1.2 Mile Bay Swim: Open Water Swim Race

 Competed in this local OWS race for the 6th time this past weekend.  I had my time at 28:10 and they had it at 28:22.  Some of this is due to when I touch the dock, I stop my clock and to get to the timing mat you have to climb a small ladder (and sometimes wait in line to do so) and go about 5-10 yds to the timing mat.  I would be surprised if this took 12 seconds but we'll just go with their time.  This was the 3rd fastest of my 6 races here--although time is heavily influenced by the tides and they vary significantly from year to year. I had the distance at 2109 yds so pretty much spot on 1.2 miles.

I placed 53rd out of the 134 swimmers and was 12th/30 in the 60-69 YO Age Group and 6th/14 in the 65-69 YO Age Group.  On a %-tile basis, this is the lowest of my six races for all three %-tile metrics. Compared to a couple of guys I track my times through the years against (one--BP is front of the pack and the other, DF-is essentially about the same as I am), I was also slower than past years.  Here is a summary of my 6 races here:

This data pretty much lines up with how the swim felt.  I did not push as hard as I normally due out of a continued conservatism with respect to my right shoulder (still in come-back mode after last year).  I probably left 30 seconds on the table if I had gone for it.  Still, this swim would have been relatively slower (competitively) and that is clearly a reflection of my training status.  I just didn't swim very much in May and June (I already have more in the first 13 days of July than I did in all of May and June) due a variety of things including my 29029 focus and event.

Anyways, a real fun race and very glad I did it.  I feel good about my progress and hope to continue progressing as the summer wears on and I (hopefully) get a lot more swim volume.   all of this is predicated on not overwhelming my right shoulder, which is a continuing area of focus for me.

Onwards and Upwards!