8 November 2009
Silverman Ironman Swim
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Ironman; Swim; race reports.
Full report coming, but here is a quick summary of the swim.
All in all, it was a good swim. I swam my second fastest Ironman split with arguably not enough swim training all year. In fact, most Iron distance triathletes laugh at me when they hear I only swam 17,000 meters before the race.
The start was pretty intense. I made the mistake of being near the front. Actually I was standing just on the edge of the rocks, so that I was in the sandier part of the swim start. But for some reason more people were standing behind me, in the rocky area… and most of those people wanted to swim faster than me. I got really banged up, and was even a little panicked. For a split second, I almost considered bailing out… but I realized that if I just relaxed and regained my composure, I would be able to finish just fine.
The water was perfect! It was as flat as glass. I’m sure that’s why the lead swimmer set a new course record, and the swim times were generally very short.
By half way into the first leg of the swim, I had found a good rhythm, and a couple of good “guide swimmers” to spot of off. I prefer to find a swimmer that I can hang onto so I don’t have to worry about swimming straight and navigating. It worked out great as I ended up in a pack of about half a dozen swimmers all swimming a similar pace.
Workout:
- Type: Swim
- Date: 11/08/2009
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:24:30.00
- Average Heart rate: 120
- Calories: 537
- Distance: 3,862.43 m
- Average Pace: 2:11.58/100m
2 Comments so far...
bigdave_nv Says:
“arguably”? thanks for the kind words mr casually-show-up-for-140.6-miles-of-pain.
I didn’t have your number from last year. how did your friends finish? hope it was positive for all. I wanted to join you all for dinner, but I was repelled by the strip restaurant & also wanted to stay close to home to maximize rest.
Brad Hefta-Gaub Says:
I guess when you put it that way Dave, I should feel great about my results… cause you’re right, I did kinda show up casually… Maybe I should consider actually using a training plan and sticking to it?
As for my friends… they weren’t there to race, they just used the excuse of “supporting Brad” as a reason to leave their wives at home and head to Vegas for nearly a week. They were up most nights partying like crazy. Fortunately I had my own room.
