Aquaman

Today was the first race of the Aquaman Series put on by Without Limits Productions. I did the series last year and had a great time so of course I signed up again fro this year. The race is a 1 mile swim followed by a 5k run. So it's basically a race and speed workout.

The swim is triangle shaped course that is 1/2 mile long. So we swim a lap, pop out of the water to yell our number (run through some flags) then dive back in the water for lap number two. After that it's a short run up the beach to the transition area and off on on the bike path for the run. The run is basically slightly uphill on the way out and then slightly downhill coming home.

So my race... we all line up and Candy (the race director) starts us and we high step through the water and finally dive in heading towards the first buoy. A guy in a wetsuit takes the lead and I am happy just to sit on his feet. I had won all the swim last year in my wetsuit so I figured this year I would just wear some tri-shorts and have faster transitions but maybe a little slower swims. I was a little worried at first with this guy in the wetsuit taking it out fast that maybe I should have worn mine to stay with him. I bump into another swimmer a bit as we are both trying to get into the slip stream. We round the buoy and head along the back side of the course. The wetsuit guy seems to not be swimming the straightest so I pick my own line and just cruise. There is a lot of chop in the water but this part of the course is with the tide so it's all good. As we are going down the backside the wetsuit guy got passed by a young kid in a speedo, I figure he is probably one his schools swim team so probably fast. We round the last buoy and head back towards the beach, I am aiming towards the flags where we have to run through and yell our number, and the kid is angling a little more towards the shore. Well he gets to shallow water first and stands up before me, but I pop up too and just a few seconds separate us as we start lap number two. I had peeked over my shoulder and saw we had a gap on the next person so I was feeling pretty good. I decide to just follow the kid as he swam and out run him, but he swung way out on the first leg of the swim that I just sited the buoy and let him come back to me as we got closer. The second lap was uneventful and soon we were running up the beach to our shoes.

As you are in transition you can kind of keep an eye on someone else to see how fast they are chnging. I was hoping this kid wasn't on his schools track team! But I got to my towel, slipped on my first shoe (elastic laces), peeked at the kid and saw him hold socks to start putting on. A little chuckle and I knew I was going to leave him in transition. I slip my second shoe on, grab my visor and sun glasses and charge out of the transition. The kid watched me run by, hopefully next week he tries not using the socks, it's just a 5k.

After suffering through the running field test on Saturday I knew not to go out too fast. But it's a race and out of sight is out of mind. So I run hard through the parking lot, a little down hill and then starts the uphill run to the turn around. I work on keeping my stride long and a high turn over, I was actually feeling pretty good. Roll up on the first mile, just a tad over 6 minutes, not bad and still feeling pretty good. There is a race that is only a half mile swim and then a 5k run. They started a couple minutes behind us, but since they only swam one loop they were out on the run course ahead of me. Which is great because it gave me plenty of targets to aim for. I get to the turn around and start running back, and about 30 behind me is this kid running in a speedo. 'Damn is that the kid', I had peeked behind me leaving the parking lot and didn't see him leaving transition yet, so if so he is right on my pace! But the rest of the course is downhill and I know it's hard to close a gap on the downhill. So I roll through mile 2 in a little over 6 again. About 2.25 miles into the run I look back and see the kid still there, 30-40 second back I estimated. I run to where the course levels off, then a little uphill section to the parking lot then flat to the finish. I work the uphill bit and see the kid not catching me so I cruise through to the finish line.

Ends up the kid is a fast runner, but wasn't the one I swam with. He was from the 1/2 mile swim group so I had lapped him on the swim and he ran behind me. So another victory at the Aquaman, but a little closer competition than last year I think. Be interesting to see how wetsuit (he got second) does next week. If the swimmer kid decides to try and drop me or tries to sit on my feet.