Matt Nussbaum – Age Grouper

Swimming is my favorite of the three disciplines, so I was beyond excited to see what I could do when I could go long and empty the tank. We went up to Killington Wednesday night to have a base way closer to the race than home and get a little time away before the final push for Kona.

I got in a great open water session Thursday in one of the nearby ponds. I had a little supervision in Naomi paddleboarding behind me while I put some decent efforts to sharpen up a bit.

Friday was just an easy-ish 45 minute ride and carb loading. I was quickly reminded that easy-ish for me is still a lot for many when I saw some Strava comments reacting to 1500ft of elevation gain in the 13 mile ride. That’s just the game I get to play staying on the mountain.

They structured the event such that the 2.5K and 10K races went off around 7 and the 5K wasn’t until about 9:30. That gave me plenty of time to sleep in and drive the 90 minutes to the lake. I got up around 6 and put down my normal pre-race applesauce and banana breakfast and got on the road. It was an easy ride over to New York and I got to see a couple of spots I’ve ridden my bike through from a totally different perspective. They had a couple of lots set up about a 5 minute walk from the beach and I had to laugh about some people complaining how far it was when they were about to have to swim a couple miles. Ironman makes you walk so much farther for way longer races.

Packet pick up and body marking were easy. I got my bearings and got ready to get in a little warm up in the enclosed area they gave us. The deepest part was only about thigh deep, so I abandoned the warmup after a couple of lengths with some surges. It didn’t feel like quite enough to completely wake my lats up, but the weird shallow strokes felt like they were doing more harm than good. I don’t think I’ve ever done a swim warmup for a tri before, so I wasn’t all that concerned about going out hard cold.

They gave their briefing where they gave a couple safety things and reminded us of the course layout. 2 yellow sighting buoys out, 180 around a green pyramid, 2 orange buoys back, 90 around a red pyramid, 90 around another green pyramid, and repeat for a second loop….easy.

We were told to line up by number so they could check us into the water one by one. I was pretty much last in line which gave me plenty of time to think through the ways the race could go. In every case I would go out hard and then I figured it would go one of three ways.

Option 1: The bunch strings out and I find a good draft pack to conserve energy in. That group hopefully takes some turns pacing on the front and we get to sprint at the end.

Option 2: The bunch strings out and I find myself alone in no man’s land between the leader(s) and everyone else. Then it’s just time trial mode like always unless I catch someone or someone catches me.

Option 3: I wind up out front and then it’s basically the same as option 2 since there’s really no way of telling the difference until I see another person or I finish.

In any case, it’s not all that different from a bike race. I figured option 3 was unlikely, but it’s fun to think about. I couldn’t decide how I felt about being in a pack. It would have been helpful to pace and maybe a little faster overall, but I was probably screwed if it came down to a sprint. I would have to put in a big surge somewhere near the end and hope no one follows.

The start was in waist deep water and the hundred-or-so people spread out one or two people deep into what looked like a hole shot start. They blew the horn and it was into the washing machine of bodies tearing toward the first sight buoy. After a minute or two, it was stringing out and I found myself side by side with another guy and at least a few close behind us. I decided not to make the same mistake I did in Maine and let him pull ahead far enough to get on his feet. I felt like I could have gone faster but it was still early and I wanted to see the conditions on the rest of the course before pushing it again.

I was pretty glad that I took it easy for a bit when I got to the second sight buoy. The water was getting rougher and an occasional boat would go by throwing up a wake which made things tougher. I stayed on my anonymous friend’s feet all of the way to the turnaround, which I continued not to love but it was fine. I saw him get to the turn and then he vanished. I don’t know if he missed it or went off course or what, but he was gone. I spotted the first return sight buoy and got to work. The vanishing act confused the hell out of me and got me wondering whether I cut the course or something. I stayed on the gas while mentally repeating the race director’s instructions: 2 yellow buoys out, around the green pyramid, two orange buoys back. Whatever the case, it was time trial time.

The return leg was more or less the reverse of the out leg. It was a bit rough for about half and then pretty smooth to the buoy. I went around the green pyramid and then the red and gently accelerated to take advantage of the smooth part of the course. I kept the effort consistent to the turnaround and accelerated again heading onto the final leg of the course. About halfway to the first orange sight buoy I got caught in a boat’s wake and my sighting synced up with the valleys of the waves, which forced me to pause for a second to find it. I probably lost a few seconds, but swimming off course would have lost me more. There was still no one around to worry about as far as I could tell. I accelerated harder and harder as I passed each buoy and was fully on the gas by the time I got to the red pyramid.

I turned to shore and gave it my all for the hundred or so meters to shore as the water got shallower. I kept swimming until the water was about knee high. It was a good thing I got to play around with the weird depth stroke in the warmup. When I decided it wasn’t worth it anymore I popped up and awkwardly sprinted on foot through the water for the hundred feet to the finish line.

I was totally gassed after the finish and had to find a spot to sit and collect myself. I looked around and saw almost no 5K swim caps around. It was the first sign of how well I did. I didn’t find out my time or place for another twenty or thirty minutes when they finally posted the first set of results. I was floored by how well I did. It turns out I’m pretty good at open water swimming.

Official Time: 1:10:45 (1st AG – 3rd Overall)