LV10K - Utah Swimmer Results

Results for Utah swimmers who participated in the 10K National Championship over the weekend:

 

Name	Team	Age Group	Age Group Place	Time
Dominique Maack	SALT	Female 18 to 24	2	2:27:20
Wes Johnson	SLOW	Male 25 to 29	1	2:21:26
Brandon Hochstrasser	QUAC	Male 25 to 29	2	2:32:38
Kelsey Withrow	SALT	Female 30 to 34	1	2:24:28
Josh Green	SLOW	Male 30 to 34	6	2:52:48
Miles Pomeroy	SLOW	Male 30 to 34	7	3:12:51
Sue Frehse	SLOW	Female 35 to 39	3	2:57:59
Gordon Gridley	SLOW	Male 40 to 44	2	2:36:45
Steven Pickard	UTAH	Male 40 to 44	3	2:37:47

In other races: Robynn Masters took first place overall in the 5K wetsuit division with a time of 1:09:32 and Todd Frehse took 5th place overall in the 1 mile non-wetsuit division with a time of 28:27.

Nice job Utah, way to represent!

LV10K National Championship - Race Report

Beautiful Boulder Beach before the start of the LV10K.

I am just now sitting down to my computer after a great weekend of swimming with friends in Las Vegas.  This past Saturday was the inaugural LV10K at Lake Mead.  The race was also the USMS 10K National Championship.  I figured this was probably one of the few chances I would get to swim in a national championship race (they move it around every year), plus I knew that Kara and Paul at Swim Las Vegas would do a great job putting it together, so I signed up early.

I drove down Friday morning and went straight to the Boulder Beach campground to make sure that I would have a place to sleep that night (the campground is first come, first served).  I got a camp site without any problems and then drove back to Henderson for packet pick-up.  I think it was a good idea on the race directors part to have pick-up and body marking the night before, it made the morning of the race a lot less stressful.  Body marking for the 10K was done with temporary tattoos, which I though was pretty cool.  The swag was pretty sweet too: cool tech shirt, two caps (one silicone and one latex), and a bunch of gels.  There were also free massages, which pretty much undid all the hours I had just spent driving in the car.

After packet pick-up, I went to dinner with fellow Utah swimmers Gordon, Wes, Kelsey and Brandon.  We had a lot of fun talking about swimming and other things and the food was pretty good.

My not so comfy bed.

After dinner, I made a stop at the grocery store to get a few last minute items and then drove back to Boulder Beach.  Gordon and his son Jonas shared my campsite and they were already there with their tent set up when I got back.  I put the seats down and slept in the back of my car.  It was as uncomfortable as it sounds.  I tossed and turned all night, not able to straighten out my legs.

Saturday morning started early.  The campers next to us were up at 5am and made enough noise that it woke me up.  Since I was up, I took the time to apply a generous amount of sunscreen and organize my gear.  After a while, Gordon and Jonas got up and we all headed to Boulder Beach.

At the beach, I walked down to the water and waded in to my knees.  It felt cool, but not too cold.  The water temperature was something that I had been worrying about.  Just a week or so before, the reported water temp was 63 degrees.  The actual race day temp was reported between 68 and 72 degrees.

SLOW home base.

We had plenty of time before the swim started and I spent most of that time in the canopy Gordon had set up talking to Sue, Todd and Gordon.  As it got closer to race time, I put on more sunscreen, got greased up and took my little "feed" cooler down to the feed station.  At the last minute, I opted to use the cooler instead of the bottle rack after seeing the rack tip over.

Feed station.

After a brief pre-race meeting, we all walked into the water for the start.  Sue, Gordon, Miles and I were all grouped together.  At the sound of the start, I dove in and started swimming.  I could see Sue right at my side as we navigated the chaos of other swimmers.  Last year I started singing "99 Bottles of Bear on the Wall" in my head while swimming.  It works well for me to keep my pace and also gives me somewhat of an idea how long I have been swimming.

The course was a "T" shape and we would swim four laps, passing the feed station near the shore each time.  At the end of the first lap I was feeling good and chugged down some Perpetuem at the feed station.  During the second lap, the old familiar pain in my right collar bone started showing up.  Halfway through the second lap, it was hurting pretty bad and I though I might have to quit at 5K.  At the end of the second lap I took a gel and more Perpetuem and convinced myself to do another lap.  The pain was better on the third lap and I got into my groove.  There were two other swimmers who were right with me the whole time.  We kept passing each other and were pretty much even at the feed station.  I took another feed of gel and Perpetuem before starting the fourth lap.  At this point, I knew I would finish, even though the pain was starting to get bad again.  At the last turn, I tried to pick it up and was at a near sprint when I finished.

My goal was to finish under 3 hours and I ended up finishing at 2:52:48.  In retrospect, I should have done my usual pre-race stretches and swam a little more in the week leading up to the race.  I think that's why the pain in my collar started up and it kind of threw me off mentally during the swim.

I was happy that Gordon and Sue both beat their goal times.  This was Sue and Miles' longest open water swim and they both did awesome!  Wes, Brandon, Kelsey, Todd and all the other Utah swimmers all had great races.  With the swim over, we are now going to put together 3 man SLOW relay team to enter.  The relay event works by combining the individual times for each of the relay members.  All relay swimmers must belong to the same club.

Finisher medal and 6th place age group medal.

The final results are here.  There were some CRAZY fast swimmers at this event.  Doing a 10K in 2:08 is unbelievable.

Kara, Paul and everyone involved with the organization of the race did a fantastic job.  I felt safe at all times and enjoyed swimming laps for a change.  The post race cupcake and massage were awesome!  Thank you to the organizers, volunteers and other swimmers for a great experience!

Great Salt Lake in the High Country News

Last year, Gordon, Goody and I introduced Kate Greene to swimming in the Great Salt Lake.  Kate is a very talented writer and wrote a piece about her experience titled "Of Sense and Salinity: A Swim in the Great Salt Lake" that was recently published in the High Country News.

Check it out!

http://www.hcn.org/issues/45.8/of-sense-and-salinity-a-swim-in-the-great-salt-lake

Choppy Swim at the GSL

There was a good group at the marina yesterday afternoon.  The weather was really nice and Gordon, Goody, Chad, Sue, Kate and myself all took advantage by going for a swim.

I've been getting a little nervous about the LV10K next week because the water temp is 63 degrees and I haven't done any long swims at that temperature for a while.  The water temp at www.gslmarina.com reported 62 degrees at the marina, so I though it would be a good opportunity to see what I would be up against next week.

I was relieved when we started wading into the water that it didn't feel too bad (the fact that it was warm and sunny outside didn't hurt).  Once we swam out of the marina, it warmed up noticeably and by the end of the swim, those with thermometers were getting readings of 67 to 68 degrees.

As soon as we turned the corner out of the marina, we were faced with pretty good sized swells that were coming right at us.  It took me a while to adjust and I ended up swimming more of a "catch-up" stroke into the waves.

Gords, Chad, Sue and I met up at the first red buoy and we decided to keep going straight out to the next red buoy.  Once we got to the second buoy, Sue and I decided to head back and Gords and Chad kept going out to the third buoy.  It was a lot of fun swimming with the waves back towards the marina.  You could really feel them pushing you forward.

Back at the first buoy, I was feeling great and was going to swim east to the white buoy.  Instead, we saw Kate (in for her second swim) and Goody just outside of the marina and I decided to hang out with them and chat.  After a while, we all headed back in to the boat ramp.

I didn't wear my GPS, but I'm guessing the total swim was around 0.75 mile.  It was a lot of fun to be out in the lake, swimming with a big group of friends.

10K Pool Swim

I am excited to be swimming the LV10K in a couple weeks. As preparation for that swim, I met Sue and Kaitlin at the Salt Lake Sports Complex yesterday morning to get in a long swim before the event.

The LV10K course is a four loop course. Swimmers do not have their own kayak support, which is good and bad. A feed table will be set up so that swimmers can get their fuel when the are marked after each lap.

I wanted yesterday's swim to be as close as possible to how the LV10K is set up, so the plan was to swim 4 x 3,000 with feeds in between. Boring, I know, but it had to be done.

I set my watch to a 1:25 per 100 pace for the first 3,000. I felt good and it went by pretty fast. We stopped for a feed and were off again.

I kept my watch set to the same pace and I struggled to hold it towards the end. By the end of the second 3,000 I was feeling a little tired and regretted the 1:25 pace. I took a quick potty break, had a gel and more Perpetuem, and we were off again.

On the third 3,000 I slowed my pace down to 1:30 per 100 which was a little too slow.  Slowing down felt good though and I got into a good, relaxed rhythm.  Sue and I swam side-by-side for about 1,000 yards or so. Part way through, we all ended up moving over to the mini lane at the end of the pool because a Masters workout and water aerobics were taking up the rest of the pool.

At the end of the third 3,000, the end was in sight and I wanted to pick up the pace again on the last one. I set my watch for 1:25 again (which ended up being WAY too fast for the last one). I swam hard and sprinted the last 100.

I felt tired, but good, when we were done. Sue and I ended up closer to 6.8 miles and Kaitlin finished at 5 miles. This was both Kaitlin and Sue's longest ever swim. Nice!

I was grateful for Sue and Kaitlin coming to swim. It would have been VERY boring without them.

A Taste of Things to Come

Chad swimming back to the boat ramp.

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm day (finally).  I met Gordon, Chad and Jim at the Great Salt Lake Marina for a swim and to see the new safety plan Gordon has been working on.

This is just awesome!  Well done Gords!

The safety plan consists of a swimmer flag that can be posted at the end of the dock in the marina to alert other lake users that there are swimmers in the water.  You can also post your swimmer "tag" with your name and emergency contact info on the flag pole to let people know who is out there and who to contact should something happen.  I'm really impressed with the system and look forward to using it!

We got various water temperature readings, but settled on about 62 degrees.  It felt much warmer than when I was out there last time and it was still in the 50's.  Gordon took off to swim down to Black Rock and back while Jim, Chad and I took our time talking and making our way out to the first buoy.  We stayed out there for a while, drifting with the current, and enjoying the water and scenery.  This is what I have been missing all winter!  It gave me a taste of the many swims with friends that we be coming this year as the water continues to warm up.

Todd and Goody surprised us by showing up as we were getting out of the water.  I haven't seen Goody in a while and he is looking much better!  It was good to get caught up with him and I hope he will be back to swimming with us soon!

New Safety Plan for Swimmers at the Great Salt Lake

New swimmer safety flag at the Great Salt Lake Marina.

Gordon has been working hard on a plan to make swimming at the Great Salt Lake a little safer.  Yesterday afternoon he unveiled his plan and we tested it out.

Gordon got permission from the Harbormaster to to install a swimmer flag at the end of the dock that can be posted when there are swimmers in the water.  The hope is that it will alert other lake users to keep an eye out for swimmers.

Swimmer "tags" with emergency contact info that are posted on the swimmer flag while swimming.

The really cool part is that you can post your "tag" on the flag with your name and emergency contact info when you get in the water.  When you finish your swim, just take off your tag and, if you are the last swimmer in, put the flag away.

I'm really excited about this new system and think that it will help us be a little safer out on the lake.

The full details of the plan and other safety tips can be found in the following document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JJAduq09C2XX9J4p8Llvq_TA0i5LIEp2Mq5NknVq0ZI/edit