Worst and most embarrassing swim
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1316 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
Ya gotta hate a washing machine like that...Thank goodness it was a sprint! Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you...good job. Hope the rest of the race was ok..
Had on of those once at a HIM years ago at Point Lookout...kept getting thrown up against a breakwater...swallowing brackish water...getting kicked in the face...threw up on the bike...almost quit... Ya just have to keep on keepin' on.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
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827 days
bgreinke posted 1 year ago.
We had a similar swim in an olympic distance race here around Houston. The swim was in Galveston Bay with some lovely waves coming in. The first group out couldn't even see the first turn bouy...it was pretty much just go with the group and hope someone knows where they're going. I swollowed so much salt water my stomach didn't feel right the rest of the race. Some one told me (although I've never substantiated it) that a sheriff's boat capsized that morning. Thank God for neoprene.
Braden
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1342 days
Jstyle posted 1 year ago.
Dude I did the yorktown sprint as well all I can say is DAMN that swim was violent!!! I have never taken so many shots to the face and body...
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580 days
LongTime posted 1 year ago.
Hey Jstyle. I guess it was the angle of the waves? I've swum into the waves going out and then had them at my back coming in, but never at that odd angle. Got trapped behind some guys and it was one nasty swim.
Good point about sometimes just getting through it is all you can do.
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1101 days
deepbluex posted 1 year ago.
I actually like awful choppy tall-wave ocean race swims like that. It seems to handicap a bunch of people to the point that I come out of the water in a much better position than if the water was glass flat.
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1342 days
Jstyle posted 1 year ago.
I did notice that a lot of the competitive swimmers (pool swimmers) didn't come out too far in front of me... Kinda nice for a change!
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731 days
#1Drowner posted 1 year ago.
I did Yorktown as well, and that water was a little choppy, but I had my best swim ever there Sunday! Maybe we were in different heats and it made a difference, but I didn't think it was too violent at all. Now if I could only get my bike above 17mph...
112
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580 days
LongTime posted 1 year ago.
#1Drowner;70513 wrote:
I did Yorktown as well, and that water was a little choppy, but I had my best swim ever there Sunday! Maybe we were in different heats and it made a difference, but I didn't think it was too violent at all. Now if I could only get my bike above 17mph...
Glad you had a good swim, drowner. Maybe the congestion at the start and around the first buoy had something to do with it. The first 200 yards can set the tone for the entire swim.
Did the York Sprint in eastern VA Sunday, near where the river enters the ocean, so it's almost an ocean swim from my experience due to wave action. Anyway, we swam with the current but the waves coming at our heads from about a 45 degree angle. Often when I breathed, from either side, it seemed a wave would come over my face. (Yes, I unwillingly drank York River water. Nice and salty.) Within 200 yards I had my goggles almost kicked off. It was the most congested start I've seen with the first buoy maybe 60 yards from the start.
For the first time ever I rolled onto my back to try and catch my breath, hoping nobody saw me. Tried a little breast stroke, but nothing really worked to get my breathing into synch. Basically I just survived the swim with poor technique and never finding my rhythm. Short of breath the whole time.
Funny how after a dozen tris from sprint to HIM, oceans to rivers to lakes, the swim finally got the best of me. Never expected it. Can't wait until my next time in a calm lake. The directions of the waves just did a number on me.