Both times I attempted Ironman 70.3 Hawaii I made the swim cutoff and missed the bike cutoff. Cycling is my strongest event, so why DNF on the bike? Because the swim was too slow and inefficient. Before I make another attempt I want more assurance that I can finish. Of course, what happens on race day is unpredictable, but one thing is for sure, I will not suddenly sprout a dolphin tail and finish the swim in thirty minutes.
Before I go any further I must point out that efforts to improve bike pace have a far greater impact on finish time than a comparable increase in swim pace. This is because so much more of the overall race time is spent on the bike. I have been and will continue to work hard to improve my bike and run times. Today I am focused on my swim, because I just did a time trial and want to share the results.
Technically I am not a beginning swimmer. Can I say late onset senior? I started to learn to swim seriously in fall 2012, working my way through Terry Laughlin's self-teaching video and going to Kaimana on Sunday mornings with Pattie. In early 2013 I was getting out at lunchtime to swim once or twice a week at the Tripler pool. I recall it had a deep end and I would struggle to get across without drowning. That summer I took a class from Peter Hursty not knowing it was for people who already knew how to swim. That fall everything went on hold while I recovered from hernia surgery. In January of 2014 I started private lessons with Sonya. By then I was swimming but still not very far at a time; a hundred yards might just as well been ten thousand. In May 2014 I started a twelve week on-line Total Immersion class taught by Susan Atkinson. This is what really turned the corner for me, watching her weekly video and getting feedback from her via the web site, building on what I had learned from Terry and Sonya. I was trying to do the practices at the free Palolo pool but it was not open in the morning and was taken over by a swim club until just before closing. Tuesday June 17 was my last swim there. Two days later I started at the Oahu Club and have never regretted that decision.
My practice times and paces from that period are sketchy, but I do have reliable pace data for my first two races.
Honolulu Triathlon, May 18, 2014. 5:38 min/100 yds.
Tinman, July 27, 2014. 4:40 min/100 yds.
Well, I did improve! And I continued to improve. The next big breakthrough came while training for my first Honu, when I did the TI Kona Open Water swim camp. That laid the foundation I still refer back to today.
My two Honu race results show much improvement in two years. The 2018 time would have been better had I not needed to stop to message out a calf cramp.
Honu, June 4, 2016. 2:41 min/100 yds.
Honu, June 2, 2018. 2:48 min/100 yds.
Both of those Honu times were just barely enough to finish before the cutoff time, and both took so much effort that I had no energy on the bike. So, for this year I have two goals. Finish in less time (go faster) and use less energy (increase efficiency).
I spent last fall focused on running, and decided to carry that over into the new year until my Honu training plan started at the end of January. I needed a break after the marathon, and the marathon New Year's parties. Today was my first swim time trial, and I should not be disappointed given how little I have been swimming. The plan called for a fast 400 followed by a fast 200 with a two minute rest in-between. During the first segment my goggles fogged up to the point where I could not see the wall until just before I got there so I stopped at 200.
1st 200 avg 3:03 best 2:51
2nd 200 avg 2:59 best 2:42
Now to put those numbers in context, conditions were miserable and this was not supposed to be an all-out effort. Temperature on desk was 65F and it was pouring. (The pic above is not from this morning!) This was my first time doing this format. I couldn't see until I fixed my goggles during the two minute break.
I am still not very good at judging pace and effort while swimming. The extent of my "feel" for pace is that I am moving. Like a cheap battery powered toy, no speed control, just "on" and "off." But I am improving, and it felt to me like this was a pace I could sustain for an hour and not be dead at the end. Pretty sure that was the intent, and not as fast as you can go for 200 yards.
So, I am getting close to good enough to sign up for Honu. In fact, driving in from the club I was ready to sign up right then and there. Good thing there was too much traffic. Now that reason seasoned with caution has returned, and I have studied the data, I will wait for the results of my next test, which is in three weeks. But, getting closer, always improving!
