aztimm

I did the Great Salt Lake 10k swim on Saturday. Thankfully I did a trial swim the day before. The main challenge with this swim (so long as you're comfortable with the distance) is the extreme salty water. It goes against nearly every swimming rule, but if you don't keep your mouth closed in the water, you'll end up with a very salty mouth. I practiced breathing entirely on my side the day before. While I was waiting for a friend at a buoy, I realized that I was just kind of sitting in the water, and didn't have to move my arms or legs to just sit there.

Race conditions were almost perfect. Low temps at SLC were in the low 50s. The water temp was about 68-70F; that may sound cool for casual swimming, but for that distance, it was almost perfect. It had been windy, so the lake bugs weren't too bad (I didn't really notice them, but my cousin did, and they were all over stuff). There were 10 swimmers for the 10k, and I placed 3rd (they said there were 45 for the mile).
My cousin lives in town and kayaked for me (they required all 10k swimmers to have their own paddler, and yes, someone did have an SUP). Even my cousin said how it was easier to paddle than on freshwater (he spun about several times to check on me). I normally stop for feeds (water and Gatorade) every 25-30 minutes, but given the conditions I asked him to do it every 20. The first sip of water I'd swirl around in my mouth (a few times even gargled a bit), then spit it out.

Overall, it wasn't a horrible experience. While I was in town, I also swam in the Deer Creek Reservoir, where I'll be swimming 10 miles in August, and a swim before my flight out in the Steiner Aquatic Center (an awesome 50m pool).

I'll be back in Utah for the Bear Lake Monster Swim, another 10k, in mid-July. That one is up on the Utah/Idaho border. Water temp last year was about 65 at the start/finish, but significantly cooler in the middle. It is a point-to-point swim, across the width of the lake. I did it last year....it was my toughest 10k, my slowest, but also my favorite. The water is so clean and blue.

TomMM

What pace metric do swimmers use? Strokes/min, min/mile???

aztimm

Probably average pace per 100 yards or meters.

MEABFlyer

Getting flats on that course was partly a matter of tire choice, partly picking the right lines through the really rough gravel (some of it was more like single track mountain biking than gravel), and luck. I didn't have any flats nor did anyone in the small group I finished with. Other people were not as lucky including Kiel Reijnen (a World Tour pro) who ended up running 18 miles of the course before calling it quits. Here's a bit of his story https://cyclingtips.com/2021/06/kiel...nbound-gravel/

aztimm

Nice write-up, and glad to hear that you finished!
Some time ago, I was more into cycling (and prior to that into running), and I did a few tours. I remember before el Tour de Tucson, several people had told me to wear mountain shoes, as we'd need to dismount and walk through 2 washes. Evidently not everyone had that info, and several cyclist trashed some really nice shoes (and clips) walking through dirt, rocks, and mud. A few tried to ride through, which was not pretty.

My next swim is this weekend, in Bear Lake, Utah. Talk about lodging...there's hardly anything in Garden City. I reserved an Airbnb in March, and even then it was rather slim pickings. You need to reserve something almost a year out for this event. At least SLC is a decent sized airport, and I don't expect any issues with a rental car (I didn't have any when I was there in June).


Over the July 4th weekend, I traveled to Pennsylvania for kind of a family reunion. Rather than stay with family in the area, 2 sisters and I shared an Airbnb in a nearby lake community. I got to swim every day (once I went to another lake to swim with friends). It was great to be able to roll out of bed, walk 5-10 minutes, and be in the water.
Here's the swim at Harvey's Lake.
And here's the long swim we did in Penn Lake.

I did a long swim locally on Sunday, and am mostly tapering (or trying to) this week for the next 10k on Saturday.

aztimm

I did the Bear Lake Monster Swim (Utah, 10k) on Saturday. (note: my time was 3:48:55. Strava subtracts out time when I'm not swimming, such as when I stop for feeds)
Overall, it was a great experience. Water was fairly flat, especially compared with last year. My paddler stayed in his kayak this time (he fell out last year, and I stopped to help, we had to flag down a support boat to get him back in). My time was about 20 minutes faster this year.

It is really a great area. I stayed at an Airbnb/cabin about a 5 minute walk to the start. We drove over to the finish (across the lake, about an hour round trip) to drop off a vehicle so we'd have one to get back. Then I helped my cousin put the kayak in the water near the cabin, and he paddled to the start.
I don't know why, but in many events there's always someone who has to stop after we start swimming, then they freak out (scream/shriek) when people behind them almost run into them. For a bit there was a support boat for a relay team just in front of me, and the exhaust was so bad I stopped to ask my cousin if he could yell at them (he got them to move).
The Airbnb didn't have WiFi, and even cell service was a bit spotty. It was a pain at first, but after the swim it was kind of nice to just unplug, kick back, and watch some movies (they had a well-stocked DVD collection).
Weather was pretty nice. I think about 60F at the start, 75F at the finish. Water temp was considerably warmer than last year, I'm guessing 70-72F overall, but there were some cooler and warmer patches (it was warm in the shallow water when we started, and about halfway I hit a cool current, which felt great).

This was my second year doing this event. Last year I drove (from Texas), as I was happy to just do an event. I'll probably do it again, but I don't think next year. There are 2 other swims that happen on the same weekend, and I'll probably do the Finger Lakes Open Water Swim Festival next year. Like running and cycling, there seem to be enough of these to rotate through them over several years.

Next up for me is the Deer Creek Open Water Swim. If I finish, it will be my longest swim so far (if it is a true 10 miler); the longest I've done was about 8 miles (which claimed to be 10). I'd also be the holder of the Utah Triple Crown of Swimming. I did the 10k here last year, and it was a great event.

dhuey

So this happened last Saturday...




Please pardon the brag, but I've never won a race before, and I doubt it'll happen again. Gotta savor this one.

TomMM

So you took my advice!

dhuey

During the race I actually forgot that it was a quarter-marathon and not a 10K. At around the 9K mark I remembered that there were an additional 550 meters to go after 10K.

aztimm

Wow, amazing work, great job!
How was Iceland?

dhuey

Iceland rocks -- one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We spent most of our time in the Lake Myvatn area. Incredible waterfalls, an ice cave, and volcanoes -- including the one for the Iceland Volcano Marathon. The drive (motor coach ride for us) from Reykjavik out to Lake Myvatn is about 5 hours, plus stops. Still, it ranges from scenic to gorgeous the whole way, so it's not wasted time.

aztimm

Well an update to my schedule... (all swimming)

Sat Aug 14: Deer Creek Utah 10 miles

My SwimTrek in Montenegro was cancelled. They offered other times, a credit for other trips, or a full refund. I'm going with the refund.
As a replacement, I'm targeting this (the 10k):
Horsetooth Swim, Fort Collins CO

Then I still have another one in October (another 10 miles):
Swim the Suck, Chattanooga, TN

Possibly a local event (mostly around the 5k distance) of 3 lakes later in October.
Highland Lakes Challenge

dhuey

I've been paging through the race calendars at marathonguide.com. It's remarkable how many races have been cancelled in the coming year -- especially outside of the U.S. Natural first question about any race these days is, "Will it actually be run?"

TomMM

Last week I receive an email about a half-marathon in Nice France in September which is requiring that entrants produce the French Pass Sanitaire(Health Passport). Elsewhere on FT I saw a post from a person going to Berlin for the marathon. The group that I've run with in London has a full upcoming schedule of 5K/10k and half-marathons scheduled. My favorite, the Amsterdam Marathon in October is cancelled. The Kiev half and full marathon in October are still on schedule.

aztimm

Its a great question. Last year I actually did 2 swimming events, both in Utah. Coming from Texas, I didn't mind. I'm sure I've said this before, if a race director can't space swimmers for a 10k swim (especially if it is 20 or less), then they shouldn't be a race director.
That's one reason that I've targeted those longer swims. I'm sure you could swim a 5k with a little training if you wanted to. But it takes a bit more to swim a 10k, not for just anyone. The field for a swim of that distance tends to be smaller, even in the best of times.