piece of really great news as the first section of the race course has little tidal help so I knew I was back down near 1:30/100, which is what good looks like for me!
After a bit I looked back and I could see one swimmer had separated from the pack and was now chasing me down--yep it was Dan. He was about 20 yards back but he seemed to be tracking on me.
The next 500 went by in 6:31 (1:18/100) as the tidal push began to kick in. I could tell Dan was closing on me but I felt very good with what was going on and shortly after the 2nd, and lazy 2nd left turn I hit the 3rd 500 in 6:07 (1:13/100).
It was also about this time that I felt Dan's hands hitting my feet and indeed we would hit each other many times over the last 600 yards or so. I kept looking back trying to keep Dan behind me but the reality (in my opinion) is that he is a better swimmer than me and finally he was able to go right of me (by the docks) and come up even with me.
This was both a negative and a positive. As I mentioned, we both breathe on the left so now he could see me and I couldn't see him--a real negative. However, the course subtly turns to the left so I knew I could try to keep forcing him right and maybe he would have to relent to avoid swimming into the docks. This meant that we bumped into each other many (30+) times. I have to confess there were a few f-bombs dropped during this.
Finally, about where it says "Cornell Harbor" on the above map I decided to cede the lead to him and jumped on his feet. I was absolutely 100% critical at this point--I could not go any faster and I gambled that I could stay on his feet to the end and then get up the ladder after him and cross the timing mat within the 5 seconds that I thought I needed to stay within (really 20 but I didn't know that). I went through the 4th 500 in 5:46 (1:09/100).
The last 100 yards were pure agony but then we reached the dock and I slammed right up behind Dan as he climbed out and I followed quickly behind him and passed the timing mat probably 2-3 seconds behind him. Here I am on the dock, absolutely gasping for air:
So I ended up beating Dan by about 18 seconds and further I managed to finish 2nd out of the 25 guys in the 60-69 YO age-group:
I'm elated with this race. So fun. Epic battle. And despite all my focus on rebuilding my legs post knee replacement, I can still swim!
Onwards and upwards!
PS--isn't crazy there were so many old guys in this race! Largest Age Group!
